Going Green in the Good Ole Days

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She 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 truly recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, 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 scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.

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 throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 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 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 wadded up old newspapers 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 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger 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?

This post was copied from Facebook. Post by Richie Bulldog.

The textbooks we covered with grocery bag paper were used over and over again with each new class of students up until some time in the early 60's in Alabama. And any package we mailed was always carefully wrapped in that same brown grocery bag paper.

We didn't need to run on treadmills, because we played outside! And we ate wholesome REAL foods that didn't come in lots of cardboard packaging and had not been genetically modified or filled with antibiotics and hormones. So obesity wasn't such a problem back then - it was actually rather rare. I only remember one girl and one boy that I went through elementary school with who were at all fat - and they were far from obese.

Those automobiles we were driving way back then? You could actually replace parts on them easily and cheaply! Now even a fender bender turns into a major bill.

Yes, I really do remember TV screens no bigger than a handkerchief. We did have more than one electrical outlet to a room (for lamps and maybe an alarm clock), but other than that, the lifestyle this poster describes fits my early years perfectly.

I Just Discovered Freecycle!!

I have just recently discovered the FreeCycle network, and wanted to pass this information along to all of you. If you check the main site you can look for a FreeCycle group that is close to you. I ended up joining 4, I think. I opted to get individual emails, but you can have it sent as a digest, if you don't want your mailbox filled with all the posts.

And what, you ask, is FreeCycle?? It's a place to post items you want to GIVE away, not sell. And it's a place to ASK for stuff you need. So far, I've only been reading, rather than asking or taking, but I find the whole process fascinating. And I do intend to get involved, once I can get myself off my duff and do some serious house uncluttering. You are expected to offer more to Give than to Ask, as that's what keeps it going.

I did answer a request from a lady looking for a cpap machine, with several links to places that sell them at discount online. But she wrote back that someone had already given her one. Considering how much trouble I'm having getting used to my brand new cpap machine, I can imagine lots of people have one they are not using.

It is heartwarming to see that there are so many people with such a spirit of generosity, and also a desire to keep "things" out of our landfills. This is even better recycling than taking things to the Thrift Store!

Although the stuff is not free on Craigslist, we have just recently gotten one of these for our area, so now I try to check there if I need to buy something. The advantage in this is that there is no advertising cost, and the items will be local. This saves all the shipping/handling cost of buying online, and does provide another opportunity to reuse something that someone else is no longer needing.

I remember as a child that all of my hand me downs went to a distant cousin of mine, who lived out in the country. They still used an outhouse, which meant that they were dirt poor as far as I was concerned, and I always was glad to give her my old toys and books. We didn't have any other children in the family to pass our girl's things along to, so their hand me downs always ended up being given to the Thrift Store. I doubt if that was nearly the lesson in generosity for them, compared to actually seeing or knowing the person who would receive the outgrown lovies, as I had been able to do.

FreeCycle would definitely be an easy way to teach today's children the satisfaction of being generous, plus the importance of using our resources wisely. And buying second hand, either at the Thrift Store or from a place like Craigslist, might be a good way to combat the pervasive materialistic attitude of so many of today's youth. And, if we teach our children how to be good stewards of their possessions, we will be more likely to bring up a generation that values living green.

So why not check out the FreeCycle network in your neck of the woods. You might be surprised to find one nearby. Then get busy sending all that stuff you don't use any longer to someone who can make good use of it. It's a Win-Win-Win situation. Win for you - less junk at your house. Win for them - getting something they need for free. And Win for the environment - one less item ending up in a landfill.

Living a Green Life - At Least Trying To

I think I was somewhat of a hippy before there were such things as hippies. At least, that's the way I felt at the time. I was actually a teenager in the late 50's and early 60's. Joan Baez was my favorite singer, not Elvis. I listened to Classical and Folk Music and consciously tried to not conform. No drugs or free sex, though. Sorry, that's where I drew the line.

As a teacher, I always stressed the Three R's - Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle. And we tried hard to follow those principles as Early Marrieds. But over the years, it's just gotten too easy to not Think Green. I think the Microwave oven may have been my ecological downfall. Just think of all the waste, not only in packaging, but in transportation and processing.

The drought this summer has led me to look hard at all our wasteful practices that we have accumulated ever so slowly. Now, I'm saving our gray water to use on our brand new Lasagna Compost area. This is a double Green whammy, as I'm finding a useful way to recycle all the wood chips left over from having 3 trees cut down this Summer. I know our AC bill will be huge this month, as we had something like a dozen days over 100 in a row, but we caulked every niche when the house was built, and we keep the drapes closed. There's not much else we can do to lower that energy use, other than to raise the temp. That's not going to happen, as DH has to be the hottest natured person I've ever known.

But we do recycle all our newspapers, food scraps, plastics, and cardboard, thanks to the compost heap and a neighboring town, which has a large recycling center. I've been doing the research to make 2 rain barrels, so we won't be without water so much next year when the drought returns. We have plans to landscape the yard, and I'll be using as many drought resistant plants as possible, and planning on ways to limit the grass areas.

We buy most of our books, and many of our clothes at a nearby Thrift Store, not because we can't afford better, but because we enjoy the hunt, and the bargains. We buy a lot of toys there, too, which eventually are sold to parents looking to replace a lost or worn out lovey.

DH drives with the Cruise Control on as much as possible, set to 55. People whiz by us, but we get the last laugh at the gas pump. We do a lot of driving on our Date Day, but that's the only time we are extravagant with gasoline. Even then, I map our route to cut out as much mileage as possible, and to stay out of stop and go traffic on Highway 280 (the most congested road in Alabama) coming home.

Our whole eBay business is based on helping people re-use items we buy at Estate Sales, and it's very satisfying to know that we have helped someone find something they have been looking for.

Oh, and I still love Joan Baez songs, but now I enjoy Elvis, too. Thanks to DH, I've learned to enjoy Rock and Roll, Jazz, the Blues, Blue Grass, Southern Gospel, and no telling what else. But I still am a hippy at heart.