Whether you’re a deathcare professional, longtime advocate, or simply death-curious, Order Membership offers context, care, and community. Not a member yet? Join here: www.orderofthegooddeath.com/membership
-A video game that's transforming grief into something interactive, political, and deeply personal
-Disaster postcards and our fascination with witnessing death
-The long history of the funeral industry selling “protection” from decay
& MUCH MORE!
-A cemetery at risk of erasure and what it reveals about whose deaths are remembered (and whose aren’t)
-When death becomes a marketing gimmick and what that says about our discomfort with death
-A new book on artists who are reclaiming death as a space for healing, advocacy, and cultural memory
Graphic for order member march newsletter featuring a collage of various images including a vintage postcard, an old film camera, a film slate, a game controller, human composting, snow white in a glass coffin, a red coffin packaging for ELF's lip embalms, and spotify's new streaming urn.
Here’s what we covered in the latest Order Member exclusive newsletter!
-How women across the death positive movement are reshaping sustainability, from human composting to cultural care practices
-Why 2026 could be a tipping point for human composting
Death certificates help determine how a person is remembered & how our lives are recorded. Ohio's HB 798, (intro'd on Trans Day of Visibility) would ban changing gender markers on death certificates permanently erasing trans identities from the legal record. thebuckeyeflame.com/2026/03/31/h...
From coffins and tombs to cemeteries and funerals, design is ever-present in immortalizing death www.architecturaldigest.com/story/design...
screen shot of an interview with animator Hayao Miyazaki standing in a grassy backyard with his back to the camera. The caption reads "this would be a good place to be buried."
Beginning June 2026 residents of Washington state will be able to establish family burial grounds on their own private property.
Allowing family burial grounds on private land can reduce costs, support cultural and religious practices, and expand access to environmentally friendly burial options
Photo of a hand gently holding up a small turtle outdoors
One family described working with Bryan and Claire at La Puerta as "a healing experience amongst the great sadness" of loss.
This is what green burial can be, not just an environmental choice but a place where the living come to grieve, gather, & feel held www.abqjournal.com/business/wer...
photo of the community built labyrinth under a starry night sky
a deep orange red sunset over the New Mexico plains
Photo of cacti, rocks, flowers and other natural dessert elements at La Puerta Natural Burial Ground in New Mexico,
La Puerta hosts storytelling events, burial demonstrations, & a community built labyrinth open to all. This May 2nd, they're celebrating World Labyrinth Day--walking at 1pm alongside thousands around the globe in a shared gesture toward peace www.naturalburialnewmexico.com/announcement...
four people pull a wooden cart with a shrouded body on it through La Puerta Natural Burial Ground in New Mexico, a desert landscape with mountains rising in the distance
Sacred Spaces: Green Resting Places
At La Puerta Natural Burial Ground in NM, coyotes and owls move through the yucca and sagebrush at dusk as jackrabbits dart between the graves. Terry, the resident desert box turtle, keeps quiet watch as the sound of a train whistle drifts across the prairie.
Cuts to thousands of Social Security jobs have created a backlog that leaves grieving families struggling to access survivor benefits. "It feels like the system forgets that grief doesn’t pause the bills.” 19thnews.org/2026/03/wido...
Designating a health care proxy is a vital part of an advance directive :)
What even IS an advance directive and why does it matter? The Guardian just published this helpful explainer, and we were honored to be interviewed and featured. If you've been putting off thinking about end-of-life planning this is a great place to start. www.theguardian.com/wellness/202...
For info on this and other events check out our frequently updated calendar: www.orderofthegooddeath.com/events/
1-800 Happy Birthday, currently on exhibit in SF, is a multi-format exhibit that honors the lives of Black and Brown people lost to police violence by returning to what is most human: the act of celebration hyperallergic.com/1-800-happy-...
