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A decade of research into natural, conservation, and restoration deathcare
“The problems first revealed in The American Way of Death (J. Mitford, 1963) are given solutions for the 21st century.” – Ruth Miller Ph.D.
Restoring America: Everyone’s Guide to the Revolution in Natural, Conservation, and Restoration Deathcare by our co-founder Dr. Diana Cunningham was researched over ten years and written during the pandemic. Restoring America is the guidebook to the modern natural, conservation, and restoration burial movement in the United States. Drawing on Dr. Cunningham’s decade of research and experience founding the Sanctuary, the book traces the history of American deathcare, the rise of the conservation burial movement, and the principles of restoration burial that the Friends of Cathedral Trees Sanctuary now practice.
It is a 300-page complete manual on how to have a GBC-certified Conservation, Natural, or Restoration burial for your deathcare in America, including 12 regional Certified conservation and restoration projects in the USA.
Dr. Cunningham’s most recent book, The Natural American Way of Death, is now available on Amazon and by special order through your local bookstore or library.
The book documents approximately 25 public-health and environmental benefits of conservation and restoration deathcare. It is the result of ten years of research into the medical and ecological consequences of conventional cemetery practice and cremation — including data from the EPA, the U.S. Geological Service, and the International Academy of Oral and Medical Toxicology — and explains why a return to natural burial is one of the most powerful environmental choices an individual can make.
Testimonials for The Natural American Way of Deathcare
“I have read your chapter [on mercury] and found it to be excellent…” -Professor Emeritus Dr. Boyd Haley, PhD, IAOMT science advisor and America’s mercury expert, former researcher for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for twenty-three years, University of Kentucky professor of chemistry, and author of over 100 peer-reviewed articles
“Dr. Cunningham makes an indisputable case for funeral and disposition reform that will reduce mercury exposure for people and the planet, an underreported danger made imminent through the rise in cremation. Of all the many reasons for abandoning our current wasteful and harmful disposition practices in favor of embracing clean, simple, and beneficial care of the dead, followed by natural burial, this is right up there…From diagnosis to disposition, we are faced with a myriad of choices that affect ourselves, our loved ones, our caregivers, and the planet. By following the threads of home care and eco-responsible disposition options that Dr. Cunningham has discussed, we can create our own best exit strategy.” -Lee Webster, Co-Founder, Conservation Burial Alliance and New Hampshire Funeral Resources, Author, The After-Death Care Educator Handbook (Amazon, 2023)
“I have been eagerly awaiting a book like this; indeed this book— for some time. It takes on two critical topics: that of the horrific toll that cremation takes on our environment, mostly via the release of mercury into air, water, and soil, and ultimately, the creatures that inhabit the earth. The second covers the reasons that we should choose burial with as few interventions as possible, and as many natural amendments to the land receiving these bodies. It urges the re-embrace of traditional forms of honoring the life and the passage of our loved ones and ourselves – or the creation of new, individualized and meaningful practices that recognize that the passage out of corporeal life is every bit as sacred as birth into it. This can be our last gift to someone we love, and to the earth.” -Dr. Elisabeth Curry, retired D.C. and Nurse Practitioner, member of the Baha’i faith
“Having been a birth doula for years, and present at many deaths and natural burials, having shrouded and blessed loved ones, I know the sacredness of those moments when the door between the physical and spiritual world opens. Setting a lovingly shrouded body on a bed of pine boughs in the grave with rose petals floated atop the body is an amazingly beautiful thing. Diana captures the beauty of a loving transformation for the deceased and their loved one.” –-Phyllis Wetzel, RN and birth doula, Ashland, Oregon
“Thorough, organized, useful. Dr. Cunningham’s detailed guide, full of photos, checklists, and graphs, is a conscientious and user-friendly tool for sustainable and meaningful death care. Well researched and sourced. A fascinating read!” –-Elizabeth Fournier, natural funeral director, Cornerstone Funeral Home, Oregon; author The Green Burial Guidebook
