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 styrafoam 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 walked or 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. Pass this on if you remember those recycling days!
Yup. My parents both worked so they left the back door unlocked all year so the milk man could put the new milk in the fridge. He took the emptys back. I don't remember so much junk mail back in the 50's. Coke was a treat, fast food didn't exist and with 3 channels on the TV it didn't get watched much. I still like the smell of cloths and bed sheets dried outside. That aroma cannot be reproduced with a dryer sheet. Yes I like scratchy towels. Vegetables were grown in the back yard and canned for the winter. Chickens were grown in the back yard too. Nobody bought chicken. Corn on the cob came from the farm up the street. 13 ears for 50 cents. Sometimes there were 14 in the "paper" bag. When it got too hot outside the basement was the place to be. I don't remember the last time I saw a fire fly. You new it was hot when the cicadas were singing. The dirt roads in town didn't stay dirt as the Bird company gave away the cutouts from the 3 tab shingles to the city to lay out on the dirt roads. Now that's recycling. Newspapers were saved for the Boy Scouts. My parents didn't buy new tires. The car and the tires on it went to the retreader in the morning and it was ready in the afternoon. I remember the radio and TV got fixed when the paycheck allowed.
Awesome story! Yet these same people who won't use plastic grocery bags because "they are bad for the environment" buy plastic garbage bags to put their garbage out in. I put my garbage back into the same plastic bags that carried my groceries home from the store. Paper bags are not "good" for the environment, either. At least not when the source of the pulp is trees.
We've always used the plastic shopping bags when camping and at home for garbage. Down here they don't even ask "paper or plastic" anymore. Haven't seen a paper bag since I took Sadie Ann out on a date! As for killing a tree, the new crop around here is Slash Pines which are raised for their pulp for everything from paper to toothpaste, and to make mulch. To save money they've closed most of the wood mills around here. They now send the trees to China to make the same things they used to make here, only they add poisons as fillers. It's the American way! I also lived back when life was simple and everything was recycled as a way of life. That was the American way!
Spot on! And wasn't it the "environmentalists" that made us switch from biodegradable sacks made from renewable resources to those live forever (but never can be stood up straight) plastic things so that their friends could make money turning them back into bags again? Harrumph, I remember when they took away the returnable soda pop bottles. Really ticked me off. I switched to diet rite at one point because they were the last ones still using returnable bottles. mike
returnable soda pop bottles We're on a roll now. But who actually listens to us? Drink a soda from a bottle. Now drink the same type from an aluminum can? Different huh? And rumor has it that aluminum leaches into the soda, beer, or whatever. Wonder why more people have cancer and diabetis ?
Remember the pop shoppe in the 70',you brought your empty glass bottles back to the store and filled up a case of 24 mix and match. I have a full case of stubby bottles in the basement.
I remember those popshoppe bottles, but I'm not much of a pop drinker. This is a really great thread well worth bring back. Thanks
Back in central Illinois Kroger stores had some sort of thing like the Popshoppe sodas where you filled your own bottles. People like my wife would mix flavors. She still does this in her cup at the fast food joints. Ickie!
That is called swamp water. Coke ,orange ,root beer,7-up. Different flavor every time for fun try asking fir it at the drive through! Put the bottles on kijiji last night sold them for $25 in 7 minutes!
1st post was a good read. We still have a cloths line in our yard, and we use it. We are the only house on the street who still has one. We also I'm sure are the only house on the street that still has a rotary phone, and we use it. The green thing...... I remember pop bottles that were so scraped up from being re-used you could barley see the CocaCola label. Finding a pop bottle as a kid was like winning the lottery = mega score when penny candy ment several pieces for a penny and you got a nickel for a bottle, very rarely would you find one at the side of the road....... now a large majority of people can't be bothered to return there pop cans/bottles, the highway ditches are full of them. The green thing and my house...... Brand new double stainless steel sink in the suite, brand new still wrapped tossed for junk because one corner flange had a small dent. 5 seconds with a pair of vise grips and you can't tell. My white picket fence.... all lumber came from roof top A/C units crate packing, was all headed for the dump. The rest of the clean wood we burned in the fire place. 10+ years later my fence is still standing. Our winter fire wood...all clean job site waist. I have not chopped/split any fire wood (trees) in years. At least 60% of my new patio deck job site waist heading for the dump. When I moved here my garage was insulated but exposed studs inside. I sheeted it with 4'x'4x3/8" plywood that was laid on pallets, not nailed down. All clean wood, dry, stacked inside on a pallet....... waiting to go to the dump from a cabinet company. The road base for my ne parking, a case of beer or it was heading for the land fill, it was new clean fill but to much was ordered. The rebar to support the land scape ties... if it under 4' long, it just goes to the dump.....so I took it. I could go on and on..... When I was still working, OMG the dumpster waist I have 2 water cannon fire extinguishers made from 5 tossed out. Took a hour of my time, yet big company felt it was more cost effective to junk them and spend $150ish each to replace......you could have only had to buy 3 and pay a hour of my time ya morons!. I have not bout a nail or screw in years, I've got buckets of every size you could imagine that will last me all my life, all came from the dumpster. Again, I could just keep going....... but I'm not green
Remember TV repair places and drug stores selling vacuum tubes? Remember when things were built to be REPAIRED not replaced? Remember a time before cash for clunkers when assets in an economy weren't destroyed and melted down because of their potential waste hazard? Is there a better example of irony than the "green thing"? Remember when people sharpened lawn mower blades and pocket knives? Remember when pocket knives were made from a steel you could sharpen? Remember when food was grown in the US? Remember replacing a needle and seat set instead of a fuel injector? Remember replacing points every now and then instead of replacing a car every now and then? Remember when the car was part of the family and people drove them until they turned back into dust? Remember when cars didn't have to carry around stifling, complicated emissions controls that killed gas mileage and longevity making it almost impossible for the common man to repair the car? Remember when people would compete to see who could fine tune their cars with a timing light and a dwell meter on their own driveways to get the greatest possible efficiency? Remember a time when you went to the auto parts store to buy a length of friction material from a roll to rivet on to the brake pad and shoe backs instead of buying a new set of pads or shoes when you did a break job? Oh what knowledge and quality of life and people has been lost all in the name of "being green". I can't think of a more wasteful society in the history of humanity yet it's all in the name of "being green". Some day we will pay for this. ~Couch
