The "Green Thing" Challenge

Auntie Biache'

Well-Known Member
Most of everyone has probably read this. The "challenge", what can you add to it?

Example: Butchers didn't always use styrofoam packaging, they only used butcher paper.

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that 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.

That's right, they didn't have the "green thing" in her day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But they didn't have the "green thing" back in her 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's 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 pizza dish, 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 wadded up 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 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 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 that old lady is right. They didn't have the "green thing" back in her day.

Anonymous
 

PsyOps

Pixelated
The consequences of technological advances. We do things more efficiently, but sacrifice the environment and our health in exchange. Yet, we are living longer. Yet, things like obesity and diabetes are through the roof. While we become smarter with gadgets and technology, we become more ignorant to what goes into taking care of ourselves. We have to force ourselves to do things the old way and break from our dependence on technology in order to get there. But our society doesn't seem to recognize where we are and the consequences of it.
 

Auntie Biache'

Well-Known Member
The "challenge", what can you add to it?

Example: Butchers didn't always use styrofoam packaging, they only used butcher paper.

Looking for the way things were done before it was replaced with something "new and improved".
 

AnthonyJames

R.I.P. My Brother Rick
Greetings:

The author forgot the up hill both ways parable, in any one of its various forms.
Salutations:

145468
 
Much of what is thrown out today was never thrown out previously, reducing landfill needs.

It wound up in garages and basements of our parents.... :ohwell:
 

Spitfire

Active Member
Greetings:

I'd like to go back to the old-fashioned VCRs that constantly blink 12:00 instead of network-controlled time signals. Today's instant gratification is for the birds.

I'd like to go back to beating the crap out of kids so they learn right.

I'd like to go back to a time when airfare was expensive so I wouldn't have the fly with the dregs of society.

I'd like to go back to waiting in line at Hecht's to buy tickets to events. Who the hell wants to order tickets from the comfort of their bed when when go on sale at 10:00 A.M. Saturday morning? LAZY PEOPLE, that's who!

I'd like to go back to a time with no vaccines so that wide swaths of the population could die off periodically.

I'd like to go back to a time of no environmental regulations. That way, it would cost less to get my car serviced since spent motor oil could just be dumped in the creek behind the shop.
 

nobody really

I need a nap
I was reading an article in national geographic the other day, and I don't consider myself a tree hugger or any thing crazy like that...although I do my best to recycle, etc.

But the article I read on everyday plastics....that aren't recyclable because of the plastics they contain, and wind up in the oceans after time are shoes, toothbrushes, and ciggie butts. Its an eye opening article. Every piece of plastic made since it was created in 1905 is still around, floating in an ocean somewhere. Can you imagine what is going to be like when our grandkids are raising grandkids?
 

Auntie Biache'

Well-Known Member
I was reading an article in national geographic the other day, and I don't consider myself a tree hugger or any thing crazy like that...although I do my best to recycle, etc.

But the article I read on everyday plastics....that aren't recyclable because of the plastics they contain, and wind up in the oceans after time are shoes, toothbrushes, and ciggie butts. Its an eye opening article. Every piece of plastic made since it was created in 1905 is still around, floating in an ocean somewhere. Can you imagine what is going to be like when our grandkids are raising grandkids?

Yep, and all because some young whippersnapper came along and said "I have a better idea".
 

Spitfire

Active Member
Much of what is thrown out today was never thrown out previously, reducing landfill needs.

It wound up in garages and basements of our parents.... :ohwell:

Greetings:

It eventually ends up in the landfill when the parents die off and the kids don't want all the crap mom & dad hoarded over the years thinking they would need it some day.
 

Bobwhite

Active Member
You have to look for them. Seriously. Good quality shoes are out there, but you have to be willing to do the research, then when you find them, you have to be willing to pay for that quality.
You can find decent shoes, certainly. But if you want to keep them when they start to wear, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone to repair them.
 
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