This week an email forward was sent around my office. For those of you who don’t know, I am in architecture, an industry that is being gradually taken over by the green movement, so when I saw the title of the email, I was expecting something different. I think it thought provoking regardless of what side of the aisle you are on:
The Green Thing
In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.
The woman apologized to her and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”
The clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment.”
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 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 220 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. But that 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 a wadded up old newspaper 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 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?
Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.
Blogs For Victory 
That email is priceless. Sometimes we forget that the old ways of doing things make sense rather than using the new fangled things thats supposedly make us more modern. Whomever did that email helped remind me that bigger, faster and more modern isnt always the best way to solve a problem. I would say that people in the past were more green than those who try to say they are today, they just didnt call it that back then. I would say it just doing what made sense then/
Treacle- something (as a tone of voice) heavily sweet and cloying see also this email.
People used to burn down their log cabins if they moved to recycle the nails does that make them green? No it just means nails were expensive.
All the examples above, of old people doing ‘Green’ things have nothing to do with a concern for being good stewards of creation and everything to do with availability and costs. As soon as they could, old people got the new electrical appliances, got the cars, got the radios,… They recycled milk bottles BECAUSE THEY HAD NO CHOICE.
Europe was once covered by forest, from the Arctic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. The original forest covered probably 80-90% of the continent. Over half of Europe’s original forest cover has disappeared. It’s not the 20 year old cashier in Berlin who is responsible for that deforestation.
The overwhelming sense of entitlement that old people have is unbearable. They literally put the world through a cold war, turned the country into McDonaldland and Disneyworld saddled the younger generation with trillion dollar debts in the form of social security and medicare. Old people gave us Roe v. Wade and the war on drugs. They gave us auto companies with enough power to buy the streetcar companies up and put them out of business and now they want to feel nostalgia that they rode public transportation?
“Entitlement literally “..put the world through a cold war”?????
Oh, that’s right—if you change the words, the meaning changes. I have to remind myself that this is dolf speaking, the mental giant who once explained that if you change the words in a book it will mean something different.
“Entitlement” to what, dolf? Freedom? Life? Just what “entitlement” supposedly led the world into a cold war?
Of course people had a choice when it came to returning bottles. We all had a choice. What utter dreck you dredge up from the depths of your ignorance, dolf. We could wash and return our milk bottles because we knew it made sense. We could do it for the couple of cents we got back for doing so. We could do it because we were aware of being part of a cycle of consumption and not just recipients. No choice? What an idiotic statement.
Why ARE the European forests gone? Selfishness? Greed? Define “old”. For someone in his mid-40’s, you sure do whine a lot about these supposed “old” people who have, somehow, ruined the world, blubber blubber blubber sob sob sob wallow in self-righteous self-pity and indignation.
Why not turn over a new page and start responding directly to what is posted, with something relevant? Just for a change.
With what part of the email do you disagree? Recycling bottles? Air drying clothes? Walking? Push mowers? Do you or do you not agree that they were less damaging to the environment than the alternatives? What is it about you snivelers that you have to invent some EMOTION to attach to everything? It was better or it wasn’t. Period.
Sounds like you got all wound up because someone pointed out the difference in energy and attitude in the twenty or so years between the doers and suckers-up——that is, between those “old people” you dislike so much and you first-generation-after-hippy-era-parents.
Boo freaking hoo.
RIGHT ON MAN!
Bardolf,
You are one ignorant twit. What a complete load of your beloved horse & buggy manure. It would be worth a response if you actually had responded with anything of value instead of drivel.
dbschmidt
The email is a load of crap and you know it. Old people are not nicer or more heroic or better stewards of the environment or the greatest generation … They are the same selfish jerks that young people are except they vote for their own medicaid and then complain about government handouts to the poor.
I’m guessing by your ignorant twit comment that you’re some old doofus that thinks he’s worldly wise.
in theory…bardstooge holds up to critical analysis….exept for the truth…and that critical analysis must not come from anybody who questions the truth of it…
in reality…bardstooge is a flaming libtard….a mental midget of impressive credentials…(or lack thereof)….and speaks his mind like a fool…assuming facts that do not exist…ignoring truth when it gets in the way…and fast to call the truth a lie when it does…
ignore the poop on his nose….it comes from years of brown nosing…a condition that occurs when his ignorant leaders fail to signal thier intentions and suddenly stop…rendering the brown nose to thier followers….you can always tell a stooge by thier brown noses though…every generation has them
js
and baldork is some sort of “teacher” at a california indoctrination camp (college??)
We wonder why our students are UN educated Morons, useless un employable drones with the kooks like bstool poisoning their minds with leftist drivel and basket weaving courses to AA bell curve looters.
dolf,
I believe I’ll take you up on that.
I can think of three of us that have more than sufficient academic standing to qualify for your junior college abstract intellectual masturbatory endeavor.
How tough can it be if you are the teacher?
@Count
An undergrad degree in biology from nowhere U isn’t quite the academic standing needed for my ultra advance basket weaving classes. Again none of the dipsticks on B4V would make the cut.
dolf, you function here primarily as ongoing proof that a certain degree of skill and accomplishment in a very limited area of expertise—in your case, mid-level mathematics—-does not mean any degree of knowledge, awareness or even intelligence in any other.
Your smugness at having achieved some degree of recognition in your limited area of knowledge is fine. OK, you have done relatively well. In that area. But when it comes to simple logic in other areas, you are a mess.
We remember that you once explained that if you change the words in a book you also change its meaning. We remember that the ONLY explanation you can have for a family moving during a school year is a convoluted scenario in which nuns suddenly become so disgusted with a young honor student that they kick her out of school—and that a decision to pursue a better job opportunity is proof of being a bad father.
