The Path to Black is Paved with Green and Gold

The Golden Circle of Motivation centers on Why.

The funeral business is changing and that is evident in several trends: decreasing death rate, increasing life expectancy, increasing cremation rate, rising employer costs, rising cost of health care, decreasing asset to debt ratios, and man more.  Every one of these topics is the subject of news articles and op-ed pieces in every publication on-line and off-line from which we opt to fill our minds.  There's no shortage of opinions on the profitability (or lack thereof) in death care service or where the industry is headed next.  One thing for sure is that for those fifth and sixth generation funeral directors, operating a funeral service business today is nothing like it was five generations ago when cash and bartering were the primary means of transacting business.
In a previous installment of this column I wrote about the Golden Circle of Motivation as presented by Simon Sinek in a TED talk.  In about ten minutes Mr. Sinek makes a compelling argument for any commercial business to re-invent our marketing message to focus on why we do what we do.  Answers like "to make money" are not valid.  A business makes money to exist, it does not exist to make money.  Mr. Sinek uses breathing as an analogy.  We breath to live, not the other way around.  Typically most employees in a business can explain what they do.  Very few can explain how they do it.  And even fewer know why.  For some firms, nobody can articulate why their firm exists.  But those who can explain why, and can explain effectively, already have their go-to-market message.

In these contemporary times of volatile markets, political challenges, and ever-rising cost of doing business, it is hard enough to keep a business in The Black.  Add to our challenges this new breed of consumerism with the loyalty of Benedict Arnold and the attention span of Sponge Bob exposed to more information in a day today than a person was exposed to in an entire month in 1881 when President James Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau.

How might the funeral industry today adapt?  Can we leverage our values in sustainability in our go-to-market messaging to earn more loyalty with a contemporary consumer?  Could Green & Gold lead us to The Black?

My first coffin was for Grandpa.

Ten years ago I designed and built my first casket with my family for my Grandfather.  Nine years ago we sold our first "green” casket kit online.  About six years ago we discovered, almost by accident, that people were more interested in why I decided to build caskets than how we build them.  Like many businesses, we have a web site that describes what we are selling.  For a short period I thought it clever to describe in great detail how we build caskets.  Then about four years ago I listened to Simon Sinek's TED talk and things haven't been the same since we focused our messaging on why.  We are using our casket business to plant trees—lots and lots of trees. Ten million, to be exact. This is an easy message for our followers to support and repeat. Sales have more than doubled in each of the three years since we have re-focused our go-to-market messaging on why we build environmentally friendly, non-toxic, and sustainable caskets.

I share this with you and anyone interested enough to re-think their marketing message.  For those of you who are 5th or 6th generation funeral directors, I applaud you.  For those of you just entering this industry, I applaud you.  You are both likely very close to explaining "why" you have remained in, or have recently chosen, this profession.  As for the rest of us… can we quickly and effectively explain "why does my firm exist" or "why am I a funeral director" to a 10 year-old?  Keep in mind that "make money" is a not a valid answer.  Not everyone's answer is the same--and need not be.  Your answer is your own--it is your Golden Circle of Motivation.  Making your motivation transparent for your customers will have a profound impact on both their attention span and their loyalty.

So maybe you get the Gold, but where's the Green in the Black?  I illustrate with my own experience.  I don't build caskets to make money--there are a lot of other ways I could make money, and some are far easier than making caskets.  And I don't just make caskets.  I make sustainable, eco-friendly, non-toxic, locally sourced, carbon-negative caskets because I am fascinated by the challenge of building a business on Smarter Planet ideas.  I plant lots and lots of trees because I believe that nobody can argue that planting trees isn't a great thing.  I source raw materials and manufacture with local talent so that I can create jobs in my community.  This is my passion.  Before listening to Mr. Sinek, I was shy about my passion and kept my motivations private.  I now realize that not only was there no need to hide my motivation. Making my personal motivation transparent has only helped to build trust in personal relationships, longer attention spans, and true loyalty from our clients and followers.

I invite you to find the why in your motivation.  Yes, I admit Green is arguably an already over-played marketing moniker and trend.  It is no longer relevant to a consumer to tout our wares as simply Green--that's not good enough.  Go for the Gold and tell your customers why you do what you do.  Add a little Green to that Gold and you will find yourself on the path to Black.

How Does Cremation Measure in Sustainability?

With each passing year, more Wisconsin families choose cremation over a conventional casketed cemetery burial when it comes to end-of-life choices for our loved ones.  Since 2011 the number of cremations have outnumbered burials in Wisconsin.  What is the impact on our environment?  Are we moving in the right direction?

