The wasteful older generation.

[Fowler]

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized to him and explained, “We didn't have the green thing back in my day.”

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right, that generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.

Back then, they returned their 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 over and over. So they really were recycled.

But they didn’t have the green thing back in that customer's 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 was 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 handkerchief, 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.

They cut up their own fruits and vegetables because they didn't have a food processor. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a wadded up old 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 their writing 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 or a bus 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 isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?

[AngieM2]

Good post Fowler -
at first I wondered at you and the title, but I'm glad I looked and read it.

[Fowler]

Originally Posted by AngieM2

Good post Fowler -
at first I wondered at you and the title, but I'm glad I looked and read it.

Just seeing who's paying attention....LOL

Whats funny is I remember paperbags....then the greenies said we were destroying trees...and to use plastic bags..they were the ones that created this plastic bag fiasco.

[Tiempo]

I realize it's just a tale, but if a grocery store clerk told me not to take plastic, I'd invite them to come to my house and pick up the dog crap with their bare hands

[Jena]

Originally Posted by Tiempo

I realize it's just a tale, but if a grocery store clerk told me not to take plastic, I'd invite them to come to my house and pick up the dog crap with their bare hands

What's wrong with a shovel? Just wondering....

[katy]

Nice one, should be required reading. thanks

[Tiempo]

Originally Posted by Jena

What's wrong with a shovel? Just wondering....

It doesn't work so well with the little (jack russell) jobbies in the longer grass

[olivehill]

Pointing fingers will get neither generation anywhere worth being anytime soon.

[JuliaAnn]

But some in the younger, hipper, more 'educated' and 'informed' generation (as opposed to the old coots who grew up being so darn wasteful and trashing the environment) believe it is their environmental DUTY to lecture and 'enlighten' those wasteful old coots. Being 'green' is sometimes seen as free license to butt into other people's business, don't you know...

I'd have told the clerk exactly what he/she could do with her 'green' bag, and then given a lecture in return similar to the one outlined above, but substituting my own 'green' activites.

Hypocrites.

[thesedays]

It was the generation in between that led to this. Going back farther, our ancestors reused everything because they HAD to. Trust me, if disposable or plastic this or that was available 100 years ago or whatever, they would have used those things.

I refuse to use those "green" bags at the grocery store. I always ask for paper, unless I find an empty cardboard box and I ask to have my groceries packed up in that. Since I'll be moving soon, this does double duty. Those canvas bags are, IMHO, nothing but a sales gimmick, although lots of people keep them in their cars for kids' sports supplies and the like. My local big box stores have barrels at the entrance for recycling, but I don't really believe they do that. IMHO, those bags go into the garbage. My extra plastic bags, from stores that don't offer paper, are used as trash can liners and I also pass them on to the local independent thrift store. They really appreciate them.

As for plastic bags, my newspaper is delivered in one, so I have plenty for the disposal of cat poop.

[Tiempo]

I'd have told the clerk exactly what he/she could do with her 'green' bag, and then given a lecture in return similar to the one outlined above, but substituting my own 'green' activites.

Hypocrites.

Breathe JA, it's just a parable

My mother ( God Rest Her Soul ) grew up without electricity . One day my wife was watching a friends little girl & stopped by my mothers house . In school the little girl had been learning a little about the way things used to be . When mother told her she didn't have electricity when she was a child the girl wanted to know where she plugged in her computer . Mother got a good laugh out of that .
I agree with the poster that said it was the generation after that , that let things go to crap , sad to say , my generation . I remember deposit on pop bottles & the days before everything was throw away . I don't like too much government interference but I've often thought everything possible should be packaged in glass instead of plastic & a large enough deposit charged on each container that people would return them . We have definitely become a throw away society .
To the OP , I enjoyed your post .

[Sonshine]

Originally Posted by thesedays

It was the generation in between that led to this. Going back farther, our ancestors reused everything because they HAD to. Trust me, if disposable or plastic this or that was available 100 years ago or whatever, they would have used those things.

