The Green Thing

[ThePilgrim]

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment.
The woman apologized to the young girl 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 for future generations." 

The older lady said that she was right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain:
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 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 school books. 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 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 blade in a r azor 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 in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the"green thing." 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? 

[heartstrings]

Instead of throwing food away like people do today, we ate everything on our plates. There were very few "scraps" from our table, not only because our parents taught us to eat it all, but because we worked up healthy appetites on the farm. If there were any scraps, they went to the dog or the hog pen. Nothing was wasted. I frequently hear folks that say  "my dog won't eat that dogfood".....HA! He would on OUR farm.

[Invicta]

Here, stores try to limit the number of bags by giving loyalty points for reusing your own bags, and selling a 'bag for life' which they replace free of charge when you  return the worn out one.  In Ireland the stores have to charge for bags.  In France stores do not give bags, you have to bring your own, or buy a "bag for life." (Sac de la Vie.)           

[Alan]

Pilgrim,

May I suggest you make your article into a devotion and put it into the sermon section. Pretty good.

 

[John81]

Back then it was about practicality. Today it's all about emotions and appearances. Back then what was done actually worked and had benefits. Today what's promoted is most often impractical, doesn't work as advertised and not only has few (if any) benefits, but often is actually more costly.

[Ukulelemike]

I run my whole farm on solar, not because its 'green', or to 'save the environment', but because it would cost $40,000.00 to get power lines brought to my property, and then a monthly bill on top of it, for use of a grid that goes out waaay too often. I use solar because its getting cheaper, and more efficient, and with a bank of back-up batteries, I can use power late enough that I haven't stayed up late enough yet to lose my power after dark.

 

I will probably add some wind at some point, because we get a LOT of wind, but I will probably build my own windmill, because the commercial ones are only about 25% efficient. BUt not to be green.

[Invicta]

I run my whole farm on solar, not because its 'green', or to 'save the environment', but because it would cost $40,000.00 to get power lines brought to my property, and then a monthly bill on top of it, for use of a grid that goes out waaay too often. I use solar because its getting cheaper, and more efficient, and with a bank of back-up batteries, I can use power late enough that I haven't stayed up late enough yet to lose my power after dark.

I will probably add some wind at some point, because we get a LOT of wind, but I will probably build my own windmill, because the commercial ones are only about 25% efficient. BUt not to be green.

​Round here the fashion is to have solar farms.  Farmers get so little return for their produce, they are giving some of their land over to slar farms.  Fields that once produced crops are now covered with banks and banks of solar panels. One less than five miles from here is almost finished.  I expect they get a govt. grant.

[Invicta]

I run my whole farm on solar, not because its 'green', or to 'save the environment', but because it would cost $40,000.00 to get power lines brought to my property, and then a monthly bill on top of it, for use of a grid that goes out waaay too often. I use solar because its getting cheaper, and more efficient, and with a bank of back-up batteries, I can use power late enough that I haven't stayed up late enough yet to lose my power after dark.

 

I will probably add some wind at some point, because we get a LOT of wind, but I will probably build my own windmill, because the commercial ones are only about 25% efficient. BUt not to be green.

​Have you considered a heat pump?  I think they used to be called heat exchangers.  Probably too wxpensive?

 

[John81]

A few farmers in this area some years ago took a government deal where they agreed to allow the government to plant trees over a certain acreage of their farm agreeing they couldn't do anything on that part of their land for 10 years. In exchange, the government gave them a large lump sum of money plus a yearly payout for each of the ten years.

Once the ten years are up, the farmers can do whatever they want with the land, including cut all the trees down.

They must have done a poor job planting the trees in one farmers field because only a few survived and even with it getting close to the end of the ten years, there are only a handful of scrawny trees there which are good for nothing.

Our tax dollars are put to such good use!