That Green Thing

Vanity ^ | 28 March 2011 | Unknown

[Windflier]

That Green Thing

In the line at the store today, the cashier told an older woman ahead of me that plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

That's right, they didn't have the green thing in her day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles, and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using 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's 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 pizza dish, 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 wadded up 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 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 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 that old lady is right. They didn't have the green thing back in her day.

[Windflier]

A little logic and reason sure goes a long way, doesn't it?

[Oceander]

Indeed it does. That is a nice little testimonial to the wisdom of the older generation.

[libertarian27]

I miss paper bags....

[xjcsa]

Life is good.

[Windflier]

That is a nice little testimonial to the wisdom of the older generation.

Count me in that older generation. I remember when life in America was almost exactly like that, and it really wasn't all that long ago.

[Windflier]

I miss paper bags....

You can still get 'em. If you want to pay for them, that is. I did a double take, the first time I saw them on the shelf in the grocery store.

[chris_bdba]

So do I and I’m only 50.

[Windflier]

Life is good.

Yes, but how green are you? That the thing, you know.

[Windflier]

So do I and I’m only 50.

57 here. Ain't it something, how fast our whole way of life has changed? Where's my country, dude?

[goodnesswins]

They didn’t have the EPA and thousands of other NON-profits trading funds and creating rules for LIFE to tell them how to use their electricity either!!!

[MileHi]

Spot on!

“Green and Sustainable” = expensive and failure prone

[marsh2]

It was always my understanding that plastic bags were made from recycled milk jugs.

[libertarian27]

Paying for paper grocery bags? Well, I guess that makes sense - many pay for water in bottles.....who would have ever thought that one would catch on 30 years ago?

I remembered all the times in your post too and I’m in my late 40’s -ish (39++++++++)(+)

[edpc]

Back then, when they did talk about the environment, they used a fake Indian who was actually Sicilian.

[Windflier]

Paying for paper grocery bags? Well, I guess that makes sense - many pay for water in bottles.....who would have ever thought that one would catch on 30 years ago?

Well, I can remember the Sparklets trucks running all over town when I was a kid, so bottled drinking water isn't new. But, paper grocery bags? Aye, aye, aye...

[Windflier]

It was always my understanding that plastic bags were made from recycled milk jugs.

Maybe some small percentage of them are, but I'd guess that most are made from newly processed plastic stock.

[Windflier]

They didn’t have the EPA and thousands of other NON-profits trading funds and creating rules for LIFE to tell them how to use their electricity either!!!

I think this country is going to make some changes with that crap after 2012. America's irritation with the intrusion of all these government agencies is part of what got the Tea Party off the ground.

[Windflier]

Back then, when they did talk about the environment, they used a fake Indian who was actually Sicilian.

First I've ever heard that Iron Eyes Cody was really Sicilian.

Yeah, we had the "Don't Be A Litterbug" campaigns, and of course there was always Smokey the Bear. I could live with that stuff, though. Just made common sense.

[FrankR]

"But they didn't have the green thing back in her day."

We returned the bottles to get a 2-cent deposit, not to prevent some fantasy called "global warming".

Only big cities had escalators, smaller towns had very few buildings over 1-story high.

We didn't take the 300 hp machine, because very few people could even afford a car.

Most of the elites and eggheads who are radical enviromentalists are the very ones who gave us plastic bottles, bags, and throwaway razors.

If we had had those things in the 40's and 50's we would have used them just like people today.

To place jerkwad evironut fantasies in the context of 50 years ago is unrealistic...it's apples and oranges.

I was there then, and I'm here now, and today's environmentalism ideas, back then, would have gotten you labeled an alarmist and village idiot in one fell swoop.

[21twelve]

My mom’s family used to pay extra for ICE!!
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Of course - that was before they had refrigerators - just an ice box. She said when the ice man would come (once a week???) the kids would gather around, and he always made sure to be a little “messy” in cutting the block to size to fit the individual ice box. Then the kids would have some chunks of ice to enjoy on a hot day.

Imagine - no ice cold drinks, otter pops, or other frozen goodies!

She also ran out when the “rag man” came by to take people’s old rags, clothes, etc. (He would sell them to make the old rag area rugs). He may have taken tin and other stuff too. He still used a horse-drawn cart and she loved to pet the horse!