I refuse to use those "green" bags at the grocery store. I always ask for paper, unless I find an empty cardboard box and I ask to have my groceries packed up in that. Since I'll be moving soon, this does double duty. Those canvas bags are, IMHO, nothing but a sales gimmick, although lots of people keep them in their cars for kids' sports supplies and the like. My local big box stores have barrels at the entrance for recycling, but I don't really believe they do that. IMHO, those bags go into the garbage. My extra plastic bags, from stores that don't offer paper, are used as trash can liners and I also pass them on to the local independent thrift store. They really appreciate them.

As for plastic bags, my newspaper is delivered in one, so I have plenty for the disposal of cat poop.

Although it wasn't that long ago, they did have styrofoam plates and cups when I was growing up, but we still used our corningware plates (corelle I think it was) and my 4 siblings and I were the dishwashers. I don't have corelle, but neither do I use paper plates or what passes for them these days, yet I see many who only use their "real" plates for special occassions.

[thesedays]

My parents are both 77 years old, and when I was a kid, I asked them how people kept up on the news without TV. They replied "Newsreels, the radio, and newspapers."

BTW, as an ETA to my last post, using resources wisely is nothing new. I recently saw a museum exhibit about the hydroelectric dam in Keokuk, Iowa, which at the time of its construction was the biggest HE power plant in the world. Its designers estimated that over its lifetime, it would save 5.4 BILLION tons of coal.

The dam was dedicated in 1913.

We haven't changed as much as we think we have.

[MO_cows]

Excellent post, Fowler. I remember the brown grocery bags and all the ways they were re-used in our house growing up. They weren't thrown away, that's for sure.

Agree that the paper bags were definitely "greener" than plastic ones. We used to have paper drives when I was in grade school and I remember walking to school carrying a heavy bundle of newspapers to be recycled. I think it was a fundraiser for the school, too, they were paid for the papers they collected for recycling.

They come up with all this "green" stuff today, when in reality many of the "old ways" were a lot kinder to the environment and much cheaper, too. It's all marketing - buy this, it's green!

[Win07_351]

I wouldn't mind the whole green movement so much if it wasn't mostly liberals behind it.

[chamoisee]

Which is why the older generation blew up gigantic trees with dynamite to make....toothpicks? HUGE old growth trees....for toothpicks.

[Home Harvest]

Nice story, except:

1) Whoever said the older generation was wasteful? Sorry, but I've never heard that before. In fact I lament the passing of my Granparents partly because of what they learned during the depression. Maybe we're due for another depression for the benefit of the younger generation that needs it all, and needs it NOW!

2) Plastic bags get repurposed at my house. I carry lunch to work every day in a plastic shopping bag. AND I carry the empty bowls home in that same bag. Bags get used until they fall apart.

Now, I do understand that this was a joke, of sorts. The message was spot on, but the context was just a bit off. We have all but lost the last generation that knew what it was to not waste anything. I fear for the future. I see my 23 and 18 year olds, and wonder where I went wrong.

[Old Vet]

I can remember working at a 7 up bottling plant as a salesman. We used to get back bottles that had to be sorted as to size and brand so that they can wash them and refill them. It was at that time cans became popular and only sold at the Air Force Base because they did not want to store bottles. I also worked at a store that had paper bags or boxes to put things in. I can remember using a push mower (human powered). I never got new clothes except for the ones that my mother sewed together. My first set of clothes I ever had (store bought) was when I was in the 6 grade and got a pair of jeans to wear. I can remember when TV came to our area and one of the first things on it. It was Eisenhower last campaign for president.Did I waste anything yes but not as much as the ones that came much latter. The through away generation came much latter. When I became an adult and moved out on my own my trash was a small paper bag full. And I went to visit my sister and the garbage was put on the back porch to be picked up every other day in a gallon pail.The garbage that I had was either fed to the dogs or hogs.I learned to shave with a safety razor and did until very recently.

[JuliaAnn]

Quote "Breathe JA, it's just a parable"

Sorry Tiempo, but in the case of this story it is a parable, but I see it in everyday life when it is NOT a parable.

I see people who think they have some God given right to lecture and insult people who don't toe the 'green' line as they see it, but have either little or no understanding of the world around them. Like I said, hypocrites. I call hypocrites by name where I see them.

I'll 'breathe' whenever I choose, thank you.