Green Burial vs. Cremation

For decades in Canada, cremation has been positioned as the environmentally responsible alternative to traditional burial. It avoids the embalming chemicals, the concrete vaults, the steel caskets, the perpetually maintained lawn. For most Canadians who care about their environmental footprint, cremation has felt like the obvious choice.

But the picture is more complicated than it first appears. Cremation has its own significant environmental costs — and green burial, properly understood, beats it on nearly every measure.

What Cremation Actually Costs the Environment

A single cremation requires roughly the energy equivalent of a 500-mile car trip. The furnace burns at over 1,400°F for two to three hours per body, fueled by natural gas. Each cremation releases approximately 245 kg of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, plus particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and trace heavy metals — most notably mercury vaporized from dental fillings.

Canada performs roughly 200,000 cremations per year. That's around 49,000 tonnes of CO₂ emitted annually from cremation alone — the equivalent of about 10,000 cars on the road for a year.

What Green Burial Costs

A green burial uses no embalming chemicals, no concrete, no steel, no fuel-burning furnace. The body decomposes naturally, returning nutrients to the soil. The grave is typically restored with native plants that sequester carbon.

The carbon footprint of a green burial is dramatically lower — by some estimates an order of magnitude less than cremation. And unlike cremation, green burial actively contributes to local ecosystems rather than emitting into the atmosphere.

The Land Use Question

One argument often made for cremation is land use: that burial requires land that could otherwise serve other purposes. But this argument breaks down when applied to green burial.

Conservation burial grounds — like Salt Spring Island Natural Cemetery in BC — actually use burial fees to fund land conservation. The land is protected permanently, becomes a habitat, and serves the ecosystem in ways it might not otherwise. Far from competing with environmental priorities, conservation burial directly serves them.

The Honest Comparison

For environmentally conscious Canadians, the comparison comes down to a few clear points:

• Carbon footprint: Green burial wins decisively.
• Air quality: Green burial wins — cremation releases pollutants; green burial does not.
• Ecosystem contribution: Green burial actively contributes; cremation does not.
• Land use: Conservation burial uses land productively; cremation is land-neutral.
• Cost to the family: Often comparable; green burial can be less expensive.

Why Cremation Still Has Its Place

None of this is to say cremation is wrong. For many Canadians it's the right choice — for cultural reasons, religious reasons, family logistics, or simply personal preference. Cremation is dramatically better than conventional embalmed burial with a concrete vault, which is still the most common option in North America.

But if your reason for choosing cremation is environmental — if you believe it's the greener option — it's worth knowing that green burial, where available, is significantly greener still.