The Green Thing...

[Phantom Blooper]

<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><B>The&nbsp; Green&nbsp; Thing</B></FONT></DIV><P><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><BR></FONT></P><DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><B>Checking&nbsp; out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older&nbsp; woman that she&nbsp; should bring her own grocery bags because plastic&nbsp; bags&nbsp; weren't good for&nbsp; the environment.</B></FONT></DIV><P><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><BR></FONT></P><DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><B>The woman apologized&nbsp; and explained, "We didn't&nbsp; have this green thing&nbsp; back in my&nbsp; earlier days."</B></FONT></DIV><P><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><BR></FONT></P><DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><B>The clerk&nbsp; responded, "That's our problem&nbsp; today. Your generation did not care enough&nbsp; to save our&nbsp; environment for future generations." She was right --&nbsp; our&nbsp; generation didn't have the green thing in its day.</B></FONT></DIV><P><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><BR></FONT></P><DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><B>Back then,&nbsp; we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to&nbsp; the store. The&nbsp; store sent them back to the plant to be washed and&nbsp; sterilized and&nbsp; refilled, so it could use the same bottles over&nbsp; and over. So they really&nbsp; were re cycled. But we didn't have the&nbsp; green thing back in our&nbsp; day.</B></FONT></DIV><P><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><BR></FONT></P><DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><B>We walked up stairs, because we&nbsp; didn't have an escalator in&nbsp; every store and office building. We&nbsp; walked to the grocery store and didn't&nbsp; climb&nbsp; into a&nbsp; 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.&nbsp; But&nbsp; she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.</B></FONT></DIV><P><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><BR></FONT></P><DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><B>Back&nbsp; then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw-away&nbsp; kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy&nbsp; gobbling&nbsp; machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power&nbsp; really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got&nbsp; hand-me-down clothes from their&nbsp; brothers&nbsp; or sisters, not always&nbsp; brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right.&nbsp; We didn't have&nbsp; the green thing back in our day.</B></FONT></DIV><P><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><BR></FONT></P><DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><B>Back then, we had&nbsp; one&nbsp; TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room, and the TV had a&nbsp; small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a&nbsp; screen the&nbsp; size of Yorkshire. In the kitchen,&nbsp; we blended and stirred by&nbsp; hand because we didn't have electric&nbsp; machines to&nbsp; do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to&nbsp; send in the mail,&nbsp; we used wadded up old&nbsp; newspapers to cushion&nbsp; it, not Styrofoam or plastic&nbsp; bubble wrap.&nbsp; Back then,&nbsp; we&nbsp; didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We&nbsp; used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised&nbsp; by working so we&nbsp; didn't need to go to a health club to run on&nbsp; treadmills&nbsp; that operate on&nbsp; electricity. But she's right.&nbsp; We didn't have the green thing back&nbsp; then.</B></FONT></DIV><P><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><BR></FONT></P><DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><B>We drank&nbsp; from a tap when we were thirsty instead of&nbsp; using a cup or&nbsp; 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&nbsp; blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole&nbsp; razor just&nbsp; because the&nbsp; blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing&nbsp; back then.</B></FONT></DIV><P><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><BR></FONT></P><DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><B>Back then, people took the bus and kids&nbsp; rode their&nbsp; bikes to school or walked instead of turning&nbsp; their mums into a&nbsp; 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical&nbsp; outlet in a room, not an entire bank of&nbsp; sockets to power a dozen&nbsp; appliances. And we didn't need a&nbsp; computerized gadget&nbsp; to receive&nbsp; a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles&nbsp; out in space in&nbsp; order to find the nearest pizza joint.</B><FONT size=+0></FONT></FONT></DIV><P><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><BR></FONT></P><DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><B>But isn't it&nbsp; sad&nbsp; the current generation laments how wasteful we old&nbsp;&nbsp; folks were just&nbsp; because we didn't have the green thing back then?</B></FONT></DIV><P><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><BR></FONT></P><P><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><BR></FONT><FONT color=#000000 size=3 face=Verdana><BR></FONT></P><DIV align=left><FONT size=3 face=Verdana><B><BR></B></FONT></DIV><DIV><BR></DIV>

 

[ped]

<P>Is that&nbsp;one of those&nbsp;pre-made&nbsp;nostalgia rant chain email things?</P>

