A Will for the Woods

A man's passionate wish for a legacy of green burials inspires a profoundly affecting and optimistic portrait of people finding meaning in death. Musician, folk dancer, and psychiatrist Clark Wang battles lymphoma while facing a potentially imminent need for funeral plans. Determined that his last act will not harm the environment and may even help protect it, Clark has discovered the movement to further sustainable funerals that conserve natural areas. Enabling Clark's wish is green burial pioneer Joe Sehee, who aims to realize this concept's vast potential by helping define its goals and standards and endeavoring to open the world's largest conservation burial ground. Moved by Clark's persistence and relying on Joe's guidance, local cemetarian Dyanne Matzkevich, though avowedly "not a greenie," establishes the first natural burial ground in North Carolina. Together she and Clark endeavor to protect the tract of forest adjacent to her conventional cemetery, developing a close bond.