The Green Thing

[Bound2Please]

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?

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to water us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi Charlie,

Version of the above story never fail to show how really green some of the older generation were back in the day, many of which I can clearly remember but from a British stand point.

Regards

Alan 

 

[Viking23]

You still have to remember we didn't use compressed gas fly sprays to kill flies, we had fly paper whose basic ingredient was cyanide.

We also had hand pumped sprays, that contained DDT, sprayed our crops with it too.

We worked in industrial areas without breathing protection, coal dust, fine sand and asbestos.

No, we didn't have the green thing back then.

In the 60's we pumped our raw sewage into the Broadland rivers, and untreated sewage into most rivers, caused oxygen starvation and killed all living things in our rivers, washed phosphates into our rivers,  and industrial waste like cadmium and lead.

No, we didn't have the green thing back then.

Cars, lorries, houses and industry emitted huge amounts of pollution into the air we breath, we dug holes to bury our waste, not knowing what chemicals could leach out into our water tables and the water we drink.

No, we didn't have the green thing back then.

Odd, looking back, we only see the good things.

Each generation has done something to the environment, usually to harm it, the only difference is, that now we know what harm we are doing.

It doesn't stop it !

The information I wrote, are my chosen words, not quoted off the internet.

Richard.

[TheQ]

One problem with the original quote, is they've recently proved that washing nappies is actually more environmentally damaging, than throw away nappies, due to the huge energy needed to heat the water. Plus in modern times the 230V to run the machine.

[Viking23]

So you may wonder, what made me put finger to keyboard on my previous post?

Well as some know, both my wife and I are under going treatment for cancer at the moment, and while we are waiting for my wife's dose of radio therapy, clearly we are amongst other patients, most of similar age, just retired or been retired a while, clearly we have a biased discussion group.

We clearly talk about, that there seems to be a lot of cancer about at the moment (biassed audience) and we were reminiscing of what life was like in the 50's and 60's, lead in paint, benzine in petrol, telegraph poles dipped in cyanide for insect protection, and all the above etc.

We then discussed what later generations may encounter, eg the effects of additives and preservatives in food, growth hormones in animal feed, using animal protein in animal feed destined for vegetarian animals! mobile phone radiation, a rainbow of radio frequencies, from stray microwaves, digital radio and TV, to powerful wifi signals, to blue tooth. All this Radio Frequency interference Must be having an accumulative affect on the unborn baby, people's brain tissue and vulnerable organs.

Just because there is no proven evidence, doesn't mean you are safe from it all. Asbestosis, Silicosis, etc became a problem several decades after exposure, who knows what could happen.

Our generation, 55+ have only been using mobiles for 15-20 years say, 1/3 to 1/4 of our life, and with no cheap plans in the early years, we used them on rare occasions, the current generation of parents, 25-35 years old, for over half theirs, and with low cost inclusive calls, free texts, downloads, they are exposed to even more. I don't want to sound like doom and gloom, but nobody really knows enough about it. I am sure they will in another 20 years, but at what human and environmental cost?

PS I won't mention the over use of drugs at this time, the post is long enough as it is.

 

[Islander]

I'm sure a lot of people are reading this thread with interest. I, for one, am sat here in front of my iPad while my good lady has just adjusted a summer top and repaired a hole in my overalls with the pocket off the back which I don't use.

it came to mind that just a few years back we had to clear my family home when my mother passed away( it will happen to all of us). My son and daughter in law were looking to move to their own home and took ALL the brown furniture, all dated from pre and post Second World War, much better quality than now and with zero value at auction! While clearing the sideboard we found spare buttons for every garment that had been warn by the family in 50+years. There was even wool to repair my school jumpers.

My fathers shed contained materials dating back to the end of the war. Our boats contain screws that were used to build Mosquitos and the remainder will defernately see me out. Ali beer cans were cut up ready to use and cellophane from packaging saved for windows on model trains or layout buildings.

I, today, have just used the last of my sodium chlorate for weed killing under the veranda of my caravan ( now hard to get in dry form)

We have to remember that some of the NON GREEN things we did in the past were because we didn't know better. I use to have a weed killer used by BR called 245T, it would kill anything (including people so I'm told). I spent most of my working life in the consumer electronics trade breathing in fumes from tin/lead solder and fluxes. Now I see lead free solder and fume extraction where anyone works. Pity they didn't do it in my day. I don't know if I'm going to be effected by that, but who could I blame, I was a smoker for many years( gave up, for good, a few years), was brought up just a spit away from A1 in Hatfield from the age of 1 and driving over a thousand miles a week while working, so car fumes come to mind too.

Im sure there are others here that can add too this. No we weren't green in the way the young look at it now but one of my boats has just been repaired with mahogany from a wardrobe cleared from my sister's house 9 years ago. It  would have become wood hip otherwise. I do not spend my life with my iPhone glued to my ear and in fact only just had to top up credit having nearly gone 2 years on £25! I, sorry, we, recycle as much as possible and I don't mean to the dump either, I have a shed full of useful stuff. I don't need a new phone, TV, car( this ones got to last 10 years). What I would like is a new back, knees, eyes and ears but that's not going to happen. I will continue to be as green as I can but I think I may be doing a better job than these youngsters.

just to add that Ruth, bless her, has just cut the shabby end off a roller blind for the boat. We could have bought a new one!!!