Photograph of a man dressed in black laying in a mushroom coffin surrounded by moss, plants and other natural elements, as he looks at his cell phone
At Thailand's Death Fest attendees can learn how to engage with their mortality, test out coffins, and create memorials for their pets apnews.com/article/thai...
Image of rows of tombstones that reflect rainbows through a glass space in the middl of each stone.
Death positivity is not just a mindset, it’s a practice. Our Death Positivity in Action Page is an ongoing chronicle of ways that death positive ideas are emerging in communities all across the world: www.orderofthegooddeath.com/death-positi...
From wills and guardianship papers to advance healthcare directives, parents are anticipating dying in custody www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Read more about Dr. Banks' work in "The quest to find African American graves before they’re lost to climate crisis": www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021...
1. For Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating women shaping a more sustainable future of deathcare. Dr. Jennifer Rochon Blanks is an environmental scientist working to protect endangered African American cemeteries.
For Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating women shaping a more sustainable future of deathcare. From birdsong to burial choices, Danielle Belleny is helping us reimagine deathcare that nourishes both people and planet. www.youtube.com/watch?v=n59_...
graphic with green and purple background. At center is a photo headshot of Katrina Spade, with a quote at the top that reads "our corpses can go on to grow new life."
This Women’s History Month we’re honoring innovators like Katrina Spade, who remind us that a sustainable future includes how we care for our dead. Watch this short talk from Katrina about her design and thought process behind human composting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=svm_...
Watch the trailer: a24films.com/docs/andr%C3...
Join us for screenings in Chicago, Philly, & Boston. Come laugh, cry, and talk about the one thing we’re all doing: dying.
RSVP to ericka (at) orderofthegooddeath.com (screenings are free. You must be on our guest list to attend).
1. Big feelings. Dark humor. One very honest look at mortality.
We’re thrilled to partner on special screenings of Andre Is an Idiot, the new documentary from A24 that turns a terminal diagnosis into an unexpectedly hilarious and deeply moving exploration of mortality.
flyer for book giveaway featuring the cover of when we spoke to the dead. text at bottom reads ghosts s[poke. women listened. Everything changed.
We're giving away 2 copies of WHEN WE SPOKE TO THE DEAD.
TO ENTER:
-Must be 18+ & have a U.S. mailing address
-Leave a comment letting us know why you'd like to add WWSttD to your reading list!
-Giveaway ends 3/9, 11:59 PST.
Throughout the month, we’ll highlight the innovators, artists and advocates showing us that sustainability can be one of the most profound expressions of love and community care.
graphic, light green background, deeper shade of green letting that reads when shaping a sustainable future of deathcare. At botton are 3 photos of Katrina Spade holding a plant, Courtney Gusick holding a flower near a coffin, and Danielle Belleny wearing a pair of binoculars
This year’s Women’s History Month theme, Women Shaping a Sustainable Future, feels especially meaningful to us.
Across the death positive movement, women have been leading the way toward funeral practices that demonstrate how caring for the earth is deeply intertwined with caring for one another.
flyer for book giveaway featuring the cover of when we spoke to the dead. text at bottom reads ghosts s[poke. women listened. Everything changed.
We're giving away 2 copies of WHEN WE SPOKE TO THE DEAD.
TO ENTER:
-Must be 18+ & have a U.S. mailing address
-Leave a comment letting us know why you'd like to add WWSttD to your reading list!
-Giveaway ends 3/9, 11:59 PST.
Flyer for mortal media club with Ilise carter, featuring a photo of ilise at lower left, march 25th
We’re also hosting a special Member event with Ilise and book giveaway to celebrate. Join us as all month as we honor the women who helped shaped deathcare and challenged the status quo. www.orderofthegooddeath.com/membership
In our newest article, Ilise S. Carter reflects on a time when contacting the dead wasn’t just a parlor trick, it was a political act, declaration of autonomy, and a radical reimagining of women’s voices and power that still echoes today www.orderofthegooddeath.com/article/when...