Checking out at the supermarket recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. I apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this green thing back in my earlier days“.
The clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations“.

She was right about one thing–our generation didn’t have the green thing in “Our” day. So what did we have back then? After some reflection and soul-searching on “Our” day, here’s what I remembered we did have….

Back then, we returned milk bottles, pop 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 repeatedly. 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 nappies because we didn’t have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 240 volts — wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young 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 Wales. In the kitchen, we blended & 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 wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn petrol 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 water 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 bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums 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?
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Back then there were 1/3 the number of people on the planet. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Betty, of course your generation doesn't know much about bags. After all, many of your generation grew much of the food they ate and didn't shop like we do now. How could you know about bags?

Great post, love it!

Most excellant observation of the lack of the Green Thing, but look what these younguns are missing.

RIGHT ON, Betty.
don't know how I would have held my tongue with the snotty young clerk.

Amen.
btw no BPA in glass bottles.

Man, if I remember correctly we used paper bags back then not the PLASTIC they use today that takes bout 50,000 years to decay back into the earth.....

My Barth is ‘recycled’.

Man I used to hate the push mower! If you waited until the grass got too long, oh boy. A lesson on the cost of procrastination.

Don't even get me started on the young punks...(remember I just retired from teaching high school!) These kids know everything, they'll gladly tell you all the things we did wrong. They are quick to voice their concerns on the planet but sadly, fewer of them are actually doing anything about it.

They whine about us while they sit 10 ft apart texting each other, tying up an amazing satellite communications system with important data transfer like:
howRU? or: Johnny is cool. or: this class is boring..

The modern recycling movement was born from the earlier "modern disposable throwaway trend" Look at a modern landfill and think about it.. nobody ever got rid of trash from the farm. My pet peeve is the packaging: mostly nondegradeable petrochemically derived plastic, oversize, and not needed for product protection. Screws in blister packs, cat litter in polyethylene jugs, etc. Meanwhile the food packaging plastics are leaching monomers into the food while they "protect" it...

The world is crazy. Give me glass (and aluminum for motorhomes and airplanes!)

Don't get me wrong. There are still a bunch of really good kids who care. They are why I kept going back to work each year, they are the ones who will ultimately figure out how to fix things. Those kids and their parents are the best future we'll get.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve VW:
Give me glass (and aluminum for motorhomes and airplanes!)

every new generation of airliner has more plastic. They call it "composite".

Yeah and look what happened to that first all composite commercial pusher prop twin from Beech. Beautiful airplane but all are already gone!

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for composites in structural applications. Their performance is remarkable, ie military fighters and helicopter blades but almost all have finite life cycles. And don't expect to mothball them in the desert sun. More disposables?

quote:

Originally posted by Steve VW:


They whine about us while they sit 10 ft apart texting each other, tying up an amazing satellite communications system with important data transfer like:
howRU? or: Johnny is cool. or: this class is boring..

Makes me glad my kids are already raised. There is no way we could afford to provide them with all the toys kids have today.

quote:

My pet peeve is the packaging: mostly nondegradeable petrochemically derived plastic, oversize, and not needed for product protection...........cat litter in polyethylene jugs,

I agree in principle, but I see the cat litter jugs (in my own case) as a positive. I use them to take waste engine oil to the recycling place. The funny thing is, the city recycling place seems greatly inconvenienced that I wait for them to empty and return them. They would rather just dump them once they are emptied. Lack of commitment to recycling, there.

Years ago, many home oil changers poured it down a hole, put it in milk cartons (or wine jugs)in the trash or put it in their fuel oil tank, and all the toxic heavy metals in the oil entered the ecosphere. Nowadays, auto parts stores and gumming facilities take waste oil.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve VW:
Yeah and look what happened to that first all composite commercial pusher prop twin from Beech. Beautiful airplane but all are already gone!

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for composites in structural applications. Their performance is remarkable, ie military fighters and helicopter blades but almost all have finite life cycles. And don't expect to mothball them in the desert sun. More disposables?

Even without the desert sun, there is the issue of aging and plasticizers leaching out, making the product more brittle. At least aluminum has the decency to show you an incipient failure. Plastic failures are difficult to detect until it is too late.

And, I have serious concerns re the ability of a composite helicopter blade to take a hit from an AK and keep flying. I know first hand that aluminum blades did that pretty well. Some were even taped over and flew more missions.

Everything has its place.

All the military's ballistic helmets have been composite since the Vietnam war. Granted, you can't cook your oatmeal in them, but they will stop a 9mm NATO round with survivable results.

Smart phones, LED TVs, fuel efficient cars, high performance wind generators, heart pumps, the list is almost endless.

Plastics are a great thing in our lives despite the obvious issues with older SOBs.

quote:

And, I have serious concerns re the ability of a composite helicopter blade to take a hit from an AK and keep flying. I know first hand that aluminum blades that pretty well.

Bill,

Although your point is well taken, composite broom rotors have made newer technology possible in birds like the V-22 Osprey. When the composite broom rotor is hit, it loses no mass so the unaffected blades can still create lift or forward motion. Due to the twin blade (connected) nature of the Osprey's configuration, any loss of mass would vibrate it to pieces very quickly.

Composites have a big future in aviation.