Order of the Good Death

André Is an Idiot The studio behind Marty Supreme, Materialists, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Hereditary, Moonlight, Uncut Gems, Midsommar, Euphoria, Beef, & more.

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

When We Spoke to the Dead | The Order of the Good Death How speaking to the dead gave American women proximity to power.

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...

Black and white photo of a young girl, blindfolded and wearing a white dress. She is seated at a table and operating a planchette. Image via the wellcome collection

1. We’re kicking off Women’s History Month with a story that reaches beyond the veil

Scotland becomes first UK country to legalise water cremations Hydrolysis uses alkaline and water to break down body in a few hours and is part of demand for more sustainable funerals

Scotland becomes first UK country to legalize aquamation, a green alternative to flame cremation www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Become a Member | The Order of the Good Death Building a meaningful, eco-friendly, and equitable end of life.

A sneak peek at an upcoming Order project designed to help you live fully and die prepared.

Whether you’re a deathcare professional, longtime advocate, or simply death-curious, Order Membership offers context, care, & community.
Join: www.orderofthegooddeath.com/membership

• A new study on why green funerals aren’t just personal choices, but part of a much bigger environmental reckoning
• The troubling legacy behind the anatomical images still used in medical textbooks
• A hit medical drama brings death doulas, unclaimed bodies, & end-of-life dignity to prime time

• A groundbreaking national database exposing how indigent deaths are handled
• A small business takes on Oklahoma’s funeral licensing laws, & the quiet economics of funeral poverty
• A viral app addresses the fear of dying unseen in an age of isolation

graphics with white background for the Order's February newsletter featuring a collage of various images inspired by the stories featured, including a science = death pin, an anatomical embroidery of a human head, a body being composted, cup of coffee in green mug, a human head fashioned out of natural elements like leaves and grass, and a hand holding a cell phone.

1. Here’s what we covered in this month’s Order Member newsletter!
• Human composting finally takes root in NY, & why legalization wasn’t the finish line
• When museums sanitize queer grief: what happens when context disappears from an AIDS-era masterpiece?

7 Books That Reveal How Capitalism Is Coming for Your Corpse - Electric Literature These authors examine the absurd, expensive, and tragic reality of navigating the death industrial complex

7 Books That Reveal How Capitalism Is Coming for Your Corpse
⚰️💰These authors examine the absurd, expensive, and tragic reality of navigating the death industrial complex

electricliterature.com/7-books-that...

graphic flyer for February mortal media club featuring author and death doula Darnell Lamont Walker. Photo of Darnell on lower left

Mortal media club flyer with illustration of a variety of objects that symbolically represent mortality like a skull, hourglass, decaying fruit.

And don’t miss Darnell at our Mortal Media Club, where he’ll dive into his book and his work as a death doula. Become an Order member today: www.orderofthegooddeath.com/membership

Our Fear of Death is Not An Heirloom We Want to Pass On | The Order of the Good Death There’s a freedom in acknowledging that death is a part of life, and in doing so, we give ourselves permission to live more fully.

NEW ARTICLE
Today we’re excited to share an exclusive excerpt from Darnell Lamont Walker’s new book Never Can Say Goodbye: the Life of a Death Doula and the Art of a Peaceful Goodbye.
Read "Our Fear of Death is Not An Heirloom We Want to Pass On" here: www.orderofthegooddeath.com/article/our-...

