Facts about burial and "green" burial

Buried in each acre of a typical cemetery is over 1,000 gallons of formaldehyde-based embalming fluid, 97 tons of steel, 2,000 tons of concrete and  56,000 board feet of wood.
Cremation releases about 350 pounds of carbon dioxide as well as soot particles, sulfur dioxide, and trace metals, including mercury from fillings.
Modern burial practices date back to the Civil War era when embalming was developed to preserve soldier's bodies so they could be shipped home. However embalming is not necessary and neither is a concrete vault or a steel casket. There is a new trend in burial to return to earlier natural methods of burial without the use of toxic chemicals pumped into the body after the bodily fluids are drained. Instead the body is simply placed in a cloth shroud or wicker or softwood casket for burial, dust to dust.
More information can be found at Mark Harris' website, Grave Matters.

"green" caskets
clockwise from top left, a coffin made of pandanus, or wild pineapple; a casket made of hand woven water hyacinth; a stylish biodegradable "Ecopod"; and one made of sustainably grown pine.

source: Audubon magazine

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