Before getting into the details of cremations and burials, let’s take note that end-of-life choices are exactly that: choices.  What we choose for ourselves or for our loved ones is a private matter.  Like all choices in our lives, we like to make choices that are consistent with our values.  Our values are formed over a lifetime of experience and do not change quickly or easily.  Our choices, however, can change quickly—especially upon learning new information.  When I listen to people describe their end-of-life plans, I ask questions to better understand their values and offer information that might help individuals make choices in good alignment with their values.

You’re likely reading this blog because preserving natural habitats and sustainable living are held highly in your own core values.  It may alarm you to learn that the act of disposing your earthly human remains could have a larger impact on the planet after your death than all of the activities of a Tibetan’s entire living life!  What’s even worse is that these harmful activities bring no enjoyment or betterment to our lives or those who will survive us.  The environmentally wasteful activities in death care are entirely avoidable.  The good news is that we need not petition our legislature to change laws.  Nor do we have to wait for large corporations to offer alternatives.  Change can happen right now—starting with you and me.  We have the power to make an immediate impact by simply informing ourselves and others of our end-of-life choices and how our choices will impact the environment.

There are three talking points for cremation regarding the environment:  carbon footprint, toxic pollution, and land use.  One public perception is that occupying a cemetery plot wastes valuable land resources that could otherwise be put to better uses.  The reality is that the land used to extract, refine, store, and transport the few pounds of fossil fuel required for a single cremation is significantly larger than the area of a cemetery plot.  Furthermore, the type of land where we extract fossil fuels (natural gas) take us to wildlife habits in precious areas of our world including Alaska, Canada, and the oceans.  And then there is high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for natural gas.  Fracking requires sand which is being mined here in Wisconsin.  Now imagine that cemetery plot—it is minimal in comparison.

On the topic of toxicity, the EPA attributes cremation as the third largest polluter of our waterways with mercury.  Add to this the cocktail of emissions including nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, mercury, hydrogen fluoride (HF), hydrogen chloride (HCl), NMVOCs, and other heavy metals, in addition to Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP).   For a body that contains metal implants or dental fillings, the impact of incineration releases even more harmful dioxins and mercury.  The United Nations has estimated that 0.2% of the global emission of dioxins and furans are from cremation.  While embalming is not required for direct cremation, circumstances that include a viewing or service prior to cremation often include embalming.  The toxic gases released by cremating an embalmed body are cause for further controversy over the health and environmental impacts of cremation.

Incineration of fossil fuel during a three-hour cremation generates 600 lbs of CO2e.  The carbon footprint of a steel casket is 2000 lbs of CO2e (carbon-dioxide equivalents).  However, a simple wooden locally-made natural burial casket has a footprint less than 50 lbs of CO2e.  A natural burial shroud has an even smaller footprint.  Planting 100 seedling trees can sequester 200 lbs of CO2 in the first year.  If carbon footprint is important to you, and you prefer cremation over a natural burial, consider planting 100 trees that will offset the carbon footprint of your cremation in 3-4 years time.  Don’t wait, plant them now. 

Sustainability in Funeral Service: Six Ways to Make a Real Difference Without Spending a Dime

When it comes to running our businesses, many of us are hesitant to take real steps for positive change to conserve and protect our planet.  Excuses include not knowing where to start and lacking funds to invest in expensive alternatives.  The last few years of Greenwashing in every industry from Tobacco to Tylenol have proven a few things in both marketing strategies and consumer awareness.  First, consumers are genuinely interested in doing the right thing.  People don’t just care about the environment in general, people want to know specifically how their choices in products and services affect the planet in clear and concise measurable terms including biodegradability, carbon footprint, local-sourcing, sustainability, and toxic pollutants. Second, businesses are learning that sustainability has a positive impact on profits. Conservation strategies will not only reduce costs; real and positive changes can generate goodwill in the community and build loyalty with customers. Here are six ways the funeral home can make a measurable impact without spending a dime.  [Spoiler: Offering sustainable alternatives to your families with clever merchandising will add to your bottom line by saving families money on low margin products so they can spend more on higher margin services.]

1.  Stop mowing the lawn.  Seriously.  If you own or work in a funeral home, lawn maintenance and landscaping is a priority with an annual budget to afford contracted services and/or staff to keep your place of business looking well kept and beautiful.  Talk to your landscaper about shifting those same budget dollars to zero-scape your entire outdoors with trees, mulch, and perennials.  Stop using nitrogen-based fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides that cause great harm to your local waterways and the environment.  You can avoid a large investment by changing green lawn to mulch and perennials in small projects.  There’s no need to do it all at once—create a five-year plan and you’ll spend the same dollars you’re already spending.  You’ll know you’re done when you no longer need that lawnmower, and there are no more gas cans, pesticides, or herbicides stored in the garage.  Best part, your neighbors and families will pay you compliments daily on how great your place looks!

