In the line 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 him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The cashier responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation didn't care enough about the environment. They didn't bother."
He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soft drink bottles and beer bottles. They were then 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 an escalator in every shop and office building. We walked to the grocery shop and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two streets.
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 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; 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 (remember them?), not a screen the size of Tasmania. 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 fuel 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 water from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink.
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 bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mothers 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 22,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza place.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we older people were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
You forgot the paper carriers with the string handle and the news paper in the loo. I can remember my gran cutting up the white paper that the meat was wrapped in to use for shopping lists.
We didn't accumulate so much lplastic waste back then.
I think the cashier has got a bloomin cheek blaming our generation.(thats my generation) perhaps you are younger AR.
There are so many good things that are around today that I would miss if they were not here though.
Quote from: pansy potter on November 04, 2011, 10:50:16
You forgot the paper carriers with the string handle and the news paper in the loo. I can remember my gran cutting up the white paper that the meat was wrapped in to use for shopping lists.
We didn't accumulate so much lplastic waste back then.
I think the cashier has got a bloomin cheek blaming our generation.(thats my generation) perhaps you are younger AR.
There are so many good things that are around today that I would miss if they were not here though.
I don't feel younger than anyone at the moment ;D and "in my day" (whenever that was as I'm still having one :D) loads of things were re-used and recycled just as the 1st post says.
I would miss tons if things went backwards apart from the huge increase in motor traffic and the constant increasing noise it brings. Progress? :-\
You missed out the biggest thing that should be said on this forum that back then fruit and vegetables were mainly seasonal and were mostly grown organically.
Having said that we did in those days burn much fossil fuel in houses that were not very energy efficient and cause big smogs.
I suppose the youth would say that a kindle reader saves many trees so at the end of the day it seems things are balanced out.
Quote from: daveyboi on November 04, 2011, 11:53:13
You missed out the biggest thing that should be said on this forum that back then fruit and vegetables were mainly seasonal and were mostly grown organically.
Having said that we did in those days burn much fossil fuel in houses that were not very energy efficient and cause big smogs.
I suppose the youth would say that a kindle reader saves many trees so at the end of the day it seems things are balanced out.
I remember those Smogs well and going to school with a scarf around my face hardly able to see one foot in front of the other. The good old days? :-\
Personally I prefer paper books (something to hold onto). £1 at the local charity shop and it goes back there when I've read it (The library is even cheaper!!). Eventually I hope those good old fashioned paper books make their way to the recycling plant.
Having said that: If school books can go onto a Kindle = Brilliant!! It'll save all children lugging tons of paper around as well as PE kit and their Mobiles!! ;)
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Back then, we returned milk bottles, soft drink bottles and beer bottles. They were then 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.
actually........................................................................................the power needed to
a) transport bottles back to wherever they came from
b) to heat the water for washing them
c) the chemicals used in sterilisation
all added up to a greater cost to the planet than to supply new ones!!
funny how hindsight glasses are always rose-tinted, innit!!
Quote from: tonybloke on November 04, 2011, 14:23:08
Quote
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soft drink bottles and beer bottles. They were then 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.
actually........................................................................................the power needed to
a) transport bottles back to wherever they came from
b) to heat the water for washing them
c) the chemicals used in sterilisation
all added up to a greater cost to the planet than to supply new ones!!
funny how hindsight glasses are always rose-tinted, innit!!
It's our drive for ever larger profits and disorganised over complex centralised/non-local systems that may have put pay to the use of reused glass containers. That and our reliance upon oil & the petrochemical industry.
The Tizer man delivered filled bottles from the local (not too far away) depot and on his way back for more returned the empties. The customer incentive
was, of course, the 3p back on the bottle. Very cheap plastics undercut the cost of employing equipment and people to wash and ready the old glass bottles. Larger centralised factories and increased distances from source to customer began to make reusing glass bottles higher financial cost. (environmentally it may well have been a different matter)
How many children do you know who would
walk all the way back to the shop with an empty these days even if they were going to receive the princely sum of 3p for each one?