In other traditions, hearts or written sentiments were burned, allowing messages of love & grief to rise as smoke carried them to the dead.
Valentine’s Day hasn’t always been about giving hearts away. Sometimes, it’s about deciding how to hold them in the earth, in the fire, or close to our own.

graphic with beige background, at center is artwork from a medieval manuscript featuring what is known as the 3 living and the 3 dead: on the right are 3 youthful looking women, looking at 3 skeletons in various stages of decomposition. the text above reads let's contemplate our morality, valentine

In the 19th century, writer Mary Shelley was believed to have kept her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley’s heart after his death carrying it with her as an enduring relic of love and loss. annamazzola.com/did-mary-she...

graphic with burgundy red background, at center is a vanities painting featuring a skull with the text let's think about memento mori instead of amore

1. Long before Valentine’s cards, people honored love and grief through the heart itself.
In medieval Europe, hearts were sometimes buried separately from bodies, laid to rest in places of deep devotion. www.mentalfloss.com/history/10-p...

graphic flyer for February mortal media club featuring author and death doula Darnell Lamont Walker. Photo of Darnell on lower left

Mortal media club flyer with illustration of a variety of objects that symbolically represent mortality like a skull, hourglass, decaying fruit.

And don’t miss Darnell at our Mortal Media Club, where he’ll dive into his book and his work as a death doula. Become an Order member today: www.orderofthegooddeath.com/membership

Our Fear of Death is Not An Heirloom We Want to Pass On | The Order of the Good Death There’s a freedom in acknowledging that death is a part of life, and in doing so, we give ourselves permission to live more fully.

NEW ARTICLE
Today we’re excited to share an exclusive excerpt from Darnell Lamont Walker’s new book Never Can Say Goodbye: the Life of a Death Doula and the Art of a Peaceful Goodbye.
Read "Our Fear of Death is Not An Heirloom We Want to Pass On" here: www.orderofthegooddeath.com/article/our-...

Legislative Advocacy News | The Order of the Good Death Building a meaningful, eco-friendly, and equitable end of life.

We believe people deserve real, affordable choices.

Learn more on our Legislative Advocacy News Page, "Small Business Challenges Oklahoma’s Unconstitutional Restrictions on Selling Caskets" www.orderofthegooddeath.com/get-involved...

This isn't new. In 2011, 38 monks in Louisiana took on similar laws and won. Courts have repeatedly found that these rules are unconstitutional and exist to shield the funeral industrial complex, not to serve the people. www.theatlantic.com/national/arc...

This is one of the quiet ways the funeral industry maintains control over deathcare, by limiting who can participate, blocking competition, and keeping prices high and choices limited. The result? Many families paying more than they can afford, a major driver of funeral poverty.

Photo of a sign hanging in the casket workshop notifying people that they cannot sell caskets to the public, only a licensed funeral director can sell a casket

An Oklahoma small business is suing the state over laws that ban people from selling caskets unless they’re licensed funeral directors, even if they’re not providing funeral services at all. These kinds of restrictions don’t protect consumers, they protect profits.

Return to Earth: Human Composting Takes Root in Brooklyn Green-Wood Cemetery will start offering a service called Natural Organic Reduction, where a human body is decomposed naturally and turned into soil.

Three years after its legalization, human composting is finally coming to New York www.bkreader.com/lifestyle-cu...

a vintage valentine card featuring a little girl in a purple dress, holding a telephone receiver up to her ear, set against a red heart background. The text, in black reads: hey, valentine, do you want to reform the funeral industry with me?

We believe our deaths should be supported—financially, emotionally, and culturally—in ways our modern culture and death services often fail to do. Learn more about the issues and solutions here:
www.orderofthegooddeath.com/start-here/

Three Astonishing Take Aways from the American Funeral Preferences Survey | The Order of the Good Death Some of the 2025 survey results confirm what people in the funeral reform space have been saying for years. Some of the results shocked even us. Here are three key take aways.

NEW ARTICLE
Partnering with Tanya Marsh of Wake Forest Law School, The Order helped develop questions for an annual survey on American funeral preferences--confirming some long-held beliefs, while uncovering results that shocked even us www.orderofthegooddeath.com/article/thre...

Become a Member | The Order of the Good Death Building a meaningful, eco-friendly, and equitable end of life.

Plus: death-positive news, legislation updates, cultural analysis, funeral trends, and events from around the world.

Not a member yet? January is a great time to join! www.orderofthegooddeath.com/membership