The Green Thing

[johno]

Friends and relatives, here is something to think about:



In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own green 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 nappies 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 Scotland.



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 petrol 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 water bubbler 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 tram or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school

or rode the school bus instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service.

They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bankof sockets to power a dozen appliances.

And they didn't need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites

2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza shop.

[cerina]

So very true.

[ScornedVixen]

makes me ashamed

[cerina]

We could take a few lessons from Germany.

[pochie]

Oh the traditional and old ways with out the machine but I still prefer this generation for it makes our life even better through the invention of the machines and I love my 30 inches television right now.

[Don't Blink]

The Green Thing

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 clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for 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 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 school books. 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. 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 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 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 2,000 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?

[Verminator]

Water bubbler???

I thought that term was only used in Wisconsin??!

I must also say that the large TV that I have only uses about $15 of electricity a year (given it uses LED technology). That 19" from the 70s could heat the whole house!

Also, my parents used to plug in every electrical appliance in the house in that one outlet... I would rather minimize the fire hazard.

[Verminator]

By the way, the water bottle thing does crack me up.

While the World is going green, water is being placed in plastic bottles. Seriously? Then, the water companies created a bottle that uses 33% less plastic?!?! Should we give them a medal for that?!?!

Hmph... capitalism!

[cerina]

You are such a cynic, Verminator.

[Verminator]

You catch on fast, Cerina!!

[Verminator]

By the way, I live in a town where you have to get in a car to get anywhere. The stores are here, the houses are there... "Honey, I need to drive a half mile to the grocery store to get milk." The local Lowe's is 1,000 feet from our house, but it would take a one mile walk to get there... unless I can swim across a detention pond then climb an 8 foot fence... but I can't.

[cerina]

That seems to be happening in so many places and you often find city centres massively boarded up or filled with charity shops, banks, etc., because the big stores have opened a branch just out of town and everyone goes there to get it all in one go instead of going to the butcher, the greengrocer, etc.

[Verminator]

In the spirit of Capitalism, Wal-Mart can offer banking for cheaper than your local hometown bank.

Also, the economic crash of 2008 has reared it's ugly head in the US... there are strip malls with 50% occupancy, abandoned shopping centers that were only partially finished (so the empty shells of these buildings sit abandoned for several years), and faded signs welcoming the new shopping center coming to town... opening in late 2008!

[cerina]

When I was in Los Cabos in 2008, I was astonished at the number of huge building sites with partially finished hotels and a partly built bridge, all work suspended because the tourism industry on which they depend had come to a grinding halt.

[420onthedot]

yes strip joints are suffering mightily

[Verminator]

How so, 420?? Are guys sticking quarters instead of dollars in the you know what???

[Brandy]

Great post! Thanks for sharing

Friends and relatives, here is something to think about:



In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own green 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 nappies 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 Scotland.



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 petrol 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 water bubbler 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 tram or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school

or rode the school bus instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service.

They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bankof sockets to power a dozen appliances.

And they didn't need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites

2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza shop.