posted on April 27, 2011 12:23:50 PM new
How Wasteful the Older Generation Was ...
In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman
that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized to him and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment."
She was right, her generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.
Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.
But she was right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.
Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that old lady is right, they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.
Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a hankerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she’s right, they didn’t have the green thing back then.
They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But they didn’t have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead
of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?
posted on April 27, 2011 03:01:12 PM new
That's a great article. I can remember changing my boy's diapers - I usually did that when my wife went shopping.
Yuk! I still believe that my boys waited until their mother left, so that I had to be the one to change their diapers.
Bill K-
[ edited by kozersky on Apr 27, 2011 03:01 PM ]
posted on April 28, 2011 06:09:42 PM new
roadsmith....that is wonderful.
I have to give a copy to my 25yr old grandaughter so she can pass it on to her 20-something friends.
Bill, I used to not only use cloth diapers(nappies) but as we had no hot water I boiled them in a big bucket on the stove every morning and then scrubbed the yukky stains on a scrubbing board. Rinsed them in icy cold water, hung them on the line and hoped they dried by the next time my little ones needed them.
That was WAY back in 1963 in London, England!
The funny thing was that plastic shopping bags were not in use then either...we had to take our own bags to the stores! Of course we also walked to the stores because very few of us had a car.
Full circle...everything old is new again but of course we didn't have the 'green thing' then!
posted on May 2, 2011 05:46:52 PM new
Cloth diapers on all my kids. My youngest is in college now, and I'm still using old diapers as shop and barn rags.
posted on June 23, 2011 07:02:13 PM new
We used to make our candy/pop money as kids going around town picking up those old glass bottles & cashing them in for .10 each.
I can think of another one to add to your list. Hand-raking the yard instead of the gas leaf blowers that are so common now.
posted on June 25, 2011 05:58:46 AM new
It is called 'progress',if we really want to talk about going green,how about the Stone Age?
Do you want to pick hanging fruits from the trees,eat them unwashed and at the same time look out for grizzly bears or lions or tigers or worse a pack of hyenas?
Do you want to be part of a hunting team,go for weeks away from home and attack a wild animal,could be a bison,a caribou or a lion?
thats the old green way of getting freshly butchered animal protein WITH NO PRESERVATIVES!
Die of bacterial infection because there is no antibiotics or hospital nearby?Thats mother nature way of controlling population explosion,no one gets to live past 48.
Disposable diapers are more sanitary than old cloth diapers scrapped clean,washed and hanged out to dry,ever wonder why infant mortality rate is higher then?
Fast forward to the Fuller Brush salesman,housewives shared a vacuum cleaner,having carpeted floor is such a luxury than bare wooden floor!
Small black and white TV sets back then were expensive and clumsy,pity those thrift shops which still sell those old TV sets for a few hundred dollars,who is going to pay that kind of money for an old clunker?
People love to talk about the good old days,they are old alright,but they are not necessary good!
Cave dwelling is no fun when you sleep at night and hear the howling of wolf pack or predatory animals sniffing around at the entrance,picking up a recyled milk botttle and found a piece of mystery clump at the bottom ,buying fresh fruit and veggies from horse driven carriage or street peddlers sound like nostalgia but what if they cant make it in the snow,what if the horse die of old age pulling the carriage,what if the street peddlers are too weak to stand in the street corner all day in cold weather?
The fact is we cannot go back and we will not go back but it is good to talk about the good old days while we enjoy the fruits of progress in the comfort of our modern home surrounded by modern amenities .
If you ever doubt what I said,call the Unibomber or what is his name,the guy who bombed the building in OK,he has a PHD and he grew his own vegetables,whatever he produced from his own patch he has to share with his 'green' neighbors in the wild.
Any comments to my post,please walk to my house and deliver it verbally ,thats going green!
*
There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
[ edited by hwahwa on Jun 25, 2011 06:20 AM ]
