How might we better prepare for death and grief in western culture? Death is inevitable. Yet something that is so absolute, so tangible, and very much a part of the human journey, feels so detached. In the West, dying has been institutionalized, and death and grief have been sequestered, removed from everyday life and community. This has led to an unfamiliarity not only with death, but the grief that follows it, including how to talk about it and how to give or ask for support. Further, what was once the responsibility of loved ones through caring, charity and support, has transformed into a costly field of experts and specialists. These issues: institutionalization; privatization; high costs and the adverse environmental impact associated with traditional burial practices are outcomes of modern ideologies. They are social issues that merit being challenged, prodded and reflected upon. This major research project surfaces current understandings and troublings around contemporary death and grief rituals in Western culture, and use system archetypes, causal layered analysis and speculative design to explore alternative, more desired futures around death and grief.