Jump to content

THE GREEN THING----


Recommended Posts

In the line at the store, 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 apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

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

He 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 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 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 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 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?

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Linda S

Yep. We even took a milk pail down to the dairy farm that was a quarter mile down the road from our house and used the same box each time we went next door to get eggs from the chicken farm. Plastic will be the bane of this planet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We picked beans and strawberries to pay for our "back to school" cloths. We did not go to sports camps or pay for a gym membership, we played in the vacant lot or rode our bikes all day. We did not have 400 channels on TV, we did not have tv until I was in high school. We played cards and board games instead. Vacation was spent in the woods in a tent and hiking the forest trails not flying to Hawaii. I loved growing up in the 50s.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We didn't have longarms either. Just saying, I'm not so sure I would like to go back to being without all the conveniences I have. I love my Longarm! and, I love the computer that is attached to it. I'm sure our future generations will say the same things about our modern items, as they will be out of date or who knows maybe our world will go backwards and they will have to give up all these things and go back to sewing with a needle and thread by hand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I picked "cherries" for my back to school underware. Fell out of the trees many times and ate the cherries bug spray and all!! I could add that we used an "outhouse" and a hand pump to get water. Hummm, maybe the modern world isn't entirely bad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We walked for miles picking up pop bottles for the 2 cent refund. Dad gave us 5 cents each for quart beer bottles because he made wine. lol we were excited to earn that money and never complained we were bored. We picked and sold blackberries to the neighbors for 50 cents a gallon. just saying. lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got that (green) e-mail from my husband yesterday. I had forgotten all of the things we used to recycle and wash and use again. There were pampers when my girls were babies, but we only used them when they weren't going to be home. Too expensive. I remember when my grandmother used to yell at me when I grabbed more than one paper towel, saying "those are expensive you don't need more than one." I still only use paper towels for napkins and kitty puke. I use washable towels to clean up spills etc. The waste is way more today than in our day. Fridges, stoves, dishwashers, TVs, washers and dryers, all lasted lifetimes. Now you need to replace them almost every 5 to 10 years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I grew up hoeing weeds in the cotton fields, and then stomping cotton in the back of the big trailers, so they could get more cotton in them. We had a blast, and we made money to buy our school clothes as well as a little bit of penny candy:P

In high school I used to "walk the terraces" for my Dad who was a dirt contractor at the time. I would walk miles of terraces with a stick that had marks on it, while he surveyed to make sure they were level. I didn't enjoy that so much. By then I was old enough to hate being out in the sun unless I was "suntanning" with baby oil all over me. (can you believe we did that?):P:P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Carol and Sharon, I had to laugh. Strawberries and beans must be an Oregon thing. Growing up in the berry capital of the world, the Willamette Valley I started picking strawberries when school got out. Then moved on to black caps, blackberries, beans, and then worked in the hop fields. I (and my sisters) did all this by getting up at o'dark and riding bikes to the fields. No comfy car ride...LOL.....Bucked hay before the fall crops. After that it was harvesting filberts (hazelnuts to the "greenies") All to buy school clothes. Except my mom took all the money then made homemade school clothes. (sturdy but not fashionable!) Oh well, I did learn a good work ethic. Now during the "green" days, kids aren't even allowed in the fields until they are 16. Silly. And then they complain about migrant workers. Who is going to harvest if kids can't and teens won't.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, that brings back some fond memories. I spent my first 20 working years on our dairy farm. Can't work until your 16 years old, I started driving tractor and doing man's work when I turned 8 years old. Thank god that John Deere had a hand clutch because I couldn't reach the pedals on our old Allis-Chalmers!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just made my own lap frame and I'm watching Jean Brown teach me how to hand quilt. At 61, do you think I can learn? I weeded my own yard and garden rather than pay someone to do it for me. Let's see, I baked my own bread yesterday so I can make bread crumbs for Brunswick Stew potluck this weekend. Am I going backwards enough to be "green"?:P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...