Baby boomers, this is for you from Facebook: :biggrin:

The Green Thing

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized to her and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
...
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

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.

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 the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old 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 a wadded up old newspaper 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 blades in a razor 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.

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 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 we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

 I remember all of these things!!    Now I feel really old..LOL

Thanks for the post...  I remember.... 

Remember when we used to go shopping once a week or less? We made lists of what was needed and if something ran out then tough. Wait until we go to the store again or do without was the way things were done. Now they take their green bag, jump in the car, buy a quart of milk and congratulate themselves on how they conserve energy!

Good one! Thanks!

Attached Link: Four Yorkshiremen (Monty Python live)

Thanks for the memories ThunderStone. We also had paper bags for the groceries which were carefully re-folded, saved and used for all sorts of things. The meat in the butchers was wrapped in paper not packaged in clingwrap and polystyrene. We played in mud, climbed up trees and down cliffs we drank from the stream or the garden hose which ever was closest, how the hell did we survive without the green thing??? or the pollitically correct thing for that matter.

Cheers

GG

That certainly nailed it from my 62 years on the planet. And before enforced BlueBox recycling happened for at least 5 years my Mom an I combined our efforts and were selling enough crushed aluminimum cans ad plastic pop bottles to cover my tobacco expense, and her Missionary Pledge every month. That income disappeared when Laidlaw Systems from Chicago started stealing our source in the form of mandated blue box recycling...sigh

We would scour the ditches and roadsides for those empty pop bottles and go cash them in for a free soda. My fav was Frosty Rootbeer, Mmm, MMM!!!!

Thank you all. Your responses show me the post hit a chord within each of you baby boomers... The good old days for us has passed. New generations have yet to crack and understand the cultural history behind our generation. I really feel sad that they will never ever experience the simple things that we took for granted when we were growing up....

"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?"

soon they might,2012 is around the corner.What are the hand out people going to do?

Grape nehi

My older brother and I used to steal a cart of old pop bottles,and return then for a 5cent fee once a week at safway .they never got the picture just forked over the money.

thanks for the memory's

Thanks Fran.  We didn't have toys that used batteries or plugged into the wall socket. We would find a broken baby carriage or wagon and make a hot rod with used/straightened nails and whatever boards we could find instead of having 4-wheelers and dirt bikes.  We climbed trees instead of cutting them down. When it got hot, we opened the windows and doors instead of turning on an air conditioner. Kids communicated with their friends across the road by yelling instead of texting on throw-away cell phones.

Hear Hear Willie....Well said!

Totally agree about the cellphone thing. I have seen 2 teenagers have a conversation by text while in the same room, how wierd is that??

Cheers

GG

:b_stunned:

:b_shocked:

:b_rolleyes:

Love it ThunderStone...all so true. Now, what's the green thing?...j/k LOL

I still remember sitting around before we had television listening to the news on a big Hallicrafters radio in the parlor. When television arrived in St.Petersburg it was a black and white station that only broadcast a couple of hours at a time. There were two newspapers both independently owned. It the sun did not shine for a period of 24 hours the evening paper was free. Coke 6 packs were wooden; not cardboard. Softdrinks were in a continual bath of cold water in their machines. There was no air conditioning. When we finally did get some window units we found that we could not afford the utility bill. No cell phones; only landlines and there was one color option. Black! You could still gig Snook and dig Coquina clams to make soup and net bluecrabs with no one to gripe or call the authorities and "report" you. It was OK to drive on the beach and build a bonfire or spend the night. We still had indian mounds to dig in and woods to explore. Gas was less than 5 cents a gallon and it was fun to watch the little marbles in the glass window of the gas pump whirl around when the gas was pumped. We walked to school and back home. There was no schoolbus if you lived within 5 miles of your school. It was safe to walk in your neighborhood or leave the house unlocked. No one locked their car. Most cars still had clutches and manual transmissions. You could still find pictures of B17's making bombing runs on the wall of homes and gold star mothers plaques in the windows. On trash day you might find piles of Confederate money at curbside where someone had cleaned out the attic. It was accepted practise to hang your clothes on the line and have a vegetable garden or keep a couple of layers. Two large bags of groceries cost less than $10 and ground beef was usually less than 10 cents a pound because it was condered junk and no one would buy it. Same for oleo margarine; it was real butter or nothing. A double ice cream cone was ten cents. Singles were a nickel. My uncle who was a local mover and shaker introduced me to Joe E. Brown at a parade one time, and yes his mouth was "that" big! There was no bridge over Tampa bay from St.Pete to Sarasota so you took the Beeline ferry which cost a couple of dollars. Don't want to go to heaven when I die. Just recycle me to 1947........

I was born in January 1956. I remember some of those things. We even had a hand power push mower! Computers were mainframes and most often leased, instead of purchased. Nobody to bring up charges of child endangerment, if the kid fell out of a tree, or had an accident at a playground.

Now we have a Nanny and Police State that took away those precious freedoms that children had growing up. In this sense, I miss those good old days!

The point is being missed. If some snippy little Green Nazi clerk told me that my generation did not care enough about saving the environment, I would never shop at that store again! The nerve!

Somebody needs to get a grip. I will not be preached to by The Church of Green.

Reminds me of the South Park episode "Smug Alert" where people were chastised for not driving the new car "The Pious".

Boycott Green! Green is Red!

My solution for little nazi's is to indicate to them in no uncertain terms that their lack of manners is not appreciated and that I expect an apology forthwith or the manager will have the issue in front of him/her within a couple of seconds. For some reason checkout people seem to be in the forefront of this. If there is a big problem with no apology forthcoming I would loudly call out for the manager and demand an apology on the spot. If that doesn't work then an email to the home office is very effective.

I have always been amused on how it becomes the consumer’s responsibility to stop the production of plastic bags. Obviously plastic bags don’t create themselves and someone is turning a profit producing them.  Why aren’t the companies that produce the plastic bags confronted? Before your groceries were packed freely in plastic bags they were packed freely in paper bags. Consequently I wonder why your groceries aren’t freely packed in those green thingies? I can only suppose they want the consumer to foot the bill as well.

Please, people... You're missing the point... This was meant as an observation not a condemnation. Your opinions are noted but I didn't post this as a real life happening.

Point taken ThunderStone.

Thunderstone! Thank you for your original post and for your last one. :-) Too far in any direction I think we can do without. lol. We DO need to save the planet after all.

I re-read your original post, finally "seeing" the part about it being from facebook. Sorry I will read more slowly next time. We will now return to our regularly scheduled 1am Bryce session.......

Cheers

Well, those of us who are old enough to remember the old days, are speaking of some of those memories, and our observation of the current times.

I remember the old days. Maybe not VERY old days. lol

Well, I’m certainly old enough to remember the old days as mentioned here and I am old enough to have an opinion of both the old and the new. I empathetically understand Talos’ and ArtByMiven point of the snippy clerk for which I offered my comments. My comments were not a condemnation but more of a rhetorical question of the provocative topic…the green thing. But I will certainly respect the original poster’s stated unassuming intentions.