i had a friend on facebook share this and i totally agree with it.
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"Checking out at the grocery store recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. I apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days." The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." She was right about one thing -- our generation didn't have the green thing in “Our” day.
So what did we have back then…? After some reflection and soul-searching on "Our" day here's what I remembered we did have....
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 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 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 throw-away 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. 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.
We did as we were asked BECAUSE WE RESPECTED OUR PARENTS. But isn't it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then? So now you know what to answer when some smarty-pants young person thinks a selfish old person needs a lesson in conservation."
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haha. even though i can also be categorized as the current generation, i totally admit it. we're supremely spoiled nowadays and it's kinda scary how we forget and take things for granted.
my grandparents still do things the old way. they watch from a 10" television, sit in rocking chairs, wash the clothes in the sink and dry them on a line. my grandma cooks rice manually in a pot on the stove and uses a bulky phone from the 1940s or probably even older since it uses the turn dial instead of buttons. it's crazy. and since they're old, we always want try to make things easier for them and try to give them stuff like an electric rice cooker, a cordless phone, a washing machine and my grandma refuses them.
just imagine. an old person NEEDS these things because in their old age they are no longer capable to do everything manually yet they refuse them, but for us who don't really need it, want extra things. you can have a regular TV, instead you want HD TV with crazy sound system. you have perfectly mint condition furniture, yet you change them every few years because they're "outdated" and you don't like them anymore and etc.
for me, eventhough i like having a washing machine and a clothes dryer and the air conditioner in my room and my touch screen mobile phone, these things last almost 10 years. for my family, as long as it's still working, there's no reason to get new ones. our TV is still the massive blocky clunky 90s TV and we still have a radio in the house. i still have cassette albums and we only recently bought a new washing machine after almost 7 years? i think. we changed to the newer model button program washing machine. but up until last year, we were still using the manual two cycle wash and rinse washing machine. my brother still rides his bike to school and our living room furniture is still the old wooden 3 set that's been furnished and refurnished a dozen times over 20 years. we had to throw out a few pieces because the spring came loose and several wooden parts cracked. we don't even have a sofa in our house. lol. so i guess in "green" terms our family's not bad. we do use the reusable shopping bag whenever we can and recycle old news paper and old magazines so we do our part i suppose. and i'm happy about that.
and i've always said that in the future when i can afford my own house, i'm gonna get myself a studio where my living space is all in one area so i don't need too many appliances or furniture. i don't like living in excess anyway. cept for maybe excess of food. haha. and excess of high speed internet. kekeke.
so what about you guys? what do you do to contribute to the "green" thing?
