On this tiny spec we call home in the universe, matter is neither created nor destroyed. Every living thing is created from the Earth. Death and life are the two sides of the same coin. They are both constant and infinite, yet we experience them as finite.

For the entirely of our species and those that we evolved from, our bodies have been nourished from the earth, and then returned to the earth. An eloquent quote from the Christian bible in the book of Genesis 3:19 sums this up with the passage, "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

Yet, by a cultural practice in the West, we are not returning to the earth any longer. We are pumped full of toxic preservatives, put into a resource-intensive casket made of wood, metal, plastic, and chemicals, lowered into a cement-lined grave, and then covered with soil in a field marked by tombstones for time-memorial. This practice is neither sustainable, nor natural.

In this episode of The Regenerative Real Estate Podcast, Jodie Buller from The White Eagle Memorial Preserve at Ekone Ranch talks about natural burials and how it enables the stewardship of both land and souls. It is one of only a few wilderness cemeteries in the U.S. and is designated a conservation burial ground by the Green Burial Council.

This is a moving and beautiful conversation that will help us all remember what is means to be alive; to be human; and how we can remember our role in the evolutionary process of Life even when we have passed on.

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