"Going green?"

[Archae]

My Mom sent me this.

" Being Green".....

� Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much 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 young 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 schoolbooks. 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 on the brown paper bags.

� 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 throwaway 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 in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing." 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 23,000 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?

� Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart "?" young person...

� We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to tick us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple-pierced smart-alec who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

[DebJ]

1. I miss having brown paper bags for produce. Those plastic things are utterly

useless for corn on the cob, or picking up 8-10 lbs of apples as I do on a regular basis.

[Art_from_Ark]

2. Here's my own experience, from the mid- to late-'60s

� 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.

***Exactly. We never had any beer bottles in our house, but we did return soda bottles for the deposit, and the milkman took away our empty milk bottles.

� 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 schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings.

***Yes

� 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.

***I remember walking to the grocery store with my mom after a big snow, more than a mile each way, and on our way back an elderly woman saw us struggling with our paper grocery bags and offered to let us use her cart to carry the bags the rest of the way to our house (which I promptly returned).


�Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway 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.

***Baby diapers were washed and reused. We sometimes used an outdoor laundry line, but we also used a dryer during bad weather and cold days. I also got my share of hand-me-downs.

�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.

***Yes, one TV (black-and-white with a 24-inch screen), and one or two radios. We did blend and stir foods by hand for a while, but it was nice when we finally got a blender as a Christmas present. We did pack fragile items with wadded up newspapers, but we also used a gasoline-powered lawn mower (although our grandparents had a push mower that we used to cut their grass). We certainly did get a lot of exercise, by working and walking.

� 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.

***Water fountains were nice and a very welcome part of schools, but of course the school fountains needed electricity to cool and propel the water. By that time, disposable ballpoint pens were becoming popular, as were disposable razors. The "safety blades" used in the old razors had a tendency to become jagged after a couple of shaves, and tended to nick the face. Also, they had to be inserted and removed very carefully, to keep fingers from being cut. The men in the family saw a commercial with Santa sledding around on a Norelco shaver, and decided that an electric shaver was better than blades.

� 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 in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing." 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 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

-- There were no streetcars or buses in my town, but I certainly did walk or ride my bicycle to school-- all 12 years. Burger joints were almost all locally owned, and it was a real treat to eat at one. And our 1930s-era house that sat on a quarter acre lot in town, cost a little more than $8000 in the mid-'60s.


� 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?


And let's not forget, the modern environmental movement got into high gear in the 1960s, and the first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970 (and commemorated with the stamps shown in my signature)

[NCarolinawoman]

3. How about RAKING leaves, instead of those

obnoxiously loud, smelly, gas guzzling leaf blowers. Particularly if your lawn is not all that big.

That was actually one of my favorite "chores" to do as a child. My three brothers and one sister all had our own rakes. Exercise, laughter, good smelling leaves. Not to mention--it was kind of QUIET!