Natural Death Care: Caring for the Body, Caring for the Earth

Ruth Faas' work at Mourning Dove Studio in Arlington arose after the deaths of her parents in 1984 and 2004 and from her experience living above a funeral home for three months as a teenager. Started in 2007, Mourning Dove Studio was founded from her own personal experiences – equal parts environmental concern and the need for better ways to grapple with grief. Caskets and shrouds are environmentally-sound and sensible, and designed for personally-meaningful commemoration.  

Viennia Lopes Booth explores the rich intersections of life, death and the plant world as an educator, advocate, land trust steward, community herbalist and earth tender. Inspired by a deep respect for nature and a profound personal experience caring for her father before and after death, she began considering how our choices—both in life and at death—affect the land, our communities, and one another. She is working to bring a conservation burial ground and community sanctuary space to southeastern Massachusetts—a vision rooted in regenerative deathcare, land stewardship and community connection.

Heather Massey, MSW, LMT is a Death Educator and funeral consumer advocate specializing in, and passionate about, teaching and reviving the ancient art of natural deathcare, and the many benefits therein for families, communities, and the environment.