How Wasteful the Older Generation Was

So much for being Green

A friend of mine found this article and I thought I would share it’s powerful message with you.


How Wasteful the Older Generation Was

In the line at the store, the young cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized to him 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."
She was right, that generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.

Back then, they returned their 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 in that customer's day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.
But she was right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

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 state of Montana. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for you.
When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she’s right; they didn’t have the green thing back then.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. 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 streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, 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 joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?

Author is Jim Knowles.

Here watch this, this video should put things in perspective for you.

www.youtube.com...

Absolutely fantastic and very true.

If I might add some more to the list....

They used a manual wringer to get water out of their clothes.
They used non electric treadle sewing machines.
And on those sewing machines not only made clothes locally (and not brought in by cargo ship) but mended repaired/patched clothing to make it last longer.
They had floor boards instead of carpet that they washed and waxed manually.
Women towel dried their hair (which even now we are advised to do as often as possible) and used plastic hair rollers and bobby pins instead of hairdryers, hot rollers.
TV finished at 9PM in the night and everyone went to bed early using less power.

This list could go forever....!

reply to post by drmeola


Who pushed for all those advancements? How did a 30 year old or under now cause escalators and all the other whiz bang conveniences of the post WW2 era to come into being?

It's not a virtue if you had no other option.

Stop supporting division between generations please.

Namaste.

This thread makes me think of John Titor, didn't he spout that we were hated because of our wastefulness. Looks like the author is getting a head start!

Is it so hard to just "get along"? Do we have to find things that seperate us? Why? Is the desire to be unique so strong? Should I ask another rhetorical question?

Nice graph of energy use per capita to put things into perspective:




Seems like in terms of energy, the consumption per person has stopped increasing since 1970s...

Young uns eh?

They know it all and the rest of us know nothing

Back then life seemed a bit more simpler than today because they didn't have the many gadgets we have now to help with a specific task. Manual labor was the king work force back then. The common person didn't have as much money as they do now, so many people had to rely on reusing old things like older brother and sisters clothes or reusing milk bottles or using a drinking fountain and walking everywhere in town etc.

Sure this era put a lot air pollution into the skies because the industrial age, but they're way of life was much greener than ours today.

In 1979, because of the Carter Oil Crisis, I asked a question.
What would you rather do with a finite resource like oil.
Remake the entire world into a garden paradise, so when the oil runs out, everything is better.
Or burn up all the oil as fast as you can. I mean, up ahead the road runs out, and Carter is recomending that we drop to 55 mph. Why is everyone screaming step on the gas!

Everyone thought I was cute, and that was enough for them.

I refused to get a car.
I rode a bike everywhere.
I watched as all the bikes got pushed off the roads.

I refused to commute, and started walking everywhere.
I always moved close to where I worked.
I watched as the jobs got pushed into the worst neighborhoods, and the grocery pushed further and further out of town.

At last it became impossible to survive in America without motorized transportation.
Finally in January of 2001 my sister bought me a car.
My brother told me "Well. You held out longer than anyone I know."


If I walk 12 miles to visit someone they are shocked to find out that I walked and want to know what is wrong.
If the members of the new generation find out that I'm a techie who helped build the cellular infrastructure climing one tower at a time, but I don't have a cell phone they think I'm crazy.
If I talk about the Michellin Tire companies' conspiracy to eradicate trolly's from the cities, people treat me like a pariah.
If I formulate a theory about why all this is happening; the same kind of TV shows that ridiculed Carter, now ridicule me.

I became a landscaper and tried to spread gardens.
America paved the whole country over so when the oil runs out
we won't even be able to farm. We'll have to break up the parking lots with hammers first.

Let me ask you newest generation of Americans.
What exactly is my crime; that I'm now to recieve the blame for this mess as well.


David Grouchy

p.s. great opening post!

The point of the OP is correct, reuse and recycling is nothing new, it's been around for centuries. When I was a kid in the 60's we used to walk the sides of the road to collect glass bottles and cans to recycle. Back then there was a "deposit" on glass bottles, so if you found one you could return it to a store and get money for it. During the Depression and WWII people recycled and reused in a big way out of necessity. Practically nothing got thrown away back then. So who do we blame for our diminishing resources? We’re approaching it wrong, we shouldn’t be concerning ourselves with blame at all. As time has moved on, more and more amazing conveniences have been invented, and I doubt anyone would argue that our lives haven't been made easier and better due to things like MRI machines, car washes, microwave ovens, cordless phones, computers, air conditioning, etc. There's a move these days to make us feel guilty for taking advantage of living in a modern world, but realistically we need to find solutions that don't require giving up the things that make our lives better. It's not about assigning guilt, it's about realizing that our resources are finite and we need to develop solutions to preserve them. There's been great progress in this over the last decade and there's lots of reasons to expect continued progress in the future. We can be proud of where we are and still cognizant of the need to preserve our resources, there's no need to feel guilty.

I'm certain that it's too late for pretty words.
The mind control and mood programming is too strong.
Soon they will come for my religion and cheer as I am re-educated for my own good.


David Grouchy

No generation is inheirently superior to any other.

Each generation has done the best they could with the knowledge of the time.

Each generation has progressed knowledge as much as they could during their time.

All have contributed equally. Never forget that we have technology now that makes it easier for us only because they had a dream of that technology before we existed.

reply to post by drmeola


Sounds like the contents of a chain email.

Why is this here again?

Originally posted by The Sword

Why is this here again?

Because it's a social issue?