“As the author of a guidebook to natural burial cemeteries, I am keenly aware of the value to both nature and humans of making burials natural and formalizing the relationship between natural burial and landscape preservation and restoration. I appreciate Dr. Cunningham’s detailed explanation of the dangers of mercury exposure and its persistence in the cremation process, hailed by many as “green.” Her argument successfully underscores the need to greatly expand the amount of land devoted to certified natural and conservation cemeteries.” – Ann Hoffner, author, The Natural Burial Cemetery Guide, https://www.greenburialnaturally.org
“One more nail in the coffin for the outdated, unsustainable environmental disaster that is the American way of death. Cunningham astutely provides all the information one needs to rethink a more natural and greener final disposition choice. Recommended reading for those who plan to die.” – Sara Williams, President, Funeral Consumers Alliance and Emeritus Board Member, National Home Funeral Alliance
“As a healthcare practitioner who works with many elders, and as a daughter who has witnessed both her parents’ transition out of their bodies, I cannot recommend Dr. Cunningham’s thoughtful treatise highly enough. She has presented a wealth of information in a clear yet detailed manner. I was especially engaged by her discussions of how to create (in some cases, re-learn) rituals around loved ones’ deaths, home deathcare, and organic and natural burial. Personally, ever since childhood, I have wanted my body returned to the earth when I die; Dr. Cunnigham’s excellent work provides many ideas of how to go about this.” -Dr. Caressa Gullikson, DC, Hands On Wellness Chiropractic Clinic
“Marshaling an astonishing array of facts and analysis, Dr. Cunningham’s book challenges the misconception that cremation is a “green” choice, revealing the environmental costs associated with this practice, including industrial pollutants and carbon emissions. Her book is essential reading as she likewise exposes conventional burials involving embalming and caskets as no longer acceptable choices, and provides detailed alternatives as she offers guidance to readers to embrace instead far more meaningful, and financially and environmentally sustainable, natural or conservation burials, which can help mitigate climate change by storing carbon in the soil, while re-humanizing funerals and burials for families.”– Harold W. Wood, Jr. , Editor, Pantheist Vision, Universal Pantheist Society, Tucson, Arizona.
“A must-read for anyone planning to throw a funeral in their lifetime. This book takes death and burials and manages to make them a subject that can help families make important decisions when a loved one nears death. For too long, these important decisions have been made by an industry that often takes advantage of grieving families. The information about cremations and the environment is truly educational. Best of luck with this remarkable piece.” -Linda Berkowitz, JD, retired attorney, Florida
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I: The Problem(s)
Chapter 1
Why We Need a Revolution In Our Deathcare
How Cremation is Killing Us: Mercury and “The Dirty Dozen”
Part II: Solutions across America
Chapter 2
The New Deathcare: A Renewal of Ancient Practices
Chapter 3
New Choices: Certified Natural, Conservation, and Restoration Deathcare
Chapter 4
The Conservation Burial Movement is Born at Ramsey Creek Preserve
Chapter 5
Exotic Flora and Lush Verdure of the South
Chapter 6
Rolling Green Hills of the Midwest and Northeast
Chapter 7
Towering Groves and Ancient Echoes in the Northwest
Chapter 8
Our Future and the Revolution in Deathcare:
Why Restoration and Conservation Burials Are the Way of the Future
Chapter 9
Practical Celebrations of Life and Death with Nature
Chapter 10
Natural Vigils and Home Funeral Guides: Care for the Living and the Dead
Chapter 11
The Deeper Reasons for Conservation and Restoration Deathcare:
Creating New Life Through Restoration for People and Nature
Chapter 12
Caring for Our Future and the Earth:
Documenting Our Natural Death Care Plan At Any Age
Chapter 13
How to Avoid Being Greenwashed in Your Deathcare Decisions:
Or, How to Avoid Mercury and Killing the Living with Your Deathcare Choices
Epilogue; Appendices: Resources; Advance Conservation Deathcare Directive; Acknowledgments; References and over 100 Footnotes from Pubmed and the International Academy of Oral and Medical Toxicology!
Dr. Cunningham saying hello to her favorite Grandmother sugar pine tree at Castle Lake near Mt. Shasta
Further Reading
Our Vice President, Michael Murphy CFA, has written a “Get Your Affairs in Order” Natural Burial Guidebook to assist with finances and end-of-life planning. He is also available to help you transfer an existing cremation plan into a natural deathcare reservation. Please call (541) 500-7611 for the Guidebook or to schedule a planning conversation.
Green Burial Council — certification standards and educational resources
Conservation Burial Alliance
International Academy of Oral and Medical Toxicology library
The Hidden Life of Trees (illustrated edition) by Peter Wohlleben — inspirational reading on tree-family relationships in the forest