How Wasteful the Older Generation Was

Had the people that welcomed the ease in their lives with these gadgets known the consequence, most would have never bought or used them.

It's wonderful to see that people of all generations are realizing the consequences and making changes.

Originally posted by SavedOne
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.

"Storage" is the issue. There is no really good means to store solar generated electricity for off perods ( i.e. darkness).If all the power for the country was collected in Nevada( 1/10th of the land area remember?) it would be :"lights out" for the country around 9p.m. mst.

Feeding your personally generated ( "collected") power into the distribution "grid" for a credit does not store anything, it merely joins the river of electricity being distributed. the utility may be able to "throttle back" the output of the local power plant, during peak times due to your contribution to the flow. For which you
deserve compensation; so they buy it from you cheaper than they can provide the extra capacity.
We can and should do more with renewables; no doubt.

I as well remember the Brookdale Bottling company in town where we could pick up cases of glass bottled soda, and return the empties, I was born in the early 60s and now live in Florida close to the Villages one of the largest retirement communities, my little neighborhood is a great mix of young couples and seniors, I spent a lot of time visiting my neighbors and listening to their stories helping them when they need it, and taping their vast wisdom of age.

We are very lucky to live in a neighborhood where people still care and watch out for each other, my doors are never locked when I’m not home, my keys are left in the ignition, and the kids for the most part all get along great.

I wrote an article some time ago on community survival and it can be found here: drmeola.blogspot.com...
It can be found in the 2010 archives.

This article has to do a lot with a worse case scenario, how ever the information contained is a great stepping stone to work with to get organized, get involved with your neighbors, even just throwing a block party to better get familiar with them, one block at a time working together, helping each other, will spread like wild fire throughout your neighborhood and it all starts with you.

reply to post by 46ACE


Hey 46ace,

I understand your concern for storage of energy, and I also follow your point on just adding it back to the system, however, a storage bank can be created for an individual house very easily and fairly cheap as well. The bank can be made up of old car batteries this works great and can often be gotten for next to nothing, when say weather is bad and the sun is not shining enough to keep you at full power a small generator is great to recharge the battery bank, you can get one for under 500 dollars and will usually charge the battery bank in about 1 hour.

Remember to be creative, the seniors are great to get this kind of information from, they lived through a time when energy was not always available and use candle power for lighting, ice box for a fridge, and if you have even a small back yard you can dig a cold cellar for items that may not need freezing, your are only limited to your creativity and your willingness to ask for help from those whom have been there and done that.

As most of us have heard the only stupid question is the one not asked, from making your own soap and cleaning supplies and so much more, every day more and more people are getting off grid and becoming self sufficient, I do not recommend that for everyone, but even small steps to save money allowing you to spend more quality time with your family is worth more than anything you might give up.

And when you have time watch the video I posted earlier on debt.

If it wasnt for the older generation the younger generation wouldnt have half of what it does.
The younger generation is just as wasteful -
Take a good look around you at all the disposable rubbish they consider essential.. Guess its the latest fad in the west to give lipservice to caring about the envireonment while continuing the greed, materialism and wastefulness of previous generations. If they care over there then as your american saying goes - show me .. Action speaks louder than words. Give up your cars, planes, aircon, electric plants and all your other conveniences that destroy the envireonment.. Doubt that will ever happen..

I like for everyone to understand where I believe the downfall of society stems from, and that would be simple family values, we have been brainwashed that we need everything, we are living in a material world where things have replaced the family time, when was the last time you played a board game instead of a video game? When was the last time, other then the holidays having you sat down to a dinner and conversation that lasted more than 15 minutes? Everyone has some place they are rushing to, the kids to the next video game, and even adults with their busy day, rushing to watch a television show or the nightly news.

