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Environmentalists Go Green to the Grave to Decrease 'Final Footprint'

A California company that makes eco-friendly, biodegradable caskets has seen its business double in the past year. The caskets are made in rattan, willow, bamboo, sea grass, or banana leaf, reports CBS San Francisco:

"That’s what blew me away when I started investigating," (Jane Hillhouse, owner of Final Footprint) said. "We bury a Golden Gate Bridge every year in steel."

All that steel goes into the ground every year in North America alone, plus enough concrete to build a highway between New York and Detroit – And it’s all in caskets and burial vaults.

"Why not be buried in a natural state where you can go back to the earth?" Hillhouse asked.

Hillhouse has spent a lot of time researching the ecological impact of death, and she doesn’t see cremation as any better than a metal-laden coffin.

"It’s hugely energy intensive, the burning," she explained.

Published under: EPA