You constantly offer us example after example of your strange and distorted thought process when it is applied to anything outside your limited field. My recommendation: Stick to numbers, where you might even earn another trip to Europe.
BTW, anyone else pick up on the hints that dolf Senior has been somewhat harsh in comments on dolf Junior’s self-indulgence, whininess, egoism, and perhaps even effete snippiness. He sure does seem hypersensitive to comments about earlier generations having more, shall we say, fortitude than he evidently does.
Amy
“Mid-level” is an interesting pejorative in your dirty mouth. It’s good to have you back on the blog. Spook has gone missing and we need to get Jeremiah back and some others posting more regularly as well.
farting in the wind will draw attention…bardstooge has proven that time and again…
So now an accurate description of your talents and achievements—-“mid level”—-is a PEJORATIVE. Uh-oh—looks like I stepped on a delicate little toe there, doesn’t it?
“Dirty mouth”? Oh, really? Oh, yeah, people like you shift definitions according to the moment, so if you decide that an accurate description of your adobe tower level of accomplishment is “dirty” then so be it. But of course your sneering ageism is really quite darling.
Poor baby.
I repeat: You constantly offer us example after example of your strange and distorted thought process when it is applied to anything outside your limited field. My recommendation: Stick to numbers, where you might even earn another trip to Europe.
And your obviously a spoiled brat who is a contributor to the stupidity and lack of respect for people, your typical attitude of young folks today!
Bardoff- YOUR AN IDIOT!!!!
I’m with ya there!
barstool must have had a bad night, he certainly has his panties in a twist. Yet he doesn’t miss an opportunity to get in some good old fashioned liberal class warfare:
It’s not the 20 year old cashier in Berlin who is responsible for that deforestation.
Of course he couldn’t be the cashier. He/She is nothing but sweetness and light. In fact all “workers” are pure as the driven snow. It’s the evil old people and “corporations” that are the bad guys – except for Steve Jobs and Apple
baldork
absolute mindless BS.
I am older,
Im my youthful days we all hunted, fished, camped.
We sledded, tobogganed, ice skated and skied.
We LOVED the country and nature. NOBODY littered, threw cigarette butts on the ground spit on the sidewalk or polluted in any manor, our lawns were mowed houses painted and we had NO condo commando homeowner associations suing us.
We left our windows open at night, did not lock the doors even when we went on vacation. We KNEW our neighbors , liked and trusted them.
except for those good democrats in the cess pools that even then were the inner citys.
The pollution came from industry, not because they didnt give a crap, they did not have the technology to fix the problem, nor understand the long term impact it could have.
Neoconehead
Do your kids/grandkids do the same? If not that’s your fault for raising them poorly.
Really, neo. Shame on you. If you had merely “raised” your children properly according to dolf, then all the other houses in their neighborhoods would be painted, no one would throw cigarette butts on the street, people would not litter the sidewalks with mucous, and it would be safe to sleep with the windows open.
Bad, bad, neo. Your personal parenting style has evidently corrupted an entire generation, which has created yet another entire and even more self-indulgent generation, in which these things are simply not valued. It’s all your fault.
Leave it to dolf to set us straight. He is merely proof that being able to play with numbers has absolutely no relation to logical thought in any other area.
Amy
I asked Neo if his own kids replicate his good stewardship. If he was from a generation of swine it would still be reasonable to ask him about his own kids. That’s personal responsibility.
If the previous generations were so GOOD how did they raise such BAD looting misfits? It seems you blame some conspiracy if things go poorly but take personal credit for things going well. Welcome back.
baldork
I asked Neo if his own kids replicate his good stewardship
YES they all do.
I taught them to shoot, targets not animals unless we were hunting for food.
I taught them to fish but we released all except that we took for dinner including “trash” fish that many kill.
None of us smoke yet we are all repulsed by the litter from smokers.
we all love the beach and clean water,
and yes we( including me recycle) in our neat little boxes.
and NEVER litter our beautiful state with garbage.
NEXT?
And dolfie resorts to one of his faves, the reductio ad absurdem tactic of rephrasing a statement to make it sound ridiculous and then point out that it is ridiculous. Trite, dolf, too too trite.
No one has said that all of any generation was “so GOOD”. Please do try to rein in your silliness, if just for a moment.
We all know that many people now in their 60s were sucked into the Leftist propaganda that was the basis of the Hippie movement, and ended up producing and rearing whiny, spoiled, self-indulgent egoists who wallow in their largely imaginary self-esteem. Those children are now in their mid-40’s and tend to sound a lot like you, dolf, as do offspring of parents whose children were influenced by this movement in spite of the best efforts of their families.
And the email was about a time in history, not about the people of that time. It was about a time in which people were active, involved, and at the same time doing what the new enviro-whiners demand that we do, only now we have to do it under specific terminology and for specific politically correct reasons.
Grab a Kleenex, put on some big boy pants, and do try to snap out of that infantile stage of development that seems to define you.
Clueless
If the deforestation happened more than 50 years ago it can’t be the responsibility of a 20 year old.
That’s not class warfare, that’s logic.
The government should get out of the bisiness of providing money to pay for peoples medical bills and providinf money to the poor. Also the government should get out of the bisiness of enviromental regulation except in the most extreme cases. Companies that polute should be responsible for what ever damage they inflict, not the taxpayers.
I am sure the establishment repubs will get right on theses issues. As soon as they have a 435 – 0 majority in the house, 100 – 0 majority in the senate, 9 – 0 majority on the Supreme Court, and last but not least, The Presidency.
“Also the government should get out of the bisiness of enviromental regulation except in the