“Getting a Green Burial in New Mexico” is one of the panel discussions at the Before I Die New Mexico Festival Symposium. During this one-hour discussion, the experts on the panel examine a range of green burial issues. Topics include what green burial means, how Jewish funerals are naturally eco-friendly, different ways to green your final disposition, the different shades of green in funeral arrangements, hospice and home funerals, and other topics.

The Symposium was held on Saturday, November 3 at the UNM Continuing Education Center in Albuquerque. The event was co-sponsored by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of New Mexico. Watch the video of the panel here:

Meet the Panelists

(L to R) Darren Crouch, Passages International; Emet Ma’ayan, Fathers Building Futures; Darrell Hill, EternityGardens.com; Linda Canyon, La Puerta Natural Burial Ground.

Darrell Hill, Founder+CEO of EternityGardens.com, is a career marketing professional and brand strategist. Darrell has more than two decades of experience building marketing and branding platforms in the healthcare and banking industries as well as servicing clients as a brand strategy consultant. Darrell launched EternityGardens.com in 2016 as way to honor the wishes of his parents who have chosen to be cremated and who wish to have their ashes scattered “somewhere pretty.." His company, part of the Polsky Incubator at the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, connects cremation families with cemeteries and scattering services where they may lay to rest cremated remains. Learn more at www.EternityGardens.com.

Darrell earned an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, studied the General Course at the London School of Economics, and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Howard University. He has also attended the ICCFA University as an Educational Foundation Scholarship Recipient. Darrell and his wife have three school-aged children and live in Chicago.

Darren Crouch is President and co-founder of Passages International Inc., an innovative company specializing in the design and manufacture of environmentally-friendly and biodegradable funeral products. Founded in 1999, Passages focuses on creating eco-friendly urns, caskets and memorial items for those families opting for less traditional funerals. It has helped funeral homes integrate green marketing and merchandizing into their traditional funeral offerings. Visit their website at www.PassagesInternational.com.

Darren has served as a board member of the Green Burial Council and is also the founder of www.AGreenerFuneral.org, a website designed to educate consumers about options for greening their funeral and connecting these consumers with funeral homes offering greener alternatives.

Darren holds a BSc. (Hons) degree from Manchester Metropolitan University in Manchester, England and now lives with his wife and daughters in New Mexico: an area renowned not only for it’s exceptional beauty, but also for its leadership in solar power, green building and design. With offices in Europe and North America, Passages International, Inc. continues to grow and is a global leader in green and environmentally-friendly funeral products.

Emet Ma’ayan, LCSW, is the Founder of Fathers Building Futures, an Albuquerque-based social enterprise managed by and for formerly incarcerated parents. Emet designed and launched Fathers Building Futures utilizing a collaborative model and strategies that led to a business model based on the principles of quality, safety, integrity, and responsibility (Q-SIR). Fathers Building Futures’ caskets are 100% environmentally friendly and certified kosher by the Cantorial and Rabbinic Association of New Mexico. Their website is www.FathersBuildingFutures.org.

Linda Jo Canyon, OTR/L, together with Dr. Donal W. Key, developed and own Natural Burial New Mexico and La Puerta Natural Burial Ground, a 40-acre cemetery at the base of the Manzano Mountains dedicated to green burial and certified by the national Green Burial Council. At their website, they offer guidance for home funerals and greening final arrangements: www.NaturalBurialNewMexico.com.

Linda is a registered, licensed occupational therapist with a dual degree in psychology and specialties in the rehabilitation of cancer patients and hospice care. Linda is also a national speaker on the topics of Cancer Treatment: Beyond Survival and End of Life Rights and Choices.

About the Before I Die New Mexico Festival

The six-day Before I Die New Mexico Festival offered activities to get us thinking about, talking about and doing something about our 100% mortality rate. Events took place October 30 to November 4, 2018, at multiple locations in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Belen.

Thank you to the sponsors and partners who made the Before I Die New Mexico Festival possible:

The Before I Die NM Festival was made possible by these sponsors:

• A Good Goodbye Death educator Gail Rubin puts the “fun." in funeral planning.
• EternityGardens.com Giving families looking for a final resting place for cremated remains guidance on the range of options available for people and pets.
• National Guardian Life Insurance Company For more than 100 years, one of America’s most successful and highly rated independent mutual life insurance companies.
• FRENCH Funerals and Cremations Albuquerque’s largest and oldest family-owned funeral service company.
• Morris Hall New Mexico’s premiere estate planning attorneys.
• EstatePros Your expert resource for property organization, distribution and administration.
• Legacy Concierge Helping prevent identity theft, secure digital access to online accounts, and provide a host of other important services to the families of the deceased.
• Passages International A leading provider of environmentally friendly funeral options for burial and cremated remains.
• Zia Trust The Advisors’ Trust Company®.

Partners were La Puerta Natural Burial Ground, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of New Mexico, Guild Cinema, Berardinelli Family Funeral Service, Children’s Grief Center of New Mexico, Compassion & Choices NM Action Team, Daniels Family Funeral Services, Catholic Cemetery Association, and LifeIZShort.com.

Learn more about the Before I Die New Mexico Festival by calling event coordinator Gail Rubin at 505-265-7215 or visiting the website, www.BeforeIDieNM.com.