Ramsey Creek Preserve, the first green cemetery in the U.S, opened in 1998. The original site stretched a quarter-mile along a creek in South Carolina and consisted of 33 acres of protected woodlands.

Funeral photos from the preserve show a different ritual of death. Not polished wood, stiff faces and black suits, but dirt paths through pine forests, graves surrounded by wilderness, flower petals spread over the fresh, raw earth. Bodies are wrapped in floral shrouds or placed in unembellished wood caskets.

The mourners come dressed for the outdoors, in jeans, dresses, flannel and tie dye. Some bring acoustic guitars. Some smile brightly and make silly faces. Burials happen through the seasons: in freshly green spring, in the rich redness of autumn, in barren winter or the thick of summer.

Harris sees green cemeteries as more than just graveyards. “These become places of life, not just places of death,” he said. Cemeteries become reserves where people can picnic, stroll, and commune with nature. The flat fieldstone grave markers (upright ones are not allowed) are covered with leaves and pine needles. “They blend so seamlessly with the landscape, you can walk through Ramsey Creek and never realize you’re in a cemetery,” Harris said.

The site will remain protected regardless of what happens to Memorial Ecosystems, the funeral service parent company, ensuring that the burial plots remain undisturbed. For Harris, green burials are the future. “We’re at the start of a movement,” he said. “I don’t think it’s just hyperbole—green burial will change burial practices in our lifetime.”

Seven years ago, when Harris first wrote Grave Matters, there were about half-a-dozen green cemeteries in the U.S. Now, there are over 200, many of which are smaller areas in extant cemeteries. He’s also seen a rise of the “old-fashioned coffin shops,” merchants on Main Street selling funeral wares. The Green Burial Council certifies funeral directors for green burials, and there’s growing attention paid to the end of life care.

According to Harris, it’s about time. “When you look at what our modern burial methods do, with the embalming and gussying up of the corpse so it looks like somebody asleep instead of somebody actually deceased... We spend much of our time denying death,” he said. “But now we’re finally having this conversation.”