I received an email the other day and found it very interesting. It’s a conversation between two women and recycling in the old days. I am not sure of the author but it’s a good read. I hope you enjoy it and I would love to hear your thoughts.
Think GreenThis is an interesting point of view. How Wasteful the Older Generation Was … 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.” She was right; her 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 her 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 styra-foam 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? |
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Thanks for the information. This is good to know. Thanks for stopping by.
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Sorry, but the old lady was right. I’ll assume that she is about 70-80 years old and therefore born or raised in the 1950’s in the USA, and that would make her correct.
Up until the 1950’s, what you described above, yes, that was common place. But the ’50’s was when disposable diapers, bottle feeding instead of breast feeding, plastic everything, drive everywhere, convenience foods, and permed, colored, hairsprayed hair began to take over. Ask anyone born around that time and they will tell you so.
Follow the history of plastics and you will see it. Sure, before then, you brought your own bags to the grocery store, but once the 1950’s hit, people began to bring home groceries in paper then plastic bags that would later be thrown away without a thought. Only in other countries did this not occur.
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You are right Greg. We are spoiled and wasteful.
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Yes, I think we are rather spoiled and myopic as a society these days. Convenience and technology are good things, but we so easily become accustomed to them.
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Mine was the same way. She grew up during the depression.
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My great grandmother had a drawer full of bread bags, rubber bands and twist ties that she saved and reused over and over again. She wouldn’t have dreamt of throwing them away!
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