Book Review: Our Last Best Act: Planning for the End of Our Lives to Protect the People and Places We Love by Mallory McDuff
by Melinda Gustafson Gervasi
July 12, 2024
Based on the recommendation of a longtime friend, I recently read Mallory McDuff's 2021 book, Our Last Best Act: Planning for the End of Our Lives to Protect the People and Places We Love. Unlike many other green burial style books I have read, this one is more memoir than resource guide. McDuff, an environmental educator at Warren Wilson College outside of Ashville, North Carolina spends a year exploring cost-effective and environmentally friendly burial options. She states that many of her friends assume that flame cremation is greener than a conventional burial. While that may be true, she sought alternatives that use smaller amounts of fossil fuels and include the family in after-death care. Chapters explore options such as burials using shrouds and pine boxes to water-based cremation (known as aquamation) to body donation and human composting. Beyond just a memoir, the book introduces the readers to new options in the area of final disposition, and includes references to organizations that support further growth in this area. If you are interested in protecting the earth and or a frugal burial, this book would be worth the read.
1 comment:
Miss your book list. I read many after you posted about them.
Post a Comment