Natural Grace is a funeral home offering environmentally friendly death care options to families throughout Los Angeles County and surrounding areas. We provide natural/green funeral, burial and cremation services. Our approach to funeral service is focused on simplicity, affordability, respect for the deceased, the living, future generations and this planet we all share. Cremation has been growing in popularity at a rapid rate in the U.S.  In California, it is now the choice of nearly 50% of all residents. Although cremation uses fossil fuels, it is still considered relatively green when compared to conventional burial practices which often include metal caskets, concrete burial vaults and formaldehyde-based embalming. As stated by the FCA of Southern California, "Modern crematories are designed to burn more efficiently and to scour combustion gases before releasing them into the atmosphere.  The more sophisticated crematories funnel cremation-after gases into wet scrubbers or very large filters to further reduce the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere. However, even these methods of filtration cannot eliminate all of the pollutants generated by the incineration of a human body.  Primary emissions are made up of carbon monoxide and fine soot, but sulfur dioxide and trace metals may also be produced.  Because of the toxicity to living organisms, the cremation byproduct of most concern is mercury. During the cremation process the mercury from old dental fillings is vaporized and released into the environment.  Despite the release of mercury, the Environmental Protection Agency studied the mercury levels surrounding crematories in the US and found that mercury levels were still within acceptable levels.  The typical cremation conducted in a modern crematory requires an average of 28 gallons of fuel (about the amount of fuel that can be held in an SUV gas tank). This translates in the release of approximately 540 pounds of carbons dioxide (CO2)  into the environment per cremation.  Given the amount of fossil fuel the average American consumes during their lifetime, their individual cremation makes a relatively minor contribution."   At Natural Grace, we financially support the work of TerraPass by purchasing Carbon Offsets through a business subscription to offset the CO2 emitted from the cremation process.   TerraPass is a multi-disciplinary team of individuals dedicated to the fight against climate change.  Their mission is to provide the resources necessary for companies and individuals to understand and take responsibility for their climate impact.