The "Green" Thing....; - )

The Green Thing

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

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

Back then, we returned 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 we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator 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 diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young 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 the state of Montana . 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 wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline 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 writing 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 the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms 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 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 we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

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Comment by Saul Rosenfeld on January 8, 2012 at 1:51pm: Lisa,

Yes indeed, soda pop DID in fact taste better in bottles, and push mowers (see the "antiques" section on ebay if you have no idea what I'm talking about) had ZERO pollution AND provided folks with a FREE "aerobic" workout!

Had anyone used one of those idiotic f@#%#@g noisy air-polluting "leaf-blowers" back in the day, they'd have been lynched by their neighbors in a heartbeat. Same with spraying the ground full of noxious toxic weed killer just to rid one's lawn of a few (beautiful!) dandelions!

On the other hand, I've heard that paper bags aren't as good as plastic when it comes to "auto-erotic asphyxiation"....

; - )

Comment by Saul Rosenfeld on January 8, 2012 at 1:00pm: John,

My parents taught me to never throw trash on the ground- ever, and my wife (same age and raised 5,000 miles away from where I grew up) was raised exactly the same way. So shame on you for wadding up paper and chucking in on the ground...; - )

As for toxic waste- even though I'm sure they knew back then that is wasn't a "good" thing to do, I don't think they had any idea just how bad it was for the environent. Kinda like cigarettes: most folks probably "suspected" that they weren't all that innocent healthwise (despite all the ads portraying movie stars and noted athletes puffing away and being cool as hell), but they had no idea they were so dangerous.

Car pollution was never a problem in rural towns and "flyover country"- none. It still isn't. But cities like Los Angeles (with its atmospheric inversions) and N.Y.C. greatly magnified the problem due to their insane congestion.

In fact, certain cities in Europe (which have even more stringent pollution control that we do, and where most folks drive tiny 4 cylinder cars that spew far less emissions) are far worse off today than America was in the 1960's.

It would probably be every bit as profitable today to recycle glass bottles as it was back then, but folks nowadays are simply too damned lazy and spoiled and jaded to bother taking them back to the grocery store or supermarket. Even is they drove the 1/4 mile to the store in a Hummer.

You're probably correct about the disposable diapers.

The reason there was one breadwinner in the family and mom was able to stay home and (properly) take care of the kids was because people used to live within their means. When you wanted something, you saved for it, or put it on "layaway", and simply did without untill you could afford to buy it. Untike today, where everyone is SO "entitled" and spoiled rotten that they want stuff "right now!", and charge it (whether $60,000 SUVs or Plasma TVs or first-class vacations, or 9,000 square foot McMansions with 3 car garages and 6 bedrooms & 7 bathrooms for a family of three) on one of (a national average of) 14 credit cards per person! Then, after they become buried up to their necks in debt, the former stay-at-home mothers are compelled to enter the work force just to make ends meet. But of course because they now work, they're "entitled" to an endless supply of the latest trendy designer shoes and clothes, spas, and hair & nail salons with "manny/peddies".

"Rappers", "Snookie" and the Kardashians are the role models of kids today

Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled rotten.

Back in the day only "rich" folks were spoiled rotten, but nowadays almost everyone is. Including our "esteemed" members of Congress and State legislators, who have all collectively managed to run our national economy into the ground.

Comment by Lisa on January 8, 2012 at 11:59am: ROTFL!

And soda pop tasted better in glass bottles too. I remember push mowers, and wringer washers. Got my hair caught in the rollers as a kid trying to do the wash.

Plastic bags are convenient but I love paper bags. They are great for roasting turkeys and really any kind of meat in. Make sure they are clean, rub great handfuls of BUTTER all inside them-put the meat inside and the whole thing in a pan and cook in oven. Poor man's cooking in parchment.

gentle aft'

Lisa

Comment by John Cleesattel on January 8, 2012 at 11:56am: There are two sides to every coin..as they say.

In those days of yesteryear it was also the custom when we unwrapped something like a candy bar or the waxed paper that came with donuts that we just wadded it up and threw it on the ground and walked away.

Industry simply drained their toxic wastes into the local rivers, and cars would pollute the air so much you couldn't see.

We recycled back then because it was profitable to do so, not because of our concern for the planet.

We washed the diapers and such because there were no other options (after all..washing dirty diapers is such a joy..)

The single electrical outlet was because we did not have the electrical appliances (or couldn't afford them) that that warranted having more than one.

There was one breadwinner in the family and usually only one family car.

Mom stayed at home and took care of the household and raised the kids.

Re-framing the past is easy to do, it just depends what side of the discussion you want to influence.

John

Comment by Saul Rosenfeld on January 7, 2012 at 8:08pm: Kelley,

I was just commenting to my wife this morning about how milk tasted better from glass bottles, and somebody sent me this piece a few hours later (love that kind of coincidence!).

Then again, perhaps milk tasted better back in the day because the cows weren't pumped full of growth hormones, tranquilizers and anti-biotics.

I'm just sayin'......

; - )

Comment by Kelley Woods on January 7, 2012 at 7:58pm: Saul, electricity was around back then?! lol Good old days. Them young whippersnappers haven't got a clue!