Going Green

The store cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic wasn’t good for the environment. The woman apologized 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 their day.

Back then, they 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 recycled. But they didn't have the green thing back then.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't get into a 300-horsepower auto every time they had to go two blocks. They didn't have the green thing.

Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have disposables. Laundry did dry not in an energy gobbling machine – it went outdoors on a line, wind and solar power really did the drying. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new garments. 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 Wall. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, wadded up old newspapers cushioned it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn gas just to cut the lawn. They used a manual push mower. They exercised by working -- no need to go to a health club to run on electrically operated treadmills. But they didn't have the green thing.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle. 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 tram or a bus and kids rode bikes to school or went on the bus. Rooms had one electrical outlet 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 place.

Those old people should have gone green!

Being Green -- The New Thing