We didn't have the green thing in our day (did we)
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:28 pm
At the checkout in Tescos recently a young checkout girl suggested we bring our own shopping bags because plastic bags aren't good for the environment.
Apologizing we explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my day." To which the clerk responded, "The problem today is that your generation did not care enough about environment and consider future generations, because you didn't have the green thing in your day."
She was right about one thing -- our generation didn't have the green thing in ?Our day".
Back then, milk was delivered to the door by the milkman and we put the empties out to be collected and we returned, pop bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The dairy and the shop then washed and sterilized and refilled them, so it could use the same bottles repeatedly. 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 shops and didn't climb into a 300 bhp 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 also used wash cloths not nappy wipes. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up lots of watts -- 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 pocket handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Essex. 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 expanded foam chips or 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 we still didn't have the green thing back then....!
We drank water from a tap 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 sure didn't have the green thing back then.....!
Back then, people took the 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 socket in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. Our phone lasted for years and years, we didn't turn them in every year or two to get a phone that requires recharging with electricity every day. 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 shop etc...
But isn't it sad the current generation laments on the wastefulness of our generation, because we 'apparently' didn't have the green thing back then?
Probably because our lifestyle was green enough and we didn't need it (except for two stroke triples of course).
Apologizing we explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my day." To which the clerk responded, "The problem today is that your generation did not care enough about environment and consider future generations, because you didn't have the green thing in your day."
She was right about one thing -- our generation didn't have the green thing in ?Our day".
Back then, milk was delivered to the door by the milkman and we put the empties out to be collected and we returned, pop bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The dairy and the shop then washed and sterilized and refilled them, so it could use the same bottles repeatedly. 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 shops and didn't climb into a 300 bhp 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 also used wash cloths not nappy wipes. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up lots of watts -- 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 pocket handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Essex. 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 expanded foam chips or 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 we still didn't have the green thing back then....!
We drank water from a tap 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 sure didn't have the green thing back then.....!
Back then, people took the 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 socket in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. Our phone lasted for years and years, we didn't turn them in every year or two to get a phone that requires recharging with electricity every day. 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 shop etc...
But isn't it sad the current generation laments on the wastefulness of our generation, because we 'apparently' didn't have the green thing back then?
Probably because our lifestyle was green enough and we didn't need it (except for two stroke triples of course).