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Stay at Home Moms
"The green thing" Gernerational differences
Alrighty, Got this from a friends on FB. I loved it. Kinda long though....
~~~Anyone over the age of 35 should read this, as i copied this from a friend.
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 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. 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 post this on your Facebook profile so another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smarty-pants young person can add to this. ~~
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Re: "The green thing" Gernerational differences
It was the Cuyahoga River.
Oops, yeah, you're right! Thanks! I wonder how I got that mixed up? ::former science teacher hides from embarrassment::
At 43, I am old enough to remember every one of the examples cited. We also grew up in homes that are about half the size of those currently being built, which obviously used less materials, energy, and housed less stuff.
We didn't even have plastic shopping bags to waste. What is labeled "environmentalism" today was simply considered thrift back in the day.
It's true that we weren't as aware of the dangers of toxic dumping and greenhouse gasses. My dad drove an enormous, gas-guzzling car. And I had to laugh at the Mad Men episode where they just threw their trash on the lawn after a picnic. Litter and pollution was more of a problem, for sure.
Life was literally simpler, for good and for bad.
One of the things I love about being a stay at home parent is having the time and opportunity to revive useful skills my parents practiced: gardening, canning, cooking from scratch, simple home repairs, sewing, etc. All save money and are way better for the environment.