Being green... the truth behind the "older" generation vs today's youth.

[Ronin13]

I had a friend send this to me, he's in his 60's, I'm in my late 20's, but some of this stuff did apply to me. I love this! Sorry for the long read...

Being Green

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."
The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment f or
future generations."
She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
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 over and over. So they really were truely recycled.
But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.
But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.
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 throwaway 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 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.

[Gman]

/GameOver

[Mtn.man]

Old folks RULE!

[ChuckNorris]

Boy! Does that bring back happier, more simple times!

We didn't have green - - - 'AND WE LIKED IT!'

[3beansalad]

I miss the simpler times when we didn't have 'green'...

[roberth]

:)

[BigBear]

Love it... Miss it...

[Ronin13]

And it's total bullshit this mentality that the older generation screwed us over- my mom is thrifty and smart- she reuses everything- and I mean EVERYTHING. Spaghetti sauce jar? Not anymore- it's going to be used for this or that! Shopping bags? Why, those fit perfectly in our smaller trash baskets!

[beast556]

The whole green thing is a liberal sham.

[speedysst]

I have to say the paper bag book covers were the best! At the beginning of every school year all my siblings and I spent the first night wrapping books.

[theGinsue]

I miss wandering around the neighborhood (particularly in/around the ditches) & looking for soda bottles (or, as we called in back in KCMO, "pop" bottles). We'd collect about 3 or 4 each and go turn them into the grocery store to earn $0.05 each; just enough to buy a candy bar.

[hollohas]

Yup. More people grew their own vegetables instead of driving to the store every other day to buy "fresh" produce that was just shipped on a big rig thousands of miles.

They canned their own food, reusing jars for decades instead of buying tin cans at the grocery.

They fixed broken appliances instead of buying a new one every time something didn't work just right.

Few people had air conditioners.

Heck, my mom used to make all her own clothes...now clothes come from the other side of the earth.

When shoes wore out they got new soles instead of being thrown out for a new pair.

On and on...

[3beansalad]

Remember community gardens? Can't tell you how many veggies my folks grew in those when I was a kid

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[hatidua]

And people I connect with in the classified section wonder why, while I'm on the freeway en route to meet them, I won't text while driving to answer their question of "I'm ten minutes out, how far are you?". [facepalm]

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

Ronin = al gore? Watch out for manbearpig!

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

I miss wandering around the neighborhood (particularly in/around the ditches) & looking for soda bottles (or, as we called in back in KCMO, "pop" bottles). We'd collect about 3 or 4 each and go turn them into the grocery store to earn $0.05 each; just enough to buy a candy bar.


And this is the center of why the old lady above (and her generation) did what they do.
Incent folks to do the above, and they will.
It is cheaper to not be "green."

[Gman]

I have to say the paper bag book covers were the best! At the beginning of every school year all my siblings and I spent the first night wrapping books.
I did the same thing. Wrapped those babies TIGHT...and they lasted the whole school year.

[BlasterBob]

Old folks RULE!
[Thanks][blaster]

[blacklabel]

I can't wait to get a push reel mower. I hate gas mowers.

My mom lived with us for 6 months recently and it was amazing what she would reuse.

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

I can't wait to get a push reel mower. I hate gas mowers.


If you have no hills and not a lot of land - they absolutely rock.
I loved mine when I lived in HR.
Here? Not so much. :(

[blacklabel]

If you have no hills and not a lot of land - they absolutely rock.
I loved mine when I lived in HR.
Here? Not so much. :(

We've got a postage stamp lot and no hills. It should be perfect.

[Irving]

I can't wait to get a push reel mower. I hate gas mowers.



Where do you get them?

[blacklabel]

Where do you get them?

I've seen a couple old school types at Ace. I'll probably end up ordering one from Amazon though.

[newracer]

I have heard this one is the best. I plan on getting one this spring.

http://uncrate.com/p/2010/04/fiskars-momentum-mower.jpg

[blacklabel]

I have heard this one is the best. I plan on getting one this spring.

http://uncrate.com/p/2010/04/fiskars-momentum-mower.jpg

Yeah, the Fiskars seems to be top o' the line.

[rockhound]

they make a pretty nice axe also

[jslo]

Got my reel mower at Sears about 20 years ago. Still use it.

[ray1970]

Thank for posting this up, Ronin.

Personally, I can't stand the way society is today. I bet if the internet and all the cell phone towers crashed for about a week, there would be mass suicides across our country.

This new generation of tree-hugging, lazy, unrealistic idealist who believe in a utopian world really chaff my a$$.

I don't even really want to see where we will be in about ten or fifteen years.

I'm in my mid forties but I can already understand why older people aren't afraid of death. They are just happy to be checking out.

[Jamnanc]

I like it and agree that old school was better, but dad also changed the oil by dropping the old stuff on the ground, same with antifreeze. We're also talking about the generation that dumped so much shit in the rivers that they could catch fire. There is some balance between being responsible and the religion of tree hugging.

[wctriumph]

Yeah, I sent it off to some old(er) persons I know. [Beer]

[jerrymrc]

I like it and agree that old school was better, but dad also changed the oil by dropping the old stuff on the ground, same with antifreeze. We're also talking about the generation that dumped so much shit in the rivers that they could catch fire. There is some balance between being responsible and the religion of tree hugging.

