Woodland Burial Company have been working with the Sustainable Development Goals for a few months. It’s been so interesting to see how our ‘ordinary’ work is already aligned with goals. Often in ways we didn’t even realise!
What Goals Are We Working On?
When we picked the goals to focus on first, it seemed pretty easy. The Sustainable Development Goals have been created by the United Nations. We chose 13. Climate Action, 15. Life on Land and 12. Responsible Consumption. It turns out, from discussions with our staff and lovely families, that we also work with Goal 3. Good Health & Wellbeing. This is a surprise for a burial ground…
What is certainly true is that most of us benefit from spending time in nature. Whether you just enjoy a walk in the fresh air, or full on woodland bathing our bodies and brains like being with other living organisms. Many of our families express the peace they find from spending time at Granville’s Wood. It is often just sitting on their bench listening to the trees creaking all around. Many also talk about the changing seasons and watching so many plants growing and
How the ‘New’ Goal Fits In…
Goal 3 has a number of targets within it. The main goal is ‘Good Health and Well-Being.’ Tomorrow (10th October) is World Mental Health Day. This is an opportunity for us all to make sure we have whatever support we need to take care of our mental wellbeing. Grief, of course, is a complex part of that for many of us connected to Granville’s Wood. As a lecturer on personal development, in particular on Coping with Loss and Grief, our Manager Claire will be adding some useful downloads to the site over the next few weeks. These will broaden the support we can offer, not just to families looking to use Granville’s Wood, but to all families experiencing grief.
One of the more specific targets is also relevant to our work. The research that we have conducted is aimed at reducing the harmful impact of burial and cremation. We are proud of the huge strides we have made, with our partners, to reduce pollution and the harmful imbalances created.
You can read more about this work here.
It’s been a very busy time as we begin our Autumn jobs in the Woods and grow our business with a new flyer and brochure. That we can also say our work supports people’s wellbeing is a rather wonderful way to end the week.