David Grouchy

Also wanted to add, I took a seminar on green solutions once and here's an interesting item of note- if we covered 1/10 the state of Nevada with solar panels, we could provide 100% of the electrical power needed for the entire US. Now I doubt the people of Nevada want to lose 10% of their state, but the point is if we spread that area of solar panels across the country we would eliminate the need for nuclear power, water power and the burning of coal to produce electricity. It would take some resources to create the panels and infrastructure, but the payback in saved energy costs and the reduction in pollution would seem to make it a no-brainer. Yet for some reason there are no (and I mean ZERO) incentives for this technology. I looked into offsetting the costs of adding solar panels on my house and was shocked to discover there are no incentives whatsoever, and I was also shocked to discover that many electric companies will not allow you to sell energy to the grid (a very important feature that allows you to "store" the energy your panels are capturing for reuse later). On the one hand our government talks a big game on energy conservation, but on the other hand they are doing very little to make it a reality. Make these things economically feasible to people and they WILL take advantage of it.

Likewise people complain about how much oil we use. Want to reduce oil consumption? The solution is VERY simple- quadruple the price of oil. You would be amazed at how quickly people would get into small cars, bicycles, walking, etc. The argument is that we couldn't do that because it would hurt the economy. Well it'll bounce back, it's very resilient.

reply to post by SavedOne


It's up to the government of Nevada to determine this, not the federal government.

In Vermont, there are incentives for solar panels.

Originally posted by The Sword
reply to post by drmeola

 

Why is this here again?

Why are you here?

To ask That question?

Originally posted by The Sword
It's up to the government of Nevada to determine this, not the federal government.

In Vermont, there are incentives for solar panels.

Why is it that back in the 70's when everyone had the money to do this,
and solar panels had the lifespan of glass were they taken off the table,
but now that they have a short life span, and come with maintenance
that requires a monthly fee is there all of this green guilt tripping?


David Grouchy

I see a few comments about money, are we not facing the same problem today with rising gas and food prices to mention just a few? We have been brainwashed into thinking we need all this material items to be happy, we need to buy everything insight to keep the economy going, this is all BS.

We need to refocus on family; do both parents need to work? I think not. Just think if we started to live within our means, start to grow our own food, generating our own power, how much money you could put back into your budget each and ever month for the rest of your life.

I have been setting up an Aquaponics system and talking to others in my area about it, for around 500 dollars for food and stone to get started, in a matter of a few weeks you can have fresh non chemical fertilized food at an abundance, with in a year you can have fresh fish from your system for the dinner plate. I’m not just talking salad, but deserts as well; strawberries grow fast and huge in the system as well as many other fruits, to make jams, pies and so much more.

Learn to can and harvest your seed for the following years crop, you can cut your shopping bill by 90 percent, for most families of 5 like mine is a savings of 800 to 1000 dollars a month. Plus the added benefit of eating health food improving over all health and nutrition all most eliminating any medical bills. For the items you do need to buy, buy in bulk and store it, saving gas money by going out once a month or less to shop. I like the family involvement as well, working together to pick your crops and kids love it, bringing them away from the video games and TV.

We are a family of 5 living on one income around 25k a year, we have internet, cable tv, and yes a small house that we can afford, some savings, and the big one NO DEBT, no credit card bills to worry about, able to go out to dinner now and then, have used cars instead of new ones so no payments to worry about. You just have to start some place, take that first step to taking back your life from the money hungry system keeping you in debt and a slave.

God Bless you all and your families

Originally posted by drmeola
Back then, they returned their 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.

Before then, they milked their own cows, shared in their own community, and didn't waste energy shipping to plants.

Before then they simply ate from the land and used only their own feet to acquire food.

In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.

Before then the older generation was healthy enough to walk up stairs and didn't require an escalator or vehicle to get where they needed to go. Before then they didn't need to leave their small village and didn't need office buildings or grocery stores. Before then they didn't need buildings at all and lived under the stars and allowed the rain to fall upon them.

Back then, they washed the baby’s diapers because they didn’t have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

Before then they didn't use chemicals at all to leave behind in the water supply for other life... and simply rinsed their garments. Before then they didn't use any other living creature for covering because there was nothing wrong with being naked and natural.

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 state of Montana.

Before then they only had radio. Before then they only had books. Before then they simply used their voices and minds and didn't force any other life or material to tell their stories and remember their thoughts for them.

In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for you.

Before then they didn't have kitchens with lead pipe plumbing and miles of dug up terrain to pump water into their sink because they only had a couple of bowls and stones. Before then they didn't have anything but what was available to be picked or scavenged.

When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Before then the idea of a fragile item was absurd because what use is something fragile? If they did, they used straw and grass rather than ripping up valuable forest to make newspapers. Before then they didn't depend on someone else to use a vehicle or animal to transfer something miles and miles.

Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

Before then they didn't cut the grass because... what's wrong with the grass the way it is? The metal lawnmowers required wasting valuable energy to manufacture and mine the metals just to cut down the very life that sustains your own in the long run.

They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. 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.

They drank from the stream instead of polluting the environment by mining metals to pump water from lakes and rivers thus draining the existing ecosystem of their life sustaining waters. They didn't use pens because the voice and talking to each other was sufficient. They didn't shave because... what's wrong with hair?

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, 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 joint.

More mining and manufacturing and fuel. What was wrong with walking and carrying and learning from home?

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?

But isn't it sad the older generation doesn't want to accept responsibility for the world they created by rejecting the "green" ways of *their* older generations, raised their children in, and now depend upon just to survive?

Namaste.