 

[Phantom Blooper]

<P>Yep...<IMG border=0 align=absMiddle src="https://vanlivingforum.com/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif"></P>

 

[Seraphim]

<P>I like it lol, though I won't admit to being THAT old.</P>

 

[lampliter]

<P>Phantom; I see there is still a smidgeon of wisdom around.</P>

 

[blars]

After WWII, someone won the LA mayorship on a campain of getting rid of sorting garbage for recycling.&nbsp; The red cars (light rail/subway) were gotten rid of in the 50's and 60's.&nbsp; They let buildings build through the tunnels so when LA wanted to do a subway again they had to pay millions to dig new tunnels.<br><br><br>

 

[Phantom Blooper]

<P>Did you know most communities have a recycle program? I started out with about 60% recycle then changed to 100% recycle. When we first started it I thought it was a real hassle, but now I don't know why I didn't so it sooner. I use 5 gallon buckets, in the garage, paper, plastic, glass, steel/copper, aluminum. I use wood dividers in the buckets that I keep on a beat up rollabout kart. In the house&nbsp;I use a buther block rollabout cart(cheap) and IKEA square buckets that fit better. I use a large plastic storage container for cardboard and plastic.&nbsp; Paper/cardboard and plastics are the largest quanity of recyle. We recyle about once every 2 weeks. For the trash that we can't recyle we put in the plastic grocery bags and return them to the grocery store. usually this is cloth or bones of some sort. this is once per month. I figure I'm saving at least $500 per year on a trash service, that's about 600 miles down the road......</P><P>

</P><BR>I agree 100% that recycling is good for Mother Earth and the environment.<BR><BR>What this chain mail is describing is the times have changed....<BR><BR>If big business and corporations wouldn't make so many convenience foods with so much packaging and get back to the way things used to be....there would not be that much that needs to be recycled.<BR><BR>Everything now has packaging upon packaging and most of it ends up in the landfill.<BR><BR>Whomever wrote this is basically saying in my opine that we need to get back to basics.....sorta what this site is promoting.<BR>

 

[ped]

I read it as a mockery of&nbsp;the effort to give a&nbsp;damn itself. That it is somehow hypocritical to be conscious of the enviroment in any way.<BR><BR>You can say that about every previous generation since the industrial revolution essentially. That's why I can't help but find the&nbsp;irony&nbsp;in reading&nbsp;Thoreau when he speaks of 1840's New England as&nbsp;decadent and careless&nbsp;of&nbsp;the environment.&nbsp;<BR>

 

[akrvbob]

Humans have always had to work to meet basic needs. Then with the Industrial Revolution, many people in the developed countries were able to meet their basic needs and have time/money leftover for things they wanted but didn't really need. Today, all our needs are meet, we are bored with the things we want and have developed a voracious appetites for inane luxuries. Of course we are doing this by destroying the earth and exploiting the peoples of the developing world. (I am a hardcore Republican capitalist, and I can't believe I just wrote that last sentance, but I beleive it is 100% true)<br><br>I like the original post, to me it says if we could get back to basics and give up the luxuries everything would improve. I think thats true and agree with Phantom that is exactly what the site and forum are all about: be content with a simple life of basic needs met.<br><br>

 

[lampliter]

<P>More wisdom from Bob.</P>

 

[She]

I really like that. Mind if I copy that?

 

[Phantom Blooper]

I really like that. Mind if I copy that?<BR>

<br><br>Be my guest She....<br><br>It was sent to me in a "chain" email...so no sense in busting the links...<br>

 

[Guest]

Agree with Mr Bob and the original post is AWESOME!
But it's a fantasy that will never be allowed to happen.
Too much $$profit$$ is being made off "all that electricity, extra packaging and crap we don't need-but simply want".

Bring Back The Dark Ages!

 

[ready2cDaUS]

<p>everythings made to be used &amp; thrown away replaced not repaired. thats&nbsp;is&nbsp;how modern living&nbsp;has been shaped by the corperations.&nbsp;</p>

 

[Mangyhyena]

Seems to be some confusion about the first post. It's saying that the previous generations produced less waste than the current generation, despite the fact that the current generation labels themselves as green and the previous generation had no fancy label, aside from common sense.

Recycling only makes sense. No one was saying it's a waste of time.