"Having a green burial is one more thing a person can do to lessen the impact we're having on our environment," said Dorothy Yada of the Memorial Society of British Columbia.

"Environmental organizations should take it on as something they could add to their list of things to do ... if people asked for it more often, (the cemeteries and funeral parlors) would do it."

Bodies are typically embalmed to preserve the remains for public display at funerals. The results last about 10 days before decomposition begins again.

"Embalming does three things... It requires the body to be worked over, organs sucked out and replaced with carcinogens. Second, it requires workers to be exposed to two potentially toxic chemicals (formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde)," said Joe Sehee of the Green Burial Council in Los Angeles.

He reckons a million gallons of embalming fluid makes its way into North American soil each year.

And when bodies are cremated, mercury -- mostly from dental fillings -- can get into the atmosphere and into rivers, said Mary Woodsen, of Greensprings Natural Cemetery in New York.

Currently, there are no green cemeteries in Canada, only small plots within regular cemeteries.

The Royal Oak Burial Park in Victoria, British Columbia, on Canada's Pacific coast, will begin offering the organic option next fall.

"In the last couple of years, there's been substantially more interest," said cemetery spokesman Stephen Olson.

"I think people are looking at every facet of their lives and saying: Is there something I can be doing differently?"

The trend is a lot further along in Britain, where there are some 200 so-called natural burial sites.