217. A Sustainable Death: Rethinking End Of Life Practices with Hunter Beattie of Endswell Cremation

What are more sustainable death practices that we can can consider as alternatives to the expensive and consumptive services offered in the modern funeral industry? CEO of Endswell Cremation Hunter Beattie is our guest today, here to discuss the green burial movement, the problems with our current death rituals and practices and how the process of aquamation offered by his company is another choice over cremation or burial. Hunter shares his honest emotional personal journey with death, the founding of Endswell and the philosophy behind providing thoughtful, compassionate end-of-life services.

Topics Discussed

· The Good Death Movement

· The Green Burial Movement

· Misconceptions About Cremation

· The Deal with Spreading Ashes

· Death Cafe, Death Doulas, and Death Conferences

· End of Life Care with Your Parents

· Living with Grief

· Neurodegenerative Conditions

· The Predatory Nature of the Funeral Industry

· The History of the Modern Funeral Industry

· Working with Hospice Workers

· Understanding Aquamation

· Green Burial Movement

· Community Involvement

· Burying On Your Own Land

· Reclaiming Death Rituals Rituals and Eco-Friendly Death Care

· Eco-Friendly Death Care

Episode Resources:

· Listen to The Good Dirt “Episode 65 | Where Nature is Enough: Rethinking Death Practices with Heidi Hannapel of Bluestem Conservation Cemetery

· Listen to The Good Dirt “Creating Sustainability in the Death Care Industry with Tom Harries of Earth Funeral”

· WorkAway

· Final Exit

· Read Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

· NPR Article “A plain pine coffin and eco-friendly cremation are the last acts of Desmond Tutu” on Desmond Tutu’s Aquamation

· Order of the Good Death

Connect with Hunter Beattie:

· Website: https://endswellcremation.com

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/endswellaquamationandgallery/

· Farewell Earth Network: https://farewellearth.org

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Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Fast Forward Production.

🌿 The Good Dirt Producers:

· Wendy Gray