Anyone over the age of 35 should read this

Aslan


Joined: 23/06/2008
Posts: 757

Message Posted:
09/01/2012 11:22

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.

Aslan


Joined: 23/06/2008
Posts: 757

Message Posted:
09/01/2012 11:24

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.

Aslan


Joined: 23/06/2008
Posts: 757

Message Posted:
09/01/2012 11:24

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.

Aslan


Joined: 23/06/2008
Posts: 757

Message Posted:
09/01/2012 11:25

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.

DutchCrusader



Joined: 19/05/2008
Posts: 11281

Message Posted:
09/01/2012 11:36

An interesting story! It's so interesting that tens of thousands of people have copied your story on the Internet...

▶ [ http://www.google.com/search?q=Checking+out+at+the+supermarket+recently%2C+the+young+cashier+suggested&hl=en&num=10&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=images ].

Shortened URL, in case the long one is broken on this board: ▶ [ http://is.gd/eDjiZM ].

ranger5


Joined: 29/03/2011
Posts: 151

Message Posted:
09/01/2012 11:38

Aslan,

Super post

Marion


Joined: 06/03/2011
Posts: 1816

Message Posted:
09/01/2012 12:09

this has been around a lot, but never mind about the plastic bags - DIDN'T WE HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!???? (YES, DC, lots of exclamation marks and question marks for emphasis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

stellasstar1



Joined: 02/07/2008
Posts: 1519

Message Posted:
09/01/2012 12:50

All very true, and one more thing I will add that I did last night. With the cost of electricity so high, I don't use my drier, and the weather so bad, can't dry it outside, so I did what my mother used to do, put the clothes horse in front of my log fire, and dried it all that way.

blade


Joined: 19/06/2010
Posts: 1286

Message Posted:
09/01/2012 15:46

What makes me angry with this UK supermarket bags policy is that they don't mind selling their products in lots and lots of colourfull needless packaging. Its not about being green, its about money.



Maybe they should start to practice what they preach.

LooseBoots



Joined: 08/02/2009
Posts: 1258

Message Posted:
09/01/2012 15:55

At least here you can buy most of your fruit and veg loose and I think Lemar , for a short while , gave a resusable bag if you spent so much.....

flowerfairy


Joined: 17/09/2008
Posts: 1277

Message Posted:
09/01/2012 19:48

Aslan, what a lovely post.



Stella, I did the same as you last night, hahaha.



As far as putting everything in bags, I used to take bags with me when I went food shopping. Then when we had our own shop, I could've ''pulled my hair out'' at the waste in our shop. One carrot in one bag, two onions in another, then was asked for a carrier bag to put it all in. Can you imagine the cost

of all these bags?, not to mention, most of them weren't bio degradable. Then we were asked 'why have the prices gone up?