The Green Thing
- 12 June 2011 00:37109917How true this is, perhaps if things were like it now, the place would be a lot cleaner and healthier
In the line at the supermarket, 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 her 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, that generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soft drink bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the factory to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. They were recycled.
But they didn't have the green thing back in that customer's 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 nappies because they didn't have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in a 220 volt energy gobbling machine - 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 handkerchief, not a screen the size of a cricket pitch. 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. They didn't have air conditioning or electric stoves with self cleaning ovens. They didn't have battery operated toys, computers, or telephones.
Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn fuel just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They used hand operated clippers to trim the shrubs. 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 glass filled from the tap when they were thirsty instead of using 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 walked or took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their mums 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? - 12 June 2011 01:17109919A good bit of American journalism.But like every coin it has a flip side.
Wives have to go to work to pay the bills and milk is no longer sold in bottles or delivered to the door but tetra paks to save the wifes time and to reduce carbon emissions from lorries delivering and collecting the bottles,from factories wasting water that requires to be raised to boiling point to sterilize them by using fossil fuelled electricity.
Office blocks were less energy efficient and had fewer floors so using the stairs was feasible.
Nappies are non bio degradeable and save the working wife time and are more energy saving.Infant mortality in the West is in decline and cross contanimation is a thing of the 'good old days'
TV's had crystals which when required replacing could only be purchased from a chemists.Used sets today are refurbished and passed onto developing countries.
Cookers today are energy efficient,cause less pollution to the enviroment and are complimentated by safe deep fat fryers,less chip pan fires,microwave ovens and slow cookers.
As for water most people drink from the tap but in developing countries where the water is unfit to drink bottled 'clean' water has stopped widespread chlorea and other water borne diseases making water not just for the rich but for the majority.
Buses that pumped black fumes into the smog ridden fossil fuelled air have been replaced by hybrid ,electric and energy efficient cars.
So maybe this generation doesn't have all the answers .just yet, but then again neither did the previous generations. But maybe we are moving in the right direction and a combination of the best of the 'old' ways coupled with 'new' ideas might just protect this planet for future generations.
Please note these are just my thoughts and not 'cut and pasted; from from some monthly US Homemakers magazine.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter) - 12 June 2011 06:31109925"Back then" we didn't have the knowledge that we have now about almost everything; times were simpler, less complicated and life much less faster-paced.
Many of our older generation have seen fantastic changes, most, though definitely not all, for the better.
Roger - Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,948
12 June 2011 07:24109927ROGER/MAREK/ROGER
Without doubt there has been some big changes, some for the better, as many for the worst.
But a minor point in all of this, whatever shop it was this cashier was working for, was she told to speak to customers in this way?
Although she has a point, i'm not so sure her company boss's would her confronting customers in this way.
There are differing views on recycling, the environment, the world in general, should she be saying this to customers?
interesting thought
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS - 12 June 2011 08:38109932It wasn't a real shop though Keith - it is a circular email that goes round and round; probably started off in the USA some years ago.
Roger - Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
12 June 2011 08:55109934In my day
.
Mother used to look after her own children not pay someone else while she is at work to pay for unneeded luxuries or the second foreign holiday.
Mother was at home so the little dears did not go around vandalising they played games with their friends in the garden or outside the home in the street.
Mother did not throw away perfectly good food because there was a date stamp saying it has reached it's best by date. (I did not say use by)
Mother did not swear and heaven help the children if they did.-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
------------------------------------------------------------------- - 12 June 2011 09:04109935And if we cycled on the pavement we received a well-deserved clip round the ear from the local bobby, who knew our names, our parents' names, and where we lived.I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
- 12 June 2011 09:11109938Oh, how nostalgic I am becoming! Sitting here at my technical miracle of a laptop longing for better days. Life's too short.
- Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,948
12 June 2011 09:56109950BERN;
Your right if your an irish leprecaun lol
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS - 12 June 2011 20:50110045This is not even a new idea for the Americans. During the 60's and 70's they used to run a strip in Superman comics where 'grandad' would surprise his grandson with such things as refillable pens and carpet sweepers that did not require plugging in.
Of course things have changed, some better and some worse, but it is attitudes that matter. On that score it is difficult to notice many improvements.Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour - 12 June 2011 21:01110048Holland and Barrets have a sign in the shop window saying that they do not give plastic bags.Chanters, Drums and Drones Potty Time http://youtu.be/99fMqpjnXYA
Rule Britannia!
Kent First http://youtu.be/04F3mAP3fV4 Keep banging on http://youtu.be/qYCU_SKmkGQ