Andrew Whitaker is the vice president of Great Burial Reef, Inc., based in Sarasota, Florida. He is a lifelong environmentalist, and holds an MBA from the University of Central Florida, and the coveted Certified Manager of Quality in Organizational Excellence from the American Society of Quality
Columns
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Published: July 28, 2008
Admit it. You saw the headline and thought to yourself, "What could possibly be green about deathcare?" Not much, actually, but we're trying to change that.
My business partner and I own a small business, we're concerned about the environment and we have tasked ourselves with the somewhat dubious mission of refocusing the American deathcare industry towards a more planet-friendly platform.
We're creating a quiet revolution by building relationships with small, second and third generation family-owned funeral homes. We're climbing the walls, though, because our industry is, at best, reactionary.
The deathcare industry contributes over 34 billion dollars to the nation's economy in a year's time. The average family in need doesn't see itself contributing to the economy; they are