See That My Grave Is Kept Green

I didn’t know until today that there was a song called “See That My Grave Is Kept Green.” It was written by Gus Williams in the 1870’s. Bela Lam and the Greene County Singers recorded it in 1927, and the Carter Family recorded it in 1933.

I realize that people have certain traditions and customs about preserving the memory of the dead. And yet, given that humanity is in a race to save human civilization, given that humanity is facing a global emergency, everything has to be open to re-evaluation.

See that my grave is kept green

Oh the day will come to you darling
When no more on earth I’ll be seen
There is one little wish darling grant me
See that my grave is kept green

By “green,” I don’t mean “covered with well-mown, chemically treated grass.” By “green,” I mean something that is pliant, supple and alive. By “green,” I mean something that is contributing to the world long after I’m gone. There is one little wish please grant me, when my time comes to pass. Please grow food on my grave, don’t waste it growing grass.

When from this world I go
Leaving forever the scene
While others are dead oh will you then
See that my grave is kept green

See that my grave is kept green. And yet, I realize some people might not appreciate this arrangement. Perhaps a compromise would be to have my ashes be the nutrient in which the seed of a tree can grow. The Bios Urn and the Spiritree are instances of this. I know some people who go on and on about the need for carbon sequestration, reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Who knows, they might be right. But we already have highly efficient carbon sequestration devices. They’re called trees, and planting more of them, and cutting down less of them, generally speaking, is a good thing, in my opinion. Perhaps it would be a good thing if more people became trees after their deaths.

Tell me you’ll think of the happy past
Think of the joys we have seen
This one little promise keep for me
See that my grave’s kept green

algae-lamp See that my grave is kept green

See that my grave is kept green. I would like to offer another alternative. I would like my grave to be lit. Not in a way that consumes energy, but with an algae-powered lamp that absorbs carbon dioxide 200 times more efficiently than a tree. Who knows, maybe one day they will be call Callejas, in honor of the inventor Pierre Calleja.

Oh the days will come to you darling
When no more on earth I’ll be
Oh the days will come to you darling
When no more on earth I’ll be seen
One sweet little wish darling grant me
See that my grave’s kept green
See that my grave’s kept green

In the revelation “The Global Emergency,” the New Message from God teaches:

“Do not think this will be easy. Do not think it will require only a few things to alter the course that humanity is currently on. Do not think there are easy and basic solutions. There are a thousand solutions that will be needed, and you only have a few. You will have to find the others, and it will take great human effort and collaboration to make this possible.”

I’d like to think I’m helping by offering some possibilities.

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