Saturday, April 23, 2011

Older Generation Not Green???

I just received this email and thought that I just had to post it here. I, for one, am sick and tired of hearing how, at no time until the past few years, has anyone else done their fair share in saving the world and its environment. I would love to see some of the things that you will now read, to be implented again! I don't the exact amount but I have heard that the current number of empty plastic water bottles will go around and around the world several times. Maybe we need to go back to glass bottles that we can return to the store and get a refund on them. After that, they would be cleaned, sterilized, filled with water and sold again. VLE-B

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag 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. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right, that generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.

Back then, they returned their 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 they didn’t have the green thing back in that customer's day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.

But she was right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the throw-away kind. They 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, they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they 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, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for you.
When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she’s right, they didn’t have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a

plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But they 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 rode the school bus instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they 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 the old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?



Thank you for sending this, C.K.! I like this!!!

VLE-B

4 comments:

  1. Oh this is excellent...

    ...especially the part about how workers seem to "have" to have a power tool to do everything and anything these days.

    We could employ everyone if we'd go back to using shovels and wheelbarrows.

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  2. So very true! It worked for many others, why not now? Hmmm... VLE-B

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  3. My issue with this - a young person had no hesitation to speak to an older person (who by the way was a customer) in such a manner. The lack of respect these days to elders is shocking, young people have no hesitate to slam a door in their face, speak disrespectfully, not stop when a person is in a crosswalk, etc.

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  4. I soooooooooo agree, Chris!!! It is beyond me how disrespectful so many people have become. If people who are hired to serve customers are not smart enough or lack the desire to know the proper ways of treating customers, management needs to step up and train them better. It really ticks me off to go to a certain local business that used to be so good about carrying out customers' sacks for them. New management took over in the past few months. More often than not, they no longer offer to help carry out the customers' excessive purchases. It really bothers me when they won't help the older people carry out their sacks... Ugh... VLE-B

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