Television has brainwashed the masses, with the whole single parent shows even dating back to the 50s, parents have had their hands tied by the establishment that we have become scared to discipline our own kids because they may come take them away. I am all about the positive reinforcement; however there are times when a good spanking goes a lot farther. I have posted another great movie for you to watch on my PAC thread on ATS as well as on my blog called: psychology an industry of death. They are drugging our kids, dismantling their creativity, how many can remember having woodshop metal shop basic electronics, typing, home eke, just to mention a few in their high school? I had them, but today kids hardly have these options available to them, why?

Kids no longer respect their parents, let alone each other, the public schools have become a joke in America compared to the rest of the world, at one time we where number one in education around the globe today we have dropped down to the mid 20s. If you decide to go for a higher education the system loves you because most come out with such a large debt on their backs they have no chance of ever getting out of the system slave world.

I am sure many of us have heard the expression that we have become a society of users and not producers, we can change that, it’s a mindset, no one can do this for you, only you can decide what is right for you.

One problem is that being self-sustainable can be frowned upon in a lot of communities in western nations.

Some communities do not allow clothes being hung out to dry, do not allow chickens, frown upon people bicycling on the streets, do not allow food gardens, or find a older but still functioning car a blight on the neighbourhood... The list is endless.

Who made up those rules anyway?

Ah who cares it'll come back to bite us on the ass, and all for the better!

Originally posted by drmeola
I like for everyone to understand where I believe the downfall of society stems from, and that would be simple family values, we have been brainwashed that we need everything, we are living in a material world where things have replaced the family time, when was the last time you played a board game instead of a video game? When was the last time, other then the holidays having you sat down to a dinner and conversation that lasted more than 15 minutes? Everyone has some place they are rushing to, the kids to the next video game, and even adults with their busy day, rushing to watch a television show or the nightly news.

Television has brainwashed the masses, with the whole single parent shows even dating back to the 50s, parents have had their hands tied by the establishment that we have become scared to discipline our own kids because they may come take them away. I am all about the positive reinforcement; however there are times when a good spanking goes a lot farther. I have posted another great movie for you to watch on my PAC thread on ATS as well as on my blog called: psychology an industry of death. They are drugging our kids, dismantling their creativity, how many can remember having woodshop metal shop basic electronics, typing, home eke, just to mention a few in their high school? I had them, but today kids hardly have these options available to them, why?

Kids no longer respect their parents, let alone each other, the public schools have become a joke in America compared to the rest of the world, at one time we where number one in education around the globe today we have dropped down to the mid 20s. If you decide to go for a higher education the system loves you because most come out with such a large debt on their backs they have no chance of ever getting out of the system slave world.

I am sure many of us have heard the expression that we have become a society of users and not producers, we can change that, it’s a mindset, no one can do this for you, only you can decide what is right for you.

Exactly .. You hit it right on the mark.. Btw good thread - interesting S&F .. Apologies my rusty english only use it here its not my native language so hope make sense..

This is a simple one.

The younger generation has been severely brainwashed to "think green". It is all political and "they" are making a fortune. Do not be fooled, as I see so many that are.

I am not saying we should pollute everything. I am only stating that fear mongering in the name of mother nature is everywhere these days.

reply to post by drmeola


I don't remember anyone who considers themselves a part of the "Green" generation (myself included), ever scolding older Americans for being any less "green". Certainly in the less technologically advanced periods of times there was less pollution, however, I don't think that's because that's what the older generation was going for per se but rather what they were technically limited to. With that being said, once again, I think it's an unfair and broad generalization to paint all young people as part of some sort of mass "green" generation that shuns older people because of some preconceived notion that they care less about our environment. Just as the younger generation learns more environmentally sustainable ways of living every day, older generations can and do learn new things every day.

