Resources

Green Burials:
An emerging practice in New Hampshire, green burials provide options for environmentally friendly funeral practices

2026 Health Officer Conference
Wednesday, May 6, 2026
NH Health Officers Association
Manchester, NH
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Step-by-Step Processes
Law
Filing Paperwork
Home Burials
Resources for Professionals
​How to Have a Home Funeral and Home Burial in New Hampshire
How to Have a Green Burial in NH​

Laws

• Roles and Responsibilities of Cemetery Trustees, Drummon/Woodsum Law
• NH Department of Health and Safety Cemetery Document “Cemeteries; Burials; and Dead Bodies” https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt476/files/documents/2021-11/holu-cemeteries-burials-and-dead-bodies.pdf
• NH RSA 289 — Cemeteries

              https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXVI/289/289-mrg.htm

• NH RSA 290 — Burials and Disinterments

              https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/xxvi/290/290-mrg.htm

• NH RSA 325 — Embalmers and Funeral Directors

              https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/NHTOC/NHTOC-XXX-325.htm

• Professional Rules and Regulations for Licensed Funeral Directors

              New Hampshire Title XXX Occupations and Professions 325:40-b

•  NH Funeral and Cemetery Laws Explained

Articles

• Dead Bodies and Disease: the "Danger" That Doesn't Exist, Funeral Consumers Alliance
• Excising a Health Risk, Carol Lynn Green, National Funeral Directors Association Environmental Compliance Counsel
• Risk Evaluation for Formaldehyde, US Environmental Protection Agency
• Dr. Michael Osterholm, Centers for Infectious Disease, letter to senators re: dead bodies and embalming
• Assessment of the effect of occupational exposure to formaldehyde on the risk of lung cancer in two Canadian population-based case-control studies, Mahboubi et al, National Library of Medicine
• The Making of a Germ Panic, Then and Now, Nancy Thomes, PhD, American Journal of Public Health, 2/2000
• The Science Behind Conventional and Natural Burial, Lee Webster et al, from Changing Landscapes and the Green Burial Council
• Conservation Burial and Ground Water, Dr. Billy Campbell, Ramsey Creek Preserve, available at Memorial Ecosystems
• Research on Water Quality in Cemeteries, Lee Webster, 8.25
• The Potential Environmental Impact of Disposition Chart, Lee Webster, 2024 
• Human Composting and Conservation Burial: Comparing Carbon Costs and Benefits, Dr. Billy Campbell and Lee Webster, 2024
• Water Quality and Cemetery Issues, Lee Webster
• Centers for Disease Control, Final Rights, Lisa Carlson and Joshua Slocum
• Mortality From Lymphohematopoietic Malignancies and Brain Cancer Among Embalmers Exposed to Formaldehyde, Michael Hauptmann, et al. Oxford University Press: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2009
•  Job-related formaldehyde exposure and ALS mortality in the USA, Andrea L Roberts, et al., Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, Vol. 87, Issue 7, BJM Publishing Group Limited, 2017
•  Mortality of U.S. Embalmers and funeral directors, Dr. Richard B. Hayes PhD, et al. New York: American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1990
• When I Go, I'm Going Green, Paula Span, New York Times
• Articles and books about natural burial and more
• Current statistics
• List of Green Burial Cemeteries in the US and Canada
• Natural Burial Glossary

Organizations
Natural Burial New Hampshire
White Mountain Conservation Burial
Conservation Burial Alliance
Green Burial Council
Funeral Consumers Alliance