Our Team Behind Green Burial in Australia

Leading the way

Kevin Hartley is the Founder, Project Director and acting CEO of Earth Funerals Project. He has more than 20 years of experience in the funeral and cemetery industries, giving him a broad and deep understanding of the sector.

Working with the late Hon. Dr Bob Such (Independent MP for Fisher) and a community group (Natural Earth Burial Society), he contributed to the lobby for legislative changes to establish natural burial grounds. Later, in 2016, he played an advisory role in establishing the first private natural burial ground at the Aldinga Arts-EcoVillage in South Australia.

Kevin has won awards for his innovative bio-coffin designs and is considered an authority on natural burials.

Board members

Dr Vanda Rounsefell

Adelaide

Vanda has a background in wholistic & environmental general medical practice. In 2000, she expanded her interest from restoring individual health to that of larger scales - housing, landscapes, cities and countries. This led to private involvement and research into ecovillages and sustainable living, sustainable death practices and to her leading the establishment at Aldinga Arts-EcoVillage of the first SA restoration burial ground under new SA legislation. She wrote a PhD entitled “From EgoCity to EcoCity : an ecological, complex systems approach to humans and their settlements”. She trained in and served on the Board of The Natural Step, a powerful sustainability model, and set up Ecoweb Human Ecology Services, an eco-counselling consultancy.

Joe Sehee

Melbourne

Joe founded the Green Burial Council in the USA - an independent nonprofit trust provider that set forth the world's first standards for eco-conscious deathcare. He was a pioneer of natural burial, developing the country’s first natural burial ground in a major metro area. Joe has been a consultant to several conservation organisations exploring natural burial. He was a former Commissioner for the City of Santa Fe’s Sustainability Commission, and is a Senior Fellow of the Environmental Leadership Program.

Dr Gina Price

Perth

Gina was a founding partner of the Sociocracy Consulting Group, and is an expert facilitator of sociocratic governance. In other words, she solves problems by creating harmonious social environments. Her group has provided training for NGOs, eco-villages and businesses in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Alaska and Brazil. Previously, Gina worked as a polar scientist—over-wintering in Antarctica and conducting research in Alaska. Her disciplined scientific rigour, and deep respect for life itself, make her a valued member of the Earth Funerals Project' family.