There was life before the ‘Green Thing’

Checking out at the supermarket, the young lady cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment. The woman apologised to the young girl and explained: “We didn’t have this ‘green thing’ back in my earlier days”. The young girl responded: “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations”.
The older lady said that she was right – our generation didn’t have the ‘green thing’ in its day. “Back then, we returned milk bottles, mineral bottles and beer bottles back to the place we bought them from. These got sent back to be washed, sterilised and refilled, so they 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.
“Grocery shops bagged our shopping in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. The most memorable was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling. Then we were able to personalise our books on the brown paper. But too bad we didn’t do the ‘green thing’ back then. “We walked up the stairs because we didn’t have an escalator or lift in every shop and office building. We walked to the shops and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower car every time we had to go a short distance. But you’re right: we didn’t have the ‘green thing’ in our day. “Back then we washed the babies’ nappies because we didn’t have the ‘throw away’ thing. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up to 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in those days. Children got hand-me-downs from their brothers or sisters, not always brand new clothing. But you’re 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 not a screen the size of a lounge wall. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand, we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the post, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. “Back then we didn’t fire up an engine and use petrol to cut the lawn. We used to push a mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working and walking so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate off electricity. But you’re right; we didn’t have the ‘green thing’ back then.
“We drank from a fountain or tap when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or 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 blade instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade had gotten blunt. But we didn’t have the ‘green thing’ back then.
“Back then people took the tram or a bus and children rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums and dads into a 24-hour taxi service in the family’s €35,000 ‘people mover’ which cost what a whole house did before the ‘green thing’. “We had one electrical power socket in each room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest takeaway.
“But isn’t it sad how the current generation blames how wasteful we older people were, just because we didn’t have the ‘green thing’ back then?”