2.  Don’t be Greenwashed, yourself.  You’re a customer too.  Whenever you make purchase decisions be mindful of Greenwashing.  The FTC Green Guides say that marketers' claims must be accompanied with qualifications and disclosures that are clear and prominent.  If you cannot immediately understand how or why a product or service is “better for the planet” then ask questions.  Don’t be mislead by qualitative words including Natural, Organic, Biodegradable, and Eco-friendly that are not accompanied by further qualifications that substantiate the marketer’s claims.

3.  Know your caskets & cemeteries.  For families interested in alternatives to a conventional casketed cemetery burial, have information in-hand so that your families can make informed choices consistent with their values.  Know the locations of 2-3 cemeteries that do not require concrete burial vaults or that have designated areas for natural burials.  Have literature in-hand for manufacturers of natural burial caskets and burial shrouds.  (Don’t be Greenwashed—see #2.)

4.  Memorize three cremation talking points.  Land use, carbon footprint, and toxic pollution. Most people who choose cremation as an alternative to a burial have no idea that the land required to extract, refine, transport, and store the few pounds of fossil fuel for a single cremation is far greater than a single cemetery plot.  It is a matter of fact that the carbon footprint of a single cremation ranges between 350 and 600 lbs. of CO2e—that’s the same footprint as burning 17 to 30 gallons of gasoline!  The US EPA reports that cremation is the third-leading contributor of airborne mercury contamination in the US as well as a cocktail of additional harmful pollutants.

5.  Take your cleaners to the cleaners.  Whether you have a cleaning service or perform cleaning duties with your own team, the cleaners in your funeral home almost certainly contain harmful chemicals.  There are effective alternatives that will make your funeral home both safer and cleaner.  Again, don’t be Greenwashed.  Look for commercial cleaning products that are biodegradable and free of phosphates, chlorine, ammonia, and petroleum distillates.  For the ambitious, there is a wealth of resources online for mixing your own cleaners with inexpensive, easy-to-use, natural cleaners such as baking soda, lemon, borax, vinegar, and citrus solvent.

6.  Start your own tree-planting initiative.  Nobody can argue that planting a tree is a good thing. For as little as $1, the Arbor Day Foundation will plant a tree in memory in a National Forest. Talk to your city forester or parks & recreation department about an making annual contribution to plant a few trees in your community.  Plant a few trees every year on your own properties and maintain them well.  Trees add value to your property.  Businesses like UPS are making real investments in tree-planting and are reaping the benefits in goodwill and customer loyalty.  The UPS Foundation planted 1.3 million trees in 2013 and will plant a million more in 2014.

Natural Burial Shrouds

Could shrouded burials be the next trend in green funerals?

An organic natural burial shroud with a wooden natural burial trundle could be the future in Western funeral service.

If we look at the last 10,000 years of human history the casketed cemetery burial is a rather contemporary practice.  Nearly every religion in both Western and Eastern worlds including Christianity, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhism, and Jewish--which together account for about 70% of the world population--have various death rituals that involve burial shrouds.  For the last several thousand years of human history, the majority of death rituals included some type of burial shroud.  Yet today the shrouded burial is almost unheard of in the Western World.  Very few people--less than 1%--have witnessed or otherwise participated in a shrouded funeral followed by either burial or cremation.

The world population surpassed 7 billion near the end of 2011.  There are more people living on the earth than ever before--and that also means there are more people dying than ever before. More than 50 million people will die this year and most of them will not be entombed in steel or wooden caskets in concrete burial vaults as Westerners today would call a traditional burial. Most of the deaths on this planet of ours will follow a cultural or religious death ritual that involves a burial shroud.

Only recently has the green and natural burial movement brought the burial shroud into conversations on death care in the Western world.  And at that, there appears to be more talk about burial shrouds than actual shrouded funerals.  Very few Westerners are planning shrouded funerals.  A quick survey of google search trends for "burial shroud" shows zero searches prior to 2010 and trace interest since 2011.  Searches for "natural burial shroud" or "green burial shroud" turn up zero searches.

