Environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional embalming or cremation are becoming increasingly available. These might include:

• Foregoing embalming to prevent toxic chemicals from getting into soil and groundwater
• Refusing to use a cemetery vault or choosing a concrete grave box with an open bottom instead of a closed vault
• Selecting a biodegradable unfinished wooden casket, cardboard casket, urn, or shroud for burial

Although cremation is less toxic than embalming, it still has a significant carbon footprint. Some new alternatives to traditional cremation are being developed, including:

• Water cremation or “aquamation”, also known as alkaline hydrolysis
• "Recomposition" or Natural Organic Reduction ("NOR") to gently convert human remains into soil
  
• "Resomation" has only one seventh of the carbon footprint of cremation

The Green Burial Council site has a great array of links to green burial providers and products, and is an independent, nonprofit organization working to encourage environmentally sustainable death care and the use of burial as a new means of protecting natural areas. Here's a link to their FAQ page.

Green burial services for the Portland area:

• Recompose pioneered the use of Natural Organic Reduction to compost remains into soil
• Cornerstone Funeral Services offers Natural Organic Reduction, burials at sea, and other green options
• Threadgill's Memorial Services offers aquamation and green burial options
• After Care offers affordable aquamation, green burial and cremation options
• Riverview Cemetery and the Historic Columbian Cemetery both offer natural burial options
• Herland Forest and Willow-Witt Ranch are both natural burial grounds with a focus on forest conservation
• Solace Cremation offers carbon-neutral fire cremation for a flat fee

Some related links:

• NYT article linking green burial to lower costs
• Directory of green burial sites in the United States
• Alternative ways to legally dispose of a body
• How embalming might interfere with the mourning process