Small rant over

best regards to all

Colin and Ruth 

The Q,so what happens to the disposables, buried are they! Our nappies, made from cotten,. Were steeped in horrible bleach and boiled in a burco. Probably a lot less energy than even a modern washing machine.

Viking23, wish you both well and hope your treatment is successful. There will always be substances and products that we will not fully understand until it's too late.What I find frustrating is the development of new treatment that takes years to approve or is not available to the NHS.

additional small rant!

C.

[JennyMorgan]

I well remember the debates surrounding sewerage and the Broads during the 1960's. When we were installing the new pump-out toilets on our boats for the forthcoming season we had a visit by a delegation of environmentalists and scientists from America's National Geographic magazine. Whilst they applauded our efforts they were puzzled at our reasoning. It was explained that the raw, human waste was not the problem, nature was more than capable of dealing with that, rather it was the phosphates in the soaps and detergents that were the problem. That shower and bath water was pumped directly into the rivers, and in most cases still is, is the very real problem. There was also very real concerns as to the chemicals that were being used in pump-out toilets as it could/would destroy the natural operation of sewerage farms, as subsequently it did at Burgh St Peter, indeed it happened at least twice. Once when I managed it and again when James Knight bought out the company that subsequently owned it. We are very good at solving one problem by creating another. That the Broads are cleaner today is the fact that Broadside houses and estates no longer discharge directly into the rivers and phosphate stripping has become the norm.

[TheQ]

Boiling away in a Burco,  or even further back in a copper with a fire underneath ( I lived in a house with a copper but didn't use it)  will use vastly more energy than a modern washing machine @ 40 degrees.

Yes the disposables are buried but they took that into account with the full energy cycle. Older style disposables used a plastic skin which didn't degrade. Many Modern ones do degrade as does the  filling which is mostly wood pulp . Not much different from your loo paper being washed away which then needs disposal at the sewage plant.

 

[ZimbiIV]

Just think of this. The WORLD will survive it's us that may not!

paul

[Islander]

I still don't see that burying stuff can be acceptable. Either it's recycle able or we should not produce it. Tetra packs come to mind, I was quite happy to get my milk or juice in a bottle that could be washed and reused. Unfortunately I'm not the one to change these things but I might just be able to make a small change by educating my grandchildren.

Colin

p.s. This world will find a way to get rid of us if it sees fit. There will be nothing we can do to stop it. The best we can do is not to take the p....and hopefully survive for a good few more generations. 

Colin again

p.s. Going to have a few beers now. I will not be responsible for any further posts today!

[grendel]

just thinking of the diseases of the future - wifitus, bluetooth rot, laptop elbow, phone thumb is already nearly with us.

[JennyMorgan]

Ponder on this, GRP boats are not, as yet, recyclable.

Nor is the fuel that they burn exactly green . . . . . . . . . unlike the fuel that sailing boats use.

[grendel]

Ah but sailing boats are stealing their fuel from windfarms

 

[JennyMorgan]

And not paying tax on it either!

[Arthur]

1 hour ago, JennyMorgan said:

 . . . . . . . . unlike the fuel that sailing boats use.

Oh! You were talking about wind, Peter.

And all the time I had been under the impression that sailing boats run on Alcohol in various forms.

Main source of this information    "The art of coarse sailng"

[Siddy]

Been the good side of 50 (just) reading above I grew up with gran having a off licence so remember the bottle returns even milk bottles, only pop bottles not return were the ones getting refilled with sherry by the pint from the big blue barrel. Sweets stopped coming in glass bottle to plastic jars & milk swapped to cartons.

Back in the 70's I remember when a repair in the road etc by gas/water to 2 men paddy & mick (pc) with there tin shed for shelter from start to finish not a team in the office to do paperwork a team to dig then repair and don't foget the wagon to collect the dug up dirt not to be reused.

The mention of solder above & starting out in electronics solding pcb's no extract but what didn't come to mind was for 3 months of my YTS I was with a engineer who's desk was in the flow solder room and it was hot in there and smoke used to come of the tray of molton solder which took a few kg rod everyday.

Back to the carrier bag explain how we paid 3p for years if you used &ldi and now it's 5p and quality has dropped.

Now it's all about the life cycle of a product these days, over the next few months I've got 5 large building to get though a ISO environmental review to get the award along with a energy ISO so when I'm down in Sept I will be in the middle of the reviews they've already asked me to cancel my hols (NO).

I'm going to study the life cycle of the beer can whilst away which will mean drinking the contents.

 

 

[Viking23]

People think that the wind farms around Norfolk are for generating electricity.

I have this theory... lol

They are not, they are electrically driven fans, that create a strong wind so that yachts can sail on the Broads.

They are also used to repel any wind coming in too, that's why the wind appears to change directions all the time.

[Viking23]

On 16 July 2016 at 10:36 PM, Arthur said:

Oh! You were talking about wind, Peter.

And all the time I had been under the impression that sailing boats run on Alcohol in various forms.

Main source of this information    "The art of coarse sailng"

More like "The art or curse sailing"

There is always something else to blame whilst sailing, running into the reeds was either a fluke wind, a cruiser going past 100 yards away, Broads Authority not dredging the water near the edge.

When I was younger my father used various expletives to explain why we were not making progress... lol