Thread: On "Being Green"...

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I think hot rodders are truly some of the "greenest" people I know as we tend to be able to "re-use" a lot of things that would be thrown out by others. We make brackets and fasteners out of small scraps of steel and aluminum and who among us has nor "modified" a part to make it work better and last longer?

This was sent to me by a dear old friend at my church and I immediately related with a lot of it. Man I rode a bike like there was no tomorrow as a kid and collected my share of soda bottles to pay for my first baseball mitt. Hope you all enjoy this one too!

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery 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 clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment." He was right, that generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, they returned their 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 recycled.

But they didn't have the green thing back in that customer's day.

In her day, they walked up stairs, 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 he was right; they didn't have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby's diapers because they didn't have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 240 volts - 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.

He was right; they didn't have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they 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 the state of Montana.

In the kitchen, they 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 wadded up old newspapers 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 so much by working they didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But he'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 or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor 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 streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of outlets 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.

Isn't it sad, the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?

Regards All,
Glenn

Ain't that the truth!!! A very timely bit of reminiscing, Glen.

My family chides me all the time about all of the "junk" I put aside, but a lot of the time, when I need something odd, I can find the stuff to cob it together. We use wooden kitchen utensils and metal ones instead of plastic, for the most part, and as they need it, I refurbish them, instead of throwing them away and buying new; we are still using cast iron pans that are over a hundred years old, and we couldn't count the number of non-stick things we have worn out and tossed or put in the recycle bins. There are a lot of things we used to do that were much more "green" than much we do today, and over the years, commerce has not always encouraged "green" living. When I was a kid, right after WWII, we did use cloth grocery bags that my Grandmas made from old dungarees, or some other heavy fabric that they re-claimed, and even when we did get paper bags at the store, we always used them for other things after we got the groceries or whatever out of them. Some years ago, we were closing and clearing out my grandparent's place after Grandma passed, and came across a couple of those dungaree bags. We took them home and when we went to the grocery, we took them with us. The store wouldn't put our stuff in them: liability concerns the manager said. We still use cloth bags, but we usually bag our own groceries, too.

I have nuts and bolts in a box that I have had for 50 years, they are from cars and bikes that I worked on as a teenager. I have many nuts and bolts and tools from my dad after he passed. Now, don't start me on all the mystery metal I have salvaged from the recycle yards and dumps. My shop cloths are discarded only after they are to the point that they reveal more than the law allows. If that isn't green enough then I give up.

Jack.

That's all so very true. That's the problem now. I hate the word green. The ideal is great, but like everything else mostly the phrase "Green .........." is just a gimmick. Most of everything I own is recycled. Not because I want to be good to the environment, because it's the only way I'd have much of anything. They hear the word recycled and think great. Recycling is not great........... its just better than the landfill. Better yet reuse..... repair..........keep. And stop buying every new piece of imported junk you see. We all, me included, have way too much stuff. We don't need it. But that the rub. To stop buying all the junk........ well it's not good for the economy............... I'll get off the soap box now.............