The Green Thing
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 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 the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Yorkshire.
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 petrol 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 a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums 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 pass this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.
The Green Thing
EricT
Now at the age where I know I like girls but can't remember why!
Ahh yes the good old days. I did a lot of those things as a kid. Returning bottles to supplement my pocket money, mowing the lawn with a push mower (my parents didn't buy an electric mower until after I left home, come to think of it they didn't get a phone until I left home either!), going shopping for my mother and carrying the goods in canvas bags hanging from the handlebars of my pushbike. Happy days!
Then:
We lived on a farm on the edge of the Clent Hills South of Birmingham and our summer holidays consisted of going over the hills with carrier bags - paper not plastic - to fill up with discarded pop or beer bottles left by the Brummies on day trips to the country. We covered miles and always made enough money to buy our own drinks and crisps or bag of chips for lunch.
We didn't get pocket money as such, we had jobs to do for which - if the old man was in a good mood - we got sixpence. I also had a list of houses where I could go and weed or dig beds or mow the lawn or any other task that was available.
At the end of the day, back home to tea, a few chores then bed - knackered.
Amazingly enough I never thought that I was in any way deprived even though most of my mates were enjoying TV and starting to buy records.
Now:
Last winter we were snowed in and the kids were off school and getting bored. Silly old phart that I am, I suggested to a couple of them that they could make money by clearing the paths for us older folk. I'm sure the word 'work' is modern slang for some unnatural act.............. At least they kept away from our house for awhile.
Ahh well, that's progress - now where's the remote gone?
Buggyman wrote:...Ahh well, that's progress - now where's the remote gone?
Allan
Back in the day my family had a remote...me! Of course I always got even when my Dad would ask me to get him a beer from the fridge - the beer would always arrive at his chair 1/4 empty.
simondix wrote:Ah yes the good old days. No central heating so we had frost flowers on the windows. The inside of the windows. Chaps and chilblains Oh bliss!
Ah yes, we did finally get a TV in 1954, with a screen not much larger than the size of a handkerchief. It only could receive the BBC so when ITV came along later, that was a no go. No refrigerator and no telephone, although I do remember when we lived in London we had a "party line". I remember the frost on the inside of the windows, no central heat. I was lucky beacuse the hot water heater was in a closet in my bedroom, so on cold days I would get dressed next to it. Yet despite all that, life was good. We were very inventive as children as far as entertaining ourselves. You had to be because the telly was not on for most of the day.
simondix wrote:Ah yes the good old days. No central heating so we had frost flowers on the windows. The inside of the windows. Chaps and chilblains Oh bliss!
*Strokes the remote control of the heat-pump*
Error 482: Somebody shot the server with a 12 gauge.
........building a go-cart then run it down a steep street a block from home ... jumping the curb narrowly missing an eldery woman carrying her groceries from the corner market. Oh what fun .....
I'm about to restore an old house to modern standards.
Now here's how green we are in 2011:
I need to equip 10 windows with a sun-shelter-system.
The window companies proposed to install electric roller blinds. They are connected to a wind verlocity indicator and a rain sensor and will automatically roll up or shut down when wheather conditions improve/worsen. Cost per window: € 210,-
Now I honestly don't trust in the reliability of such a system and I don't want to have 10 electric window motors and the whole cable jam around all the windows in my house. Let alone the energy consumption for 10 electric motors - calculate that for 20 or 30 yrs and bear in mind that we should reduce our excessive consumption of electrical energy in general.
So we were looking for an alternative, let's say old-fashioned folding shutters - they'd even give a nice touch to the house.
Made of aluminium in a standard colour, cost per window: € 440,-
Made of wood in a standard colour, cost per window: € 560,-
As I aim for environmentally friendly solutions I get all sorts of support programs by the state (tax money!!), this concerns the heating system, insulation etc. In other areas such as the sun-shelter-example - if I go for the financially better option (less than half the price!!!) it will not be the "green" solution.
I feel that when I went to school in the 80s, the care for the environment was much higher than it is today. There were fears of "sour rain" and forest decline and Chernobyl had a lasting effect on our energy thinking. In the mean time our society has experienced a communication revolution (think of personal computers, the web, mobile communication etc) which has implemented sort of a "energy must be everywhere and anytime"-mentality. The calculation above is just one obvious example of where this mentality leads to.
The bus fare from Weymouth esplanade to the bottom of our road was 2 old pence....
Damn, that's got me thinking......
Derek
'My Auntie Mabel told me I'd make a great soldier, though I don't know how 30 years working in a biscuit factory had qualified her to make that judgement.....' Eddie Nugent
EricT
Of course I always got even when my Dad would ask me to get him a beer from the fridge - the beer would always arrive at his chair 1/4 empty. 
