Hope Eternal Gardens Joins Global Green Burial Alliance Florida Discussion

On September 18th, 2025, we were honored to join the Global Green Burial Alliance’s Florida Forum alongside leaders from across the state. The conversation brought together a diverse group of voices working toward more sustainable, meaningful end-of-life options in Florida.

This forum was designed to highlight the growing momentum behind green burial, water cremation, end-of-life education, and ecological legacy projects. By creating space for open dialogue, the Global Green Burial Alliance helps communities learn about alternatives to conventional burial and cremation practices — choices that restore the earth while honoring the lives of those we love.

What Is the Global Green Burial Alliance?

The Global Green Burial Alliance (GGBA) is an international coalition dedicated to promoting natural and sustainable burial practices around the world. The alliance connects cemeteries, end-of-life doulas, funeral professionals, and educators who share the mission of restoring ecosystems, reducing environmental impact, and offering families more meaningful ways to honor loved ones.

Through regional forums like this one in Florida, GGBA fosters collaboration between practitioners, encourages policy conversations, and raises awareness of ecological end-of-life choices. Their vision is to normalize green burial as a standard practice worldwide — one that supports both personal legacy and planetary healing.

Why Green Burial Matters

Conventional cemeteries often rely on embalming chemicals, concrete vaults, and intensive lawn care — practices that consume resources and limit the natural return of the body to the earth. Green burial takes a restorative approach.

Instead of chemicals or vaults, the body is placed in a biodegradable shroud, casket, or urn, allowing for a simple return to the soil. This choice makes it possible to:

• Restore ecosystems – Every green burial contributes to healthier soil, native plant growth, and thriving wildlife habitats.

• Reduce carbon impact – By eliminating vaults, lawn mowing, and chemical treatments, families choose a legacy that is lighter on the planet.

• Create living memorials – Families can take part in planting memorial trees or forests, ensuring that each burial adds beauty and life to the landscape.

• Honor values – Green burial reflects a desire for simplicity, sustainability, and authenticity — values that many families find deeply meaningful.

In Florida, where land and water resources are especially vulnerable, natural burial offers both personal comfort and ecological healing. Families are increasingly drawn to cemeteries like Hope Eternal Gardens, Prairie Creek, Glendale, and Heartwood because they see how love and legacy can take root in living landscapes.

Our Contribution

At Hope Eternal Gardens, we shared how our state-licensed natural burial cemetery is designed to integrate memorial micro-forests, ecological restoration, and community gathering spaces. Our mission is to offer families a meaningful way to honor loved ones while also restoring the land for future generations.

Unlike conventional cemeteries, Hope offers families an opportunity to:

• Choose biodegradable burial options without embalming, vaults, or chemical use.

• Participate in planting memorial forests using the Miyawaki Method, creating thriving native ecosystems that grow for generations.

• Connect with nature through future gathering spaces such as cottages, boardwalks, and artist studios that are part of our masterplan.

Our mission is to reimagine what a cemetery can be — a place where grief is met with beauty, where families can gather, and where the land itself is renewed.

We’re grateful to the Global Green Burial Alliance for hosting this conversation and to our fellow panelists for their inspiring work across the state.

Panelists Included

• Laura Starkey – Heartwood Preserve Conservation Cemetery (Cemetery): A conservation cemetery within an 87-acre nature preserve, Heartwood offers natural burial alongside nature trails, education programs, and wildlife habitat.

• Fawn Hendricks – Glendale Memorial Nature Preserve (Cemetery): One of Florida’s earliest natural burial preserves, Glendale protects longleaf pine forest and offers burials within a conservation landscape.

• Lauren Robie – Hope Eternal Gardens (Cemetery): Southwest Florida’s first state-licensed natural burial cemetery, integrating memorial micro-forests, wetlands restoration, and community gathering spaces.

• Shanti Vani – Transforming Grief & Florida End of Life Doula Alliance (Death Doula): An end-of-life doula and grief educator, Shanti helps families navigate death and dying with compassion, and expands public understanding through FEOLDA’s monthly educational series.

• Steve Pomerantz – Gentle Water Cremation (Water Cremation): A pioneer in water cremation (alkaline hydrolysis), offering families a gentler, eco-friendly alternative to flame cremation.

• Freddie Johnson – Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery (Cemetery): A nationally recognized conservation cemetery partnered with Alachua Conservation Trust, protecting more than 1,200 acres of wild Florida landscape.

• Rabbi Jay Lyons – South Florida Jewish Cemetery (Cemetery): A faith-based cemetery providing natural burial aligned with Jewish tradition, serving families with reverence and ecological responsibility.

📺 Jump right to Hope Eternal Gardens or watch the whole forum discussion from the beginning:

Looking Ahead

The Global Green Burial Alliance’s Florida Forum was more than a panel — it was a reminder that across Florida, communities are embracing change. From conservation cemeteries and water cremation to end-of-life education and grief support, families now have access to a wider range of choices that reflect both their values and their love for the earth.

At Hope Eternal Gardens, we are proud to be part of this movement. Together with our partners and peers, we are proving that cemeteries can be places of renewal — for people, for land, and for generations to come.