Here is something to think about............

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring a reusable bag because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.  The woman apologized to him and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day”.
The cashier responded “that’s our problem today. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment”.
She was right, that generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.

Back then, they returned their milk bottles, cool drink 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 recycled.  They took a shopping bag to the grocers and the grocer wrapped the items in newspaper or put things in a paper bag.  All were kept to use again. But they didn’t have the Green thing back in that customer’s day.

In her day, they walked upstairs 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 was right.  They didn’t have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby’s nappies because they didn’t have the throw-away kind, they dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220volts – 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 radio, in the house – not a TV in every room.  In the kitchen they had 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 a wadded up old 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 of a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They filled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen and they replaced the razor blades 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 tram or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked or got the school bus instead of turning their moms into 24 hour tax 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 isn’t it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn’t have the green thing back then?