In 2005 the acclaimed HBO series, Six Feet Under, enacted a shrouded burial for one of the lead characters.  The burial shroud used in the final episode was a secular creation by Esmerelda Kent.  An artist and environmentalist inspired by her practice in Buddhism, Esmerelda starting making green burial shrouds in 2004 and founded Kinkaraco.  Hand-made in California from biodegradable natural fibers like organic cotton, linen, and silk, Kinkaraco provides burial shrouds to funeral homes throughout the United States.

Could shrouds be the next trend for green and natural burial?  The Green Burial Council is an advocate of burial shrouds as are the many conservation cemeteries opening up around the U.S.  Kevin Corrado, natural burial facilitator at the Natural Path Sanctuary in Verona, Wisconsin expresses "that our preference is biodegradable fabric shrouds, but we do allow caskets and other containers."  Several funeral homes in close proximity to natural burial sites are adding green funeral packages but typically include a green casket made from biodegradable materials including wood, willow, and seagrass.  Those that offer a shroud are finding that very few families opt for a natural burial shroud when a green casket is available.

There are a handful of online retailers who sell green burial shrouds to the public or via wholesale to funeral homes.  In addition to Kinkaraco, also founded in 2004 there is the Natural Burial Company founded by former organic grocer, Cynthia Beal, based in Eugene, Oregon. Tennessee-based, Forlora offers burial shrouds made from dupioni silk or cotton inspired by the Baha'i faith but also offers secular shrouds since 2010.  Another online retailer, Village Memorial, offers a selection cotton burial shrouds.  Retail prices for burial shrouds tend to range from $250 for cotton and up to $500 or more for silk and intricate hand-made designs.

What families are opting for a natural burial shroud?  Dwight Cushman, founder of Village Memorial, has observed that families opting for a burial shroud are doing so out of a need to be more hands-on in the funeral ritual.  In the last few years there has been a transition by many shroud makers to move from their culturally or religiously inspired roots to make shrouds that are secular and more creatively expressive.  Artisans are adding their own personal touches utilizing reclaimed printed fabrics, natural dyes, scented oils, flower petals, and a variety of other creations.  Those opting for shrouds seek an alternative to the conventional funeral.

In the great scheme of things, Westerners make big changes quickly.  In 1950, 70% of caskets buried in the United States were made of wood.  By the late 1960s, steel replaced wood with 60% of the market.  Similarly, cremation trended from less than 4% in the 1960s to more than 40% by 2010.  Contemporary burial shrouds just might have the right blend of environmental consciousness, artistic expression, hands-on involvement, historic relevance, affordability, and a loose connection to a variety of religions faiths to appeal to the very diverse population that makes up the Western World today in order to become the next great shift in funeral practices in the United States.  

Reverse Brainstorming: What is the most unsustainable funeral a person could choose?

A creative thinking technique employed by Speedo researchers in 2009, reverse brainstorming helped the team conceptualize new designs for competitive swimwear when the company's revolutionary and controversial swim suits were banned after the record-breaking 2008 Summer Olympic games.  Experts in fluid dynamics, biomechanics, and psychology envisioned a combination of oversized goggles and a body-compressing suit to create drag.  Imagining the opposite of what we want can help hone our creative thinking to get closer to the results we do want.

Now imagine the company of a casket builder, a physician, a funeral director, and a pharmacist along with our wives enjoying an evening of cocktails on the patio at a local supper club.  I cannot share all of the details of our reverse brainstorming on the worst funeral choices we could imagine for the environment, but the highlights are worth repeating.  As for the exercise, I invite you to try reverse brainstorming this, or any, subject and experience the creativity that can result in a collaborative discussion among your family, friends, or work colleagues. 

We quickly listed all funeral choices that we know are harmful in some manner to the environment or our health.  Casket? Yes.  Concrete Burial Vault?  Yes.  Embalming?  Yes.  Cremation?  Yes.   Burial Plot?  Yes.  Large grave stone?  Yes.  As we explored the details we set some boundaries for ourselves.  We didn’t intend to confuse “elaborate” as the opposite of being eco-friendly.  We also didn’t want to consider impractical choices nobody would ever make (like cremating a 24-karat gold casket).

Our reverse brainstorming helped us imagine the worst possible set of choices money could buy in funeral service.  We concluded our evening with several good laughs and each of us took home some ideas for our own end-of-life plans.  So what might the worst possible (but reasonably probable) funeral service look like from a Green perspective on funerals?

Well, there would have to be a cremation for a carbon footprint of about 600 lbs. of CO2, but not without a full service funeral with our embalmed body.  After all, a large number of cremations in the U.S. are embalmed.  In addition to the carbon footprint, cremation generates emissions of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, mercury, hydrogen fluoride (HF), hydrogen chloride (HCl), NMVOCs, and other heavy metals, in addition to Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP).   For those of us metal implants or dental fillings, the impact of incineration releases harmful dioxins and mercury.  There is an ongoing debate on how to address mercury poisoning from cremation which the United States EPA believes is the 3rd largest contributor of air-born mercury contamination.

