Amid the concrete jungle, a growing number of New Yorkers are embracing green burials, a more sustainable alternative to traditional interments.
Inquiries about placing the body directly in the earth, forgoing embalming and using biodegradable materials have increased so much at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, staff there organized an hours-long seminar this fall that was packed with about 80 curious residents, death doulas and family members planning after-death care.
“It’s certainly not traditional but interest, in general, is way up,” said Theresa Wozunk, a memorial counselor at Green-Wood.
Whereas most Americans opt to be cremated or buried in a casket, there are now plenty of people looking for a natural alternative, said Amy Cunningham, a licensed New York State Funeral Director and owner of Fitting Tribute Funeral Services.
Green burials are more shallow and do not come with a marker. Because a body is not chemically treated, the remains naturally decompose and become part of the earth, she said.
“People who choose green burials like to think that their body has a usefulness to the earth,” Cunningham said.
Although most Americans are opting to be cremated over burials, over 61% of people surveyed would be interested in exploring green funeral options because of their potential environmental benefits, cost savings or for some other reason, according to a 2025 survey from the National Funeral Directors Association.
In Brooklyn, you can choose to be buried in a non-treated pine box or a burial basket, with or without a cotton shroud, Woznuk said. Although you can have a green burial anywhere in the cemetery, many New Yorkers are purchasing a grave site in the Cedar Dell section, a former parcel where the Reformed Dutch Church of the City Of Brooklyn used to bury their congregation, she said.
About half of the 90 available spaces here have been sold since 2023 to New Yorkers who intend to have a green burial, Wozunk said. Customers like the notion of being naturally buried in Cedar Dell as it’s an area where the cemetery hosts a lot of dance and music performances, she added.
“Someone might literally be dancing on your grave,” she said.
Sarah Lasswell, a casket weaver and owner of Moss & Thistle Farm, said many people have gravitated towards natural burial vessels because they have a warmer feel.
“Baskets smell good,” Lasswell said. “The sun shines through them. It might be the new, old way of getting buried.”
Lasswell, who has been a weaver for about five years, also grows her own willow used to create her burial baskets on her farm near Ashville, N.C..
Customers can order a basket of their choice to be delivered when finished, or come down to Lasswell’s farm to weave one with her. It usually takes about five days to weave one casket.
Lasswell once spent several days with a client in her Upper East Side home to weave a funeral basket that included ribbons and twigs from Central Park.
“People really open up when you’re weaving together,” she said about the range of emotions and experiences clients have shared with her.
Myriam Etienne, a former child care operator turned death doula, said she attended the workshop to educate herself so she can advise her clients accordingly.
“It’s better that I know all the ins and outs of green burials to be able to properly guide people when they are planning for the life hereafter,” she said. “Everyone should know their options.”
Like everything in the city, green burials at Green-Wood Cemetery are not cheap. While many green burials can cost several thousand dollars outside of the city, in Brooklyn it starts at around $18,000.
New Yorkers looking for a green burial in a natural open space or a field turn to the natural burial ground at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, about 33 miles north of Brooklyn, according to Cunningham.
“A good funeral can send people out with a new outlook or agenda,” she said. “Many Americans are turning to green funerals to find solace in nature.”
