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being green..
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 f
or 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?
Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.
We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off
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| September 13, 2012, 00:47 |
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Iwant2kssuallovr
62 / female
Bendover, Florida, US
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Re: being green..
I do the 3R's, recycle, reuse, reduce. It's not much but I am passionate about trying. How hard is it to leave a recycling bin at the edge of your driveway? It really bites though when you learn the recyclables go from the bin to the land fill.
I don't like to talk about "green". The world has gone out of control and few care. Just a bunch of selfish, self-centered beings trashing the earth.
I knew someone and we had been friends for years. Her area required recyclables be placed in lavender trash bags. I actually found these trash bags in Albertsons and bought them for her. Next time at her house I watched her dump several wine bottles into the garbage. I could have knocked her out.
I also think as I am making an effort, I don't even have kids. There is no one I'm saving the earth for, right?
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| September 13, 2012, 01:13 |
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sybianwatcher1
49 / male
Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
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Re: being green..
well said......
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| September 13, 2012, 01:40 |
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Re: being green..
Because of the business I'm in, I'll shut up on this one. The Government is effed up when it comes to this. And I have a better opinion than the average bear.
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| September 13, 2012, 01:49 |
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sybianwatcher1
49 / male
Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
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Re: being green..
Ya but even bears shit in the woods....isn't that composting?
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| September 13, 2012, 02:05 |
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Re: being green..
Yep. Never use to have anything green. Except for a steak occasionally.
Now I have a green vehicle. 1991 Grand Wagoneer. That's what they meant, Right? 
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| September 13, 2012, 03:12 |
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Re: being green..
P.S.
I Facebooked it. 
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| September 13, 2012, 03:21 |
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GG317
60 / male
Bowl of Granola, Massachusetts, US
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Re: being green..
Please, please, please...Nobody start singing about being green in a Kermit the Frog voice. I don't think I could take that...  
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| September 13, 2012, 05:23 |
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newbie1011
62 / female
The Shore, New Jersey, US
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Re: being green..
If only young and old understood what "green" was before making statements like the one the cashier made it would be great.
Two of my kids went to a marine and environmental high school so this was a huge subject in our house. I guess it always was. We are all SCUBA divers and its hard not to be aware of the environment problems when you do things like SCUBA dive or any other outdoor activity on a regular basis.
All the things that Land H listed are true although we did or didn't do many things because either they were not invented or couldn't afford them.It wasn't a choice not to use plastic it just didn't exist in a usable form at that time.We also didn't purposely overuse our water, oil and other natural resources. We didn't purposely pollute our air and water.
It was out of ignorance that we did most of the damage.Yes there are
some that have and continue to do it out of greed and or ignorance still.
I do believe most people do make an effort to be better now that we have the knowledge and know what the end result would be if we all don't make an effort. There are still those who argue that we are over reacting but they are the minority.However, most people whether or not you admit it, will only "go green" to the point that they are not "too inconvenienced". We are in general a selfish animal.
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| September 13, 2012, 06:45 |
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perveman
111 / male
Tucson, Arizona, US
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Re: being green..
Back in my day, Id get pissed off to the max, grow into the biggest, strongest green thing you ever saw. Oh, that was the Incredible Hulk. My bad. Hey, when you choke the hulk, does he become a Smurf?
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| September 13, 2012, 12:09 |
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