The Green Thing

[Cloud9Gal]

I thought this was an interesting perspective~ it certainly makes you think!

Even though I embrace modern technology, there's something to be said about the simplicity of the good ole days...



In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman 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. Cobblers repaired their shoes, so they lasted decades.

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 they didn't have the green thing back then!

[JoeW]

Yep ................
My dad used a straight razor. I did also until I got married and the razor made my wife have the "HEBEJEBIES"! I then bought a safety razor and put the Straight Razor up. At the divorce I could not find my razor.
A good German razor now costs about $200.00 and the stroup another $150.

[stansdds]

I well remember Coke and milk bottles being glass and you returned them to get back your deposit. When I worked in a Winn-Dixie supermarket, we used paper bags, plastic bags were much smaller and only used to wrap frozen goods and meats to keep them from leaking or sweating and soaking through the paper bag. After I quit the grocery business and graduated from college, the mantra changed to "plastic please, let's save a tree". Plastic bags reigned supreme until recently. Now it's back to paper bags because they are a renewable resource, but you can bring your own canvas bags to a store.

Glass and paper are easily recyclable, plastic less so due to the array of different formulations of plastic. By the way, milk is available in glass bottles at Kroger supermarkets and if you take the empty bottle back you get a sizable refund. Washing, sterilizing, and refilling is probably the least expensive form of recycling on the planet. I expect we will see more of it as the price of oil continues to rise.

[Tako_Kichi]

Oh boy I remember those days! Cycling 2.5 miles each way to school every day. My parents didn't get a car until I was 15 and didn't get a phone until after I had left home at 20. We didn't get a colour TV until 1968 and it only received 3 channels (a fourth was added much later).

I used to collect glass bottles for the refund as a means of extending my meagre pocket money although a few buddies and myself had been known to climb over the back wall of the local pub, fill a canvas bag with empty beer bottles from the crates in the the back yard and then go around to the front of the pub to return them for the refund!

We made all our own fun in those days too. Kids played in the street year round (far less traffic around) and 'hide and seek' and 'tag' were firm favourites. We made kites from green bamboo sticks and newspapers, bows and arrows from bamboo too. In winter we made 'winter warmers' to keep our hands warm. An old tin can with holes punched in it with a wire coat hanger bent into a handle. We'd stuff it full of corrugated cardboard then light it and blow out the flames so that it just smouldered. If it looked like it was going out we'd swing it around in front of us like a propeller to increase the airflow and bring it back to life again.

Happy days!

[FAC257]

My grandmother worked for Nehi/RC Cola for about 30 years in West Palm and then in Sarasota. I used to go to work with her once in a while as a kid. The outside yard where all the empty return bottles were kept was a real sight. They would stack the crates with the bottles almost as high as her office window which was on the second floor. I was always amazed at how the fork lift drivers could move those stacks around without having them topple over. The stacks weren't that stable and would sway back and forth quite a bit when they were being moved.

The old Florida Theater downtown had a kids Saturday afternoon matinee that cost 5 Royal Crown bottle caps to get into.

FAC

[stansdds]

Tako_Kichi had a color tv in 1968? Damn! We didn't have one until 1980. We did, however, have four channels to watch. ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS.

[Tako_Kichi]

Tako_Kichi had a color tv in 1968? Damn! We didn't have one until 1980. We did, however, have four channels to watch. ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS.

Yup we got it just before Xmas if I remember correctly. In those days you would rent the TV from the cable company as the service/channels couldn't be charged for. That was covered by the TV licence fee paid to the Government. All we got was BBC1, BBC2 and ITV (the only channel with ads). Later on they added Channel 4 (again with ads). Satellite TV in the UK was just starting out when I emigrated in 1992.

[Cazzie]

If they wanted green, they'd go back to 1965 Opel Kadetts with 4-speed manuals. Mine got 47 - 50 mpg, held 7.5 US gal. and I drove from my home to Myrtle Beach and back on 3/4 of a tank! Try that on a modern car, even my wife's Hybrid would have a hard time.

[Willy]

My Dad bought got our first color TV around 1967 and boy did Mama give him heck about spending that kind of money. It had a remote channel changer the had a wire that ran to the TV. You press the button and it would go clunk, clunk, clunk as it went through the channels. To raise or lower the volume, they'd tell one of us kids to do it.

Cazzie, I had a Volkswagen Rabbit Diesel (also a 4 speed manual) that would get 45-50mpg regularily. I got a 55 average on a cross country trip from South Carolina to New Orleans via Arkansas. My daughter says her Prius is doing good to get 45 mpg. The drawback to it was that it didn't like to go much above 60-65 mph. 75 and it was straining. I'd still be driving it if it hadn't of gotten totalled out in a wreck.

