Today I spent most of the day polishing and massaging the new website that I've been working on for a while. It is called Novaterium, a made-up word based on 'nova' meaning new, and 'cometerium' which is a tract of land used for burials. It is a worldwide directory of green funeral options.
Over a year ago, Rory Rickwood, a Human Resources professional from Canada, lost his father who was a bit of an 'eco-warrior' and Rory wanted to give him an environmentally sound send off. But he couldn't find any green funeral choices in his area... but he did find this blog, where I've been mentioning Promession for a while, a 'composting burial' technology. He contacted me and asked if Promession was available yet, and I had to tell him it still hadn't been launched commercially, but was at least a year away, and would first be available in Sweden and South Korea.
So earlier this year, Rory contacted me and asked me how much I wanted to promote green funerals. I was, as you'd expect, enthusiastic. He suggested that we could co-operatively start a website with information about the issues and a directory of goods, services and 'natural burial' sites around the world. So, since then we've been working on it, using the professional services of Jim and Jamie at Semlyen IT. Today, the website went live. The worldwide directory is still being populated... it's a very slow job, involving two mapping websites and pretty laborious cutting and pasting of co-ordinates. The website is dedicated to Rory's Dad.
I got a couple of emails from people who either received the Press Release that Rory sent out, or have a 'Google Alert' on one or more of the key words. One was from the Netherlands, the other from an operator of several UK woodland burial sites.
I did nothing but add these sites to the maps today. Adding one site takes between 20 and 40 minutes. If any reader of this blog knows of a 'green funeral solution' which ought to be on this website, please send me the details.
I had already made a facebook page for the site, and I clicked 'publish' today, and by midnight there were already 19 fans on this page. My next job is to send out the Press Release to UK recipients.
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1 comment:
Hi John
Excellent website, glad to see that you have listed Brocklands at Settle. It is well thought of round here and has made people I know think about what they want in the end. It surprised me that some people who are far older than me do not realise that they don't need the Church to conduct a funeral service!!
All the best
Love C
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