RetNavyCWO Loc: VA suburb of DC

Being Green

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 young 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 truely recycled.

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

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.

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 throwaway 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 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger 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?

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

Yep, paper bags - plastic ( to save trees ) - nylon ( to save oceans, birds and other animals from the plastic ) - ?.

Wood - coal ( to save the trees) - natural gas ( to save the atmosphere ) - ? ( to save the ground water which is being poisoned by fracking )

Paper and pencil - electronics ( to save time, and trees ) - ? ( to save the environment from cadmium, mercury and other poisons in the electronics ).

Hmm, it would appear that the newest generation still has it's work cut out for it, finding solutions for the "?". I wish them luck.

AuntiE Loc: 45th Least Free State

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I still line dry three seasons per year.

bahmer

Good for you and they smell better. My late wife had three seasons for drying things outside also.

AuntiE Loc: 45th Least Free State

A year or two ago I actually managed ten months out of twelve. February is almost always a total loss.

bobgssc

year round in california this year.
About 70 degrees on the delta right now.

AuntiE Loc: 45th Least Free State

I am presuming you are responding to me. Just to let you know, when responding to a particular comment, use the "Quote Reply". Everyone has made the mistake of using reply.

:thumbdown: On you for telling me it is 70 when I have ten inches of snow with sleet now falling and a call for more snow possible this evening. I am more fortunate then others. We have no power issues.

bahmer

You are lucky with just ten inches. We still have all of the snow from our first storm of three plus inches in December on the ground up here. I know some has blown around but we have around ten foot high mounds on the sides of our roadways here. Most of our side roads are still icy and slippery but we keep on muddling through.

hprinze Loc: Central Florida

Anyone who says that is either grossly ignorant or a blatant liar.

oldroy Loc: Western Kansas (No longer in hiding)

I have to ask you why you threw in the word, or between ignorant and liar.

AuntiE Loc: 45th Least Free State

I understand there are many who have substantially worse conditions.

We had two hours of sleet and now, yet again, it is snowing.

I have made my fifteen quarts of vegetable soup and done my distribution to my three elderly neighbors along with their sandwiches for today through tomorrow. On Saturday, my neighbor two doors up will provide them with chili and cheese sandwiches for two days. I cannot remember who has Monday; however, they will receive two diners of the assignee's Sunday dinner leftovers. Hopefully, at that point, we can take them to the market to make their own choices.

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

Because he was confused, again.

rumitoid

Good and informative article on fracking here: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/coal-oil-gas/top-10-myths-about-natural-gas-drilling-6386593#slide-3

bahmer

You guys are super. I hope that they truly appreciate the love and kindness that you and your group bestow on them. If I ever get that incapacitated I would love nothing better than to have friends like you and your friends to help me. May God truly bless you and your group.

rhomin57 Loc: Far Northern CA.

It is so awesome when people do this. It's when someone becomes a true angel to another. I recall in '02 when oil prices were so darn high that many of the elderly across Europe were freezing to death in their homes because they could not afford the oil for their heaters. Just breaks ones heart. Life can be very cruel unless there are people who have it in their heart to help.