Are you green?

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."

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.

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 240 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 New South Wales.

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 the train or 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?

What do you think???


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And it wasn't just re-usable/replaceable heavy duty carrier bags then either, but proper shopping bags that lasted for years and years. I go to the checkouts holding the modern day equivalent - a rucksack - and they still think I want my shopping in carrier bags to put inside my rucksack.

 

I think all bins other than for composting/recycling should have a compulsory "FOR LANDFILL" label on them to focus users attention on just where that stuff goes.

 

I think that broken tools, accessories, kitchen equipment, most items basically, should be returned broken or empty to the place where they were purchased, along with related complaints if applicable and go from there.

Repairable items should be repaired and sold to those who don't mind a repaired item or taken to pieces and those pieces used.

Production should be limited and wastes identified.

If comforts are available people will use them, even if environmentally unfriendly. if they are not available or less of them is available, people will understand that goods don't come from nothing, but there is a whole network behind them.

All this take some forward thinking and cooperation.

 

Evil wife was furious when I bought a new washing machine that wasn't a washer dryer.

She has to hang things out to dry now, or rather I do, as she knows how to put things in to wash, but not how to take them out again.

All our veg waste gets composted, cardboard goes toward heating the house. Tins are taken down the scrapyard twice a year. Only things .that get put out for recycling are plastic & glass. Average one bag to landfill a fortnight.

House super insulated, argon filled double glazing made from low e glass. All appliances "A" rated.

 

Ok you pass...:D

Another thing...I know that we are used to comfort and have everything in our homes, but actually to do things together from time to time is cheaper. It looks like a waste, but if considered in a bigger picture I don't think it is.

For example a self service food outlet...for them it makes little difference to serve ten people more and those people who eat there they will not waste fuel to cook, and not water to wash the dishes, washing liquid, and whatever else is involved in preparing lunch.

In terms of preparing the food and washing the dishes, it will cost per head much less than if each single person multiplied by ten or twenty, because preparing food and serving it is what they do from day till night.

Of course if then they decide to charge unreasonable amounts of money, then all the above does not apply.

 

I love this post and received it in an e-mail a couple of weeks ago and have passed it along. SO TRUE. :yess:

 

The article was excellent and very true, but there was one obvious omission, and its an issue that really winds me up.

When I was a kid (which wasn't actually that long ago really), not everything was made from oil extract from the middle east, turned into plastic in Britain and Europe, before being sent by container ships to China, to be manufactured into throw-away plastic rubbish, shipped by container ship again all the way back to the UK and everywhere else, where the product will last 2 and a half days before it breaks, and is then sent to landfill.

 

Since we are on the subject, I read that plastic from empty bottles can be recycled up to 5 times.

 

I try to recycle by sending anything like a box or carton to my son's school for their crafts room but the little swine builds something and brings it all back home again!

I'll admit to having a dishwasher but no washer dryer, just a washing machine - in the winter my house is draped with stuff drying but actually that's ok.

Our council recycling is pretty good I guess. They're due to start collecting plastic soon which will be about the last thing they don't collect. But I do wonder how much these weekly collections from about 5 different bins costs the environment.

This has reminded me that it would be good to use local milkman as then I can wash the glass bottles out and put them out to collect.

A lot of my furniture is old stuff off ebay as I prefer to have something with a bit of character than stuff from ikea (my nearest ikea is 5 minutes away so it's tempting to go shop there!). I just replaced my bed after 11 years but the new one is solid oak so should last me till I cark it I hope!

Kate

 

IKEA wants to make a point that they are Swedish above all the rest.

Starting from the impossible name that they give to a couple of pieces of wood screwed together to finish with the half a page picture for a towel that costs 50p or along those lines.

Bless them!

 

I agree with most of what you say, Jjordie. My only quibble is with your comment about people keeping fit through work rather than visiting the gym. My grandmothers were both obsessed with housework and rarely sat down for very long. They also did a fair amount of walking, since neither of them could drive. Yet both metamorphosed into sizeable lumps quite early in life and as a consequence suffered from all the attendant problems of being overweight. Personally, I'm all for the gym - particularly if, like me, you live in a place which doesn't particularly inspire you to go out for a run.