I will keep silent since many of the things you talk about were done by corporations. Now your dad was also stupid because my parents never dropped perfectly good oil into the ground. That is what waste oil heaters are for and have been for 60 years. But you knew that. I do not remember my river catching fire but then it was the Willamette. We burned sawdust for heat so you know what it is like coming home from school to a house that is 50 because it hung up in the hopper. no button to push there.[Flower]

[TheGrey]

There's a lot of those "good old days" posts making the rounds lately. Personally, I don't know many people that don't look back on their childhood with nostalgia and a yen to go back to the way things were when they were simpler, more straightforward and/to seemed to make sense.

I like a lot of the technology that is available to us now. I use a lot of it. Because of the technologies available, I am able to use the internet to learn ways of stretching my money, of growing a better garden more efficiently, new canning recipes and the like, as well as reaching out to people with similar interests and like-mind communities. Technology aids us in our jobs. Technology is not the devil.

What is dismaying to any older generation is the casual, cavalier and entitled attitude the younger generation always seem to have. There's no winning their "arguments" because they have a straw man in every pocket: if their parents home is not up to date with the latest technology, you're making them live in the dark ages. If the live in the city, you're killing off nature. Unless parents take time to teach their kids respect, there will always be a division.

[mcjhr]

I remember I did a project in high school where I said everyone had to live off the land for a year before becoming a citizen. No one liked the idea.

Blaming is bullshit. Do something or stfu. If u are doing something then positively encourage others. Don't be a Debbie downer.

[alan0269]

Thank for posting this up, Ronin.

Personally, I can't stand the way society is today. I bet if the internet and all the cell phone towers crashed for about a week, there would be mass suicides across our country.

This new generation of tree-hugging, lazy, unrealistic idealist who believe in a utopian world really chaff my a$$.

I don't even really want to see where we will be in about ten or fifteen years.

I'm in my mid forties but I can already understand why older people aren't afraid of death. They are just happy to be checking out.

I couldn't have said it better!

What a lot of them don't think about is that many of the things that were done that weren't "good for the planet" weren't done out of not caring, be rather not knowing what the results could be. Dumping oil straight out of the car onto the ground - who would have thought that putting something back into the ground it came out of would be a bad thing. Once studies were done and people realized the ramifications, they speed doing it. I remember growing up and seeing my parents/grandparents reusing things that today many would never think of. Bag from a loaf of "Store bought" bread would be reused for home baked bread or a lunch bag (multiple times until it would fall apart). Broken tv can't be fixed? It would become a curio cabinet with the cord being turned into a new extension cord. I can think of many others too.

How good for the environment are all those batteries from hybrid cars when they go bad? I've read studies that say from start to finish a hybrid car will leave a larger carbon footprint than a regular gasoline model of the same car. Hell, for all we know, all the smoke from the legalized pot here in Colorado could be depleting the ozone layer at a faster rate than all the vehicle emissions.

[Gman]

Oil was "discovered" because it was weeping out of the ground. Oil leaks out of the earth's crust, including into the oceans. Why doesn't the earth know better about being "green"?

[bobbyfairbanks]

Everyone likes to say the older guys where better then us young guys. I would like to say thanks for giving us the New Deal.

[Whistler]

Everyone likes to say the older guys where better then us young guys. I would like to say thanks for giving us the New Deal.

And thank you back for Obama Care.

[RblDiver]

Hell, even I remember paper bag book covers (wow it's been a while since I've thought of those), and I'm only 29!
(The old woman could have told the young teller "Well, it's been shown that reusable bags carry more disease, you just want to throw me off the cliff don't you?")

[bobbyfairbanks]

And thank you back for Obama Care.

You missed the point. The supposed greatest generation that reminds everyone how great they are literally fucked us all over good and hard but they will never say that. We just get reminded all the time how perfect they are and how horrible everyone else is

[OneGuy67]

How exactly did that generation screw you over?

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[Ronin13]

Hell, even I remember paper bag book covers (wow it's been a while since I've thought of those), and I'm only 29!
(The old woman could have told the young teller "Well, it's been shown that reusable bags carry more disease, you just want to throw me off the cliff don't you?")
Same here- I'm the same age and a lot of that applies to my parents, because they've been pretty old school until recently... Hell, my old man still uses that device, you know, to look up things, what's it called? Oh yeah, a phone book. He says it's faster than Google. I say "They still give out phone books?"

You missed the point. The supposed greatest generation that reminds everyone how great they are literally fucked us all over good and hard but they will never say that. We just get reminded all the time how perfect they are and how horrible everyone else is
Every generation does something to fuck over the following generations... My grandparents generation (WWII) did have a few bad things get passed down the line (new deal, welfare, etc) but I think the bad is vastly outweighed by a few of the pretty big goods... Such as the interstate system, and the little things, like you and I not having this conversation in German or Japanese. I know it's going to be hard to explain to my grandkids that my generation gave us 8 years of Obama and his debt, healthcare (if it never gets repealed) and policies... but the 90's/00's generations did enable us to have a damn computer in our pocket with the computing power 1,000 times better than what computers were around when I was in elementary school. For good or bad, each generation has it's own contributions to America.

[newracer]

How exactly did that generation screw you over?

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New Deal

[Whistler]

You missed the point. The supposed greatest generation that reminds everyone how great they are literally fucked us all over good and hard but they will never say that. We just get reminded all the time how perfect they are and how horrible everyone else is

You missed my point. Would you like to be judged by the actions of our current government? I won't venture an opinion whether the "New Deal" was the "hard fucking" you describe since you appear firmly entrenched in your apparent disdain for older generations (though I doubt anyone on this forum was of voting age and damn few even alive). I might suggest you consider it in light of up to 25% unemployment common at the time (more than 80% in some metropolitan areas). I must be getting senile, remind me again what great achievement your generation points to that justifies your sense of superiority and outrage?

[blaster]