JOEL KOVEL'S EARTH-FRIENDLY BURIAL

You'd sort of expect the founder of ecosocialism to have a green burial, but you might not expect a beautiful cart, abundant forsythia in blossom, animated but respectful children, a totally charming little dog, homemade bread, and sacred harp singers from Bread and Puppet, the famous Vermont children's theater.

Dr. Joel Kovel died at age 81 and his family quickly created an ecstatically musical, earth-friendly tribute that won't soon be forgotten by anyone fortunate enough to attend. “Capitalist production, in its endless search for profit, seeks to turn everything into a commodity,” Dr. Kovel wrote in 2007 on the socialist website Climate and Capitalism. “It is plain that production will have to shift from being dominated by exchange — the path of the commodity — to that which is for use, that is, for the direct meeting of human needs.”

We think he could have been writing about the conventional funeral industry and the need for more sustainable solutions! Thank you, Dr. Kovel. He died with tremendous grace, as he lived. 

Photos by Deedee Halleck and Amy Cunningham.