Environmentally friendly funerals? N.B. student says they’re within reach
SACKVILLE, N.B. — A New Brunswick university student researching environmentally conscious funerals says she hopes her research will help ease the discomfort some people feel when talking about death.
Hanna Longard, a fifth-year student at Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B., is visiting cemeteries in eastern Canada and consulting with community members, funeral directors and other people within the so-called “death-care” industry in an effort to figure out how people can give back to the Earth even after death.
“There is a fear that if you talk about death, it makes it real,” Longard said in a phone interview.
“The fear comes from different places for different people. But as soon as I start having these conversations with people, they realize how many thoughts and questions they have on this topic.”