Our casket would have to be an imported Indonesian natural burial casket made from seagrass. While it is biodegradable, a seagrass casket weighing 70 lbs. would have a carbon impact of more than 2500 lbs. (even more than imported stainless steel) after being shipped to an American port by ocean cargo, then air freighted to a commercial airport in the Midwest, and finally transported by truck to our funeral home.  And if our seagrass came from a controversial area where fisheries were compromised by seagrass farming, even better.  And if our casket could be woven by the hands of underpaid laborers (or even children) we’d be sublime.

We planned a funeral home visitation followed by a full service funeral the next day at a church for the added fuss of transporting our body and our families.  After the cremation we’d have our cremated remains interred at a cemetery and another memorial service so that everybody could start their cars three times to drive to at least three locations to pay their respects during our funeral.  All three of our funeral events would be thoroughly adorned with cut flowers—another industry rife with environmental and energy controversies.

Our cremated remains would be interred in a concrete cremation vault in a full-sized cemetery plot next to our loved ones.  We’d hope that our cemetery of choice used only the finest pesticides and herbicides to maintain a plush green lawn manicured regularly with two-stroke oil-burning trimmers and leaf blowers.  Oh, and the trees, of course take out the trees because they leave such a mess every fall.  After all of this, we will have left behind a larger impact after our death than in the final 2-3 years of our living lives.

Sustainability in Death Care: From Trend to Movement

Trends come and go without consequence.  Movements come and stay until they are no longer needed because the world has changed entirely.  Movements happen when a group of people work hard toward a change.  A movement with a humble beginning credited to the 1998 opening of Ramsey Creek Preserve in rural South Carolina has blossomed into a momentous change in modern burial practices.  One example includes the expansion of natural burial service offerings by one of the industry's largest cemetery and funeral service providers, StoneMor Partners, L.P. (STON).

Mark Harris, author of the 2007 award-winning book, Grave Matters, opined on his blog last month at how quickly America’s cemeteries have changed.  While there were very few modern green cemeteries in America prior to 1998, today there are hundreds of existing and new cemeteries embracing sustainable burial practices to varying degrees of “going green” from merely allowing families to forgo concrete burial vaults to prohibiting vaults, monuments, and embalming entirely.

Several national market surveys by leading research groups in the last three years have reported that most people would consider a natural burial.  In some regard, almost everyone values the environment when making choices in how they live from choosing what car they will drive to deciding what food they will eat.  When asked specifically, most people extend their environmental values in making end-of-life choices.  Making end-of-life choices consistent with one’s values is a matter of being informed when it comes to the environmental impact of cremation, embalming, caskets, vaults, and other choices in death care.

The natural burial movement has brought death care discussions to the dinner table.  When people ask good questions and share their values with one another, real change happens.  The independent film, “A Will for the Woods,” is the first feature-length documentary on the green burial movement.  The film has stirred attention and conversation around the world through a comprehensive campaign including a Kickstarter project, social media buzz, film festivals, and local screenings.  This movie is garnering the attention of Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers alike adding to the momentum of the green burial movement.

Many in the death care industry in the early 2000s contended that “green burial” would be a short-lived trend.  Some early adopters of greener funerals were subject to accusations of greenwashing from their contemporaries.  Today, we are witnessing a new era of Big Business on the Green bandwagon.  We are living in a time when a Mountain View, California Walmart store hosted the President of the United States for a press event highlighting the White House’s renewed push for solar energy.  Conservation, recycling, carbon emissions, toxicity, pollution, energy use, renewable energy… these are all part of big business initiatives to some degree in every trade or industry.  Death care is no exception.

I’m sort of done with Green.  It isn’t enough to declare one’s individual or company intentions as “good for the environment.”  The sustainability movement has made such declarations pointless and irrelevant.  Every company—even big companies—from Apple to Walmart are going green.  Even the nation’s largest trash removal company, Waste Management, has built an entire marketing campaign on going green.  I say that if we aim to convince somebody that they should consider our product or service because it is greener, we must be prepared to talk about exactly how we will contribute to creating a safer and healthier environment right now in the present and in the future.  We need to provide specific and measurable benefits of our products and services, or our families won’t pay attention.  While it is true that “being green” isn't easy, it is no longer a differentiator either.  Sorry, Kermit.

It's not easy being green.