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That Green Thing
Vanity ^
| 28 March 2011
| Unknown
Posted on 03/28/2011 8:58:36 PM PDT by 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.
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat; Society
KEYWORDS: ecofreaks; environazis; gogreen; green
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To: FrankR
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. Ain't that the truth. Common sense was actually COMMON, only a few decades ago.
As I said upthread, insanity like what we see in today's green movement, is one of the primary reasons the Tea Party sprang up. Americans who still have some of their common sense left, are sick and tired of the drip, drip, drip of liberal idiocies being foisted upon us.
"Green" has nothing whatsoever to do with "saving the planet", and everything to do with transforming America into a totalitarian Socialist police state, where our Constitution and our Bill of Rights are no more.
21
posted on
03/28/2011 9:50:02 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: Windflier
Yes, but how green are you? That the thing, you know. Asking me that in person is a good way to test my self-control.
22
posted on
03/28/2011 9:52:59 PM PDT
by
xjcsa
(Ridiculing the ridiculous since the day I was born.)
To: Windflier
Ha. Very good.
I just wonder how much energy it took to sterilize and reuse all those bottles.
23
posted on
03/28/2011 9:59:01 PM PDT
by
smokingfrog
( sleep with one eye open ( <o> ---)
To: edpc
But he sincerely believed in his heart that he was an Indian. Really!
24
posted on
03/28/2011 9:59:46 PM PDT
by
dr_lew
To: Windflier
‘...and of course there was always Smokey The Bear.”
_______________________
Remember back in the day when that commercial said “only you can prevent ‘forest’ fires?” Well, they burned all the damned forests down so now it says “only you can prevent’wildfires’.
25
posted on
03/28/2011 10:00:14 PM PDT
by
CTOCS
(I live in my own little world. But, it's okay. They know me there....)
To: smokingfrog
Yeah, it’s like washing out the glass jars for recycling. My wife told me, “It’s just a little bit of water.” “It’s just a little bit of glass,” I replied. I honestly don’t know how the equations balance out on this one. I think the critical resource here is landfill.
26
posted on
03/28/2011 10:03:01 PM PDT
by
dr_lew
To: xjcsa
Asking me that in person is a good way to test my self-control. The very least you'd get out of me would be a serious eye-roll. Depending on my mood, and the circumstance, it might be best if my wife was there to chill me out.
27
posted on
03/28/2011 10:30:09 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: smokingfrog
I just wonder how much energy it took to sterilize and reuse all those bottles. I guarantee you, it took a lot less energy and materials, than simply washing them.
Think about it. Would the bottlers have paid us a redemption fee to turn 'em in, if it was more expensive?
28
posted on
03/28/2011 10:32:12 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: CTOCS
...they burned all the damned forests down so now it says only you can preventwildfires. Contrary to popular opinion, there are now more trees growing in America's forests, than there were at the turn of the 19th century. Studies on that have been posted here a bunch of times.
No, it's just the Commie greens trying to take more and more lands out of the control of private hands, and put them under the control of the gubmint. It's for our own good, of course.
29
posted on
03/28/2011 10:36:15 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: FrankR
“We didn’t take the 300 hp machine, because very few people could even afford a car.”
My parents both had cars since the 20s.
My mother drove a model T to L.A. High in 1923 and my dad drove a model T to San Diego High in 1916.
I had a 1940 coupe with a 3/8x3/8 flathead all ready to go street racing on my 16th birthday in 1952 that I bought and paid for with money I made myself.
30
posted on
03/28/2011 10:39:24 PM PDT
by
dalereed
To: Windflier
The old milk/beer/soda bottles were made from thick, high quality glass with screen printing that certainly cost a pretty penny to manufacture, so it made sense to reuse them back then. (Similar to Pyrex type glass.)
31
posted on
03/28/2011 10:50:43 PM PDT
by
smokingfrog
( sleep with one eye open ( <o> ---)
To: dalereed
The Model T Ford had a 20 hp engine.
32
posted on
03/28/2011 10:57:01 PM PDT
by
smokingfrog
( sleep with one eye open ( <o> ---)
To: Windflier
I’m betting that the flatscreens we have today are a lot more efficient than the old thermionic-valve cathode TVs from 60 years ago. Yes, they do use some energy in “off” mode, unless you actually turn the main switch off, but they also don’t take 5 minutes to warm up enough to show a picture. Those old TVs also threw off a lot of (wasted energy) heat, and there was a fair-sized orange glow on the wall behind them from all the tubes inside. And then there’s the whole radiation thing. TVs weren’t safe to sit close to until the mid-70s at least. I’ll take my 35” flattie over a 17” tube-type any day.
33
posted on
03/28/2011 11:08:30 PM PDT
by
Little Pig
(Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici.)
To: smokingfrog
At least they wern’t drawn by a horse!
34
posted on
03/28/2011 11:11:01 PM PDT
by
dalereed
To: Windflier
Did you write that?
It's GREAT! So totally true!
35
posted on
03/28/2011 11:35:03 PM PDT
by
Finny
("Raise hell. Vote smart." -- Ted Nugent)
To: Windflier
I guarantee you, it took a lot less energy and materials, than simply washing them. Think about it. Would the bottlers have paid us a redemption fee to turn 'em in, if it was more expensive? You nailed it. I remember when I was a kid, 8 to 11 years old, finding soda pop bottles was a great source of income -- the really good ones were worth a dime, the price of an Almond Joy! All the vacant lots and roadsides were kept a lot more litter-free because of us kids scrounging for bottles to take back to the store for cash, which which we would immediately buy the candy that our mothers would never let us have!
36
posted on
03/28/2011 11:44:23 PM PDT
by
Finny
("Raise hell. Vote smart." -- Ted Nugent)
To: Windflier
The cashier was totally out of line. My response probably would have been: “Who cares, I don’t have that may years left.”/s
37
posted on
03/29/2011 2:39:46 AM PDT
by
NTHockey
(Rules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners)
To: NTHockey
The first time a cashier lectures me about my plastic bags being bad for the environment, may be the last time I shop in that store. At the least, the management is going to get an earful.
The cashier is there to cashier, not to lecture me nor anyone else on anything, including the "environmental impact" of my choices.
I don't mind a cashier asking about a product I'm buying ("Do you like that brand? I've thought about it but haven't tried it yet") or commenting favorably ("Oh, I just love that cereal, my whole family thinks it's the best ever") but no disapproving lectures about anything, period.
To: Oceander
One generation before mine and during the first decade of my life, everyone had a "bucket" with a cast iron lid in their backyard close to the kitchen door. Any garbage that did not get composted was dumped into this bucket (quite smelly and maggot ridden in summer) and a man would empty it weekly for a small fee.
The man would then feed this to his hogs; he rotated the pens for the hogs and grew food stuffs after the fecal matter was properly processed into the soil, he fed the folks that paid him to take away his fertilizer; he then slaughtered the hogs and fed the folks that paid him to take away the hog feed.
Recycling for a profit!
39
posted on
03/29/2011 3:05:55 AM PDT
by
BillGunn
(Bill Gunn for Congress district one rep. Massachusetts)
To: dr_lew
In Omaha, they don’t let us recycle glass anymore; I guess it’s so the recyclers don’t get cut up.
40
posted on
03/29/2011 5:43:47 AM PDT
by
Vor Lady
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