[stansdds]

Back in the early 90's my mom had a Honda Civic with a manual transmission. It got 40 mpg on the highway. What happened? We went from cars that had good fuel efficiency back to gas hogs and now we can't figure out how to get good fuel efficiency? Have automotive engineers lost their intelligence?

[HouseHobbit]

Well, I hate to say it this way much of this has changed because of OUR desire to have it all without any effort and for greed..

Why greed, many companies has caused much of this to change, why no Glass Coke bottles Now??
Much cheaper for the companies..
Why have to wash and clean bottles and hire people to oversee this, when you can put everything in Plastic..
Much more profit this way with plastic, and Folks had such a hard time dealing with having to return Bottles.. Anyway Right..

And the day of milk Brought to your home. Costs too much for Milk dairy's to do this..
Make more money by having you go get it at a supermarket..

Now days, I doubt anyone under 30 would be pleased if they had to pay a deposit on a Bottle then have to return it..

Our throwaway quick and easy generations now haunt us all..

Or should if one realizes how.. Weak and Dependent many have become to this idea of The "Good Life" no matter the cost..
Yes I too enjoy the Easy life, But it does come at a cost..

And I still only have One TV, and a limited amount of channels.. More now that it has all gone digital..

I walk everywhere, No Car..
Discovered a few years back that I had missed a Whole World by driving everywhere..
Or even riding my Harley, everywhere..
And I have a canvas Bag to carry my shopping in.. Yea learned it from my Grandmother..
She always said America wastes more then it uses, and that just wasn't proper..

Perhaps we should pass along some of the "OLD" values to our Kids, I think it might make a difference..
Not to late to start....

[robert41]

Very true. Much simpler days back then.

[stansdds]

Well said, Househobbit.

[brad kaste]

As a kid, there was an authorized Black and Decker repair shop not far from the house. If your basic, quarter inch power drill stop working,....you'd bring it there to have it repaired. The cost was moderate. Now,....unless it's a super expensive 'professional' power tool of some sort that needs to be fixed,...it'll get tossed into the refuse can.

[Roadburner440]

I will be honest. I don't believe in the whole green movement myself. I only try to conserve power and gasoline because it affects my wallet in the end. We make sure we turn off lights when we aren't in the rooms. We don't leave the tv's on 24/7. I just do not see the point. Granted I see where everyone is coming from. Growing up in the 90's I still rode my bicycle everywhere. I look around now and see kids utilizing their parents as a 24 hour a day cab, and their cell phones and such. I at least live with the knowledge that the impending economic doom is going to change a lot of this as people simply will not be able to afford carrying on the way they have been.

I also agree about having stuff repaired. I remember my dad taking stuff to the Sears & Robuck (probably spelled incorrectly) repair center to get stuff fixed.. Now I need to research the internet to its ends to even remotely begin to try to find parts so I can fix stuff myself since there are no repair centers anymore. Most of the time replacement parts are almost impossible to come by these days.

[Little Chacha]

Thank you, Ms Cloudgal9. At school, we recycle newspaper, printer cartridge, soda cans, plastic, and some other stuff. My Mom brings home empty cartridges from work, and other paper to be recycled. My class always win the recycling team with the help of my Mom. I read in books about milk bottles left outside by milk delivery man. I don't think they can do that here in Florida where the temperature is always not good for milk to be kept outside. I used cloth diaper when my Mom potty trained me. She said I learned quick on those. We have TVs in every room in the house except my bedroom. We do not have black and white TV but we can watch movies in black and white sometimes. I am not allowed to watch TV in my bedroom. We have 2 computers, one laptop, an iPad, iPod, two iPhones, my Mom can track me through GPS with it. Mom and I jog at the park every Saturday but we go to LA Fitness three times a week. I cannot use the gym not even the pool until I am 12 two more years and I can use the gym. I stay at the kids place where kids stay when the Moms exercise and cycle and kick box and swim and stretch and trim their stomach and make there buttocks firm. Mom doesn't use razor, she doesn't have hair. We do not use paper plates. We use the real plates and real drinking glasses. We cook with gas but uses rice cooker to cook rice and crock pot to slow cook sometimes. We have green bags when we go shopping only that our bags are colored hot pink. Mom and I donate our clothes and shoes and other stuff to Mustard Seed. We feed the ducks and turtles and fish with left over bread. We pay to recycle our water it is called - i forgot. The city use recycle water to water the grass. ugh. Recycle water. bleh. From Hannah

[aeromed202]

Thanks for the great read. It is so good I'm sending it off the the extended families, who I know will also smile and send it further. Give it a few months and see if the AM news people mention the Original Green phenomenon sweeping the country.