What's more disconcerting is those of us who plug our ears and act like nothing is wrong with the environment, that humans are not causing irreversible damage to our environment (think Chernobyl, Fukushima, masses of trash in the oceans and orbiting the planet; the list goes on and on), and we don't even have to go into the debate regarding global warming to already come to the conclusion that we have done serious harm to our own planet. Just like human beings only have one liver, we only have one planet. And right now, there are no available transplants. Perhaps instead of spreading blame across generations, we should work together as one people to start weaning our planet off of fossil fuels, stop cutting down rainforests for paper, stop polluting our waters with toxic waste and start finding renewable resources that will allow our world to prosper for not just the next 20, 30, or 50 years, but for the next 500 years. Because right now, we have only one planet. And until we find another one, then this is all that we have:

reply to post by ErgoTheConfusion


Beautiful. If I could wish for one thing.. ONE THING, ever, it would be this. I really want the world to go back to these days. I don't care what we have now. I want my MOTHER back(Earth), I want my own food back, I want a horse to carry these food stuffs to and back from a market center 5-10 miles away. I don't want money, I want barter. I want FREEDOM.

Originally posted by SavedOne
The point of the OP is correct, reuse and recycling is nothing new, it's been around for centuries.

The only difference is we did it back then because it was cheaper and it was common sense.

Now they push it because the government have found a way to make money on it and turn it into a business
and gave it a cute name....Going Green !

I guess they had to come up with a name now because nobody knows what common sense is.......

reply to post by drmeola


It's not just the older generation, it's every generation. This country nor the world for that matter has never really focused on solving the problem of the accumulation waste. We're a throw away society, and we're running out of landfill space for all our garbage. Governments of the world should be investing in research to find efficient and safe ways to dispose of both hazardous and non-hazardous waste. Governments are continuing to store spend nuclear fuel rods in caves! Don't you think before they started building nuclear reactors, they should have made sure they had an environmentally safe way of recycling or disposing of spent fuel rods?

The majority of people are just too lazy to recycle, and not everything can be recycled. Reusable grocery bags should be the norm, but as long as it's not convenient for the customer, stores will still use plastic bags. Heck, I think those stores that use the quarter to prevent their carts from being damaged was a great idea! But the majority of people are just too lazy to return the carts back to the front of the store for it to catch on.

In one way the recession had positive effect was that everyone cut back on everything. People stopped buying so much frivolous junk. Companies stopping making and passing out freebie promotional useless junk. I cleaned my closets out and donated to charity for free entertainment. Life became less stressful. The keep up with the Joneses, became save all our money and pay off debt in case we lose our jobs/ house. Netflix is a great way to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Even kitchen grease can be taken somewhere to recycle into biodeasel. Losing the land line for cell phone service saved us a ton of money.

Gas prices rising contributed to the fall of the economy, and no it was not resealiant. The people least effected were the older generation who had their houses paid off and retirement money in the bag. The rest of us had to cut off everything non essential to living. Life probably will never be like what it was, there are too many people demanding the same things every day. The abandoned forclosed homes need to become available for families to be able to purchase again. People need to adopt the save, reduce, reuse, and recycle attitude forever. The party of loose morals and no responsibility is over.

That is an absolutely amazing post.

Yep - - at 65 - - I remember all those things. And probably a few more

Originally posted by Maslo
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...

Right, but look at the graph carefully. It didn't start to decline until the recession started. It's not as if people suddenly expanded their conscientiousness. They were forced to consume less.

*hint, hint, people*

So anyone using any amount of energy is deemed wasteful in your eyes?

Click here for more information.

back then, they fought wars on global scales and detonated atomic weapons on each other, killing millions. but they didn't have that green thing.

back then, they ran industrial sized coal incinerators to dispose of the victims of genocide. but they didn't have that green thing.

back then, they were testing thermonuclear devices every 3 weeks on land, air and sea. but they didn't have that green thing.

point is, every generation is full of sh-t.

Originally posted by peck420
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.

I disagree, Baby Boomers as a generation are the worst(the exceptions among that generation prove the rule). They are the only generation to betray future generations(and before you start in about the Civil Rights movement, that was mostly the greatest generation and the silent generation as most boomers where still in diapers). Even as we speak boomers are seeking to enrich themselves even if it means poverty on a scale not seen since the depression for younger generations for many decades to come.

How many young people drive SUVs and other large trucks when they don't have too?