Learn About Better Place Forests
Jessica Wakefield with Better Place Forests
Jessica Wakefield, CFSP, Director of Partnerships, Community & Education with Better Place Forests, talks to Before I Die New Mexico Festival participants about their memorial forests. The company offers eco-friendly memorial options for placement of cremated remains and natural organic reduction compost at conservation forests in California, the Midwest, the Northeast and the Southwest.
The company works with death doulas as well as funeral homes to make arrangements for people to spread cremated remains beneath their own memorial trees in a protected forest. Learn how these dedicated final resting places in nature are taking off with cremation customers and how you can participate.
About the Before I Die New Mexico Festival
How do we as individuals and as a society manage death and dying? Before I Die Festivals start important conversations in an upbeat manner.
We’re all going to die, yet less than 30% of adults do any end-of-life planning. No wills or trusts, no advance medical directives and no pre-need funeral planning. That means 70% of our loved ones will scramble to get information and make expensive decisions while grieving a death.
It’s better to talk about our wishes well before death becomes a grim reality and our loved ones can be informed.
The 2024 Before I Die New Mexico Festival took place November 1-4 at a different location each day in Albuquerque, NM. The festival features entertaining and educational elements that get people to discuss end-of-life issues and plan ahead. Most sessions are being posted on YouTube. You can view videos of sessions from the current festival as well as past festivals at the video page at BeforeIDieFestivals.com.
Each day of the Festival had a theme:
- November 1 – Eco-Friendly Funerals
- November 2 – Hospice 101 and MAID
- November 3 – Planning for the Inevitable
- November 4 – Unexpected Deaths
View the full schedule of events to see which sessions and topics were carried on Zoom.
Thank You to Before I Die Festival Sponsors
The Before I Die New Mexico Festival is made possible by the support of:
- A Good Goodbye: https://agoodgoodbye.com/
- Bernalillo County Indigent Program: https://www.bernco.gov/general-services/about-the-program/
- Better Place Forests: https://betterplaceforests.com/
- Bosque Trails Hospice: https://bosquetrailshospice.com/
- Conscious Crossroads End-of-Life Services: https://deathdouladanielle.com/
- Death Doula Professionals: https://deathdoulaprofessionals.com/
- End of Life Options New Mexico: https://endoflifeoptionsnm.org/
- French Funerals & Cremations: https://frenchfunerals.com/
- Keeper Memorials: https://mykeeper.com/
- Passages International: https://www.passagesinternational.com/