The Green Thing

[cateyes1]

 

At the check-out at the supermarket, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologised to her and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The check-out girl responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, pop bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilised and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have a lift in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning kilowatts -- 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; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we 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 (remember them?), not a screen the size of a football pitch .

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.

We refilled fountain pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took a tram or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service.

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza outlet.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartarse young person .
 
 

[Barbaralynne]

This is true,when I was growing up -the buses did not pick up high schoolers in a 1 mile radius,the elementary within a half mile-and those parents did not drive them,we walked. Now if I mention walking to the store, everyone looks at me as if I Lost my mind.
 BTW I have some reusable bags,but when I walk my dog I need something to pick up the uhh-you know- so there I am recycleing.

In another matter,the cashier was wrong to say that to that woman,that was rude, if I owned that store she would have been out the door.

[kapeh12]

I'm not old enough to remember the glass milk jugs, but when I was little we did get milk delivered to our house - it was just in plastic vs glass.  Don't know when that stopped.

I remember recycling the soda bottles.  I still think soda tastes better out of a bottle vs a can.

When I moved into my house a couple years ago, I opted to buy a push lawn mower.  I use that most every week, and I still get looks from people wondering why I'm using that.  It's a mixture of guilt and insanity - thinking I'm insane for using that to cut my lawn, yet at the same time a "guilt" that maybe they should use one and get some extra exercise.  I can attest that after about a 1.5-2 hour mowing session - I've definitely had my workout for the day!

[sommap]

That is all right.  I did walk a mile to high school.  If it was extremely cold (in MN) in the winter, sometimes we could get a ride from one of our neighbor parents.  We did recycle many things.  We took a bus or walked. 

[bowrunner]

Back in the day we had a lot better country and we were healthier.  I rode my bicycle to school or walked every day but did ride the bus to high school on the only bus our town had but we all had to walk to the drug store to catch the bus.  We shared a high school with another town.  Kids from outside of town were picked up before the last stop at the drug store.

[donnainky]

I remember those "non-green" days. We had milk delivered to our house in glass bottle. As kids we would collect soda bottles to retun for the 2 cents. We walked everywhere we wanted to go. We did not have cell phones or computers. We wore hand-me-downs and left overs got eaten. When we went to the grocery store they used paper bags-not plastic, and the paper bags were used for school book covers or trash bags.

[ancmetro]

   Yes! "Think Green!" Because every day is Earth Day! Recycle, reuse...do not pollute! Reduce worldwide pollution. Save the planet!

[Garydh]

I like soda out of the bottle vs the can too. I am starting to get leary of plastics, and cans. I am not sure what the inside of the can is coated with.  Also some one had suggested that aluminum cans might be a cause for increasing alzheimers disease. Gee, it gets so you are never sure about anything anymore.

[dmahoney]

All I can say is "you go girl"!!!!

[africanclaudie]

When my kids were small we didn't have a washing machine....I remember those terrylene and flannelette nappies in the bucket with disinfectant.....the rows and rows of washing flapping on the line in the breeze and my kids playing with empty shampoo bottles and cartons, letting their imagination run wild about what these items represented.  One telephone line for the whole street with each house having a different set of rings.....life was so much simpler then.

[kawhana1173]

Wow, I do recall some of these things growing up. I DID have to walk to school back then, & I DID use those old fashioned lawn mowers! LOL! I DO remember soda was sold in bottles too! What's sad about the young cashier is that in those days, we were also taught to respect our elders!!! Even though she has a point about the green bags, she is SOOOO lost with what's most important! 

[dauna]

Boy--does that take me back.  I remember milk in glass bottles and it being delivered.  I was a little kid, but--I remember.  We returned soda bottles every week.  I walked to school until I got out of eighth grade and went to school in town.  Used brown grocery sacks plenty of times for book covers.  My first dollhouse was made from a large cardboard box with cardboard dividers for rooms.  Somehow my daddy made it into a split-level.  It had construction paper carpets and a total of four rooms.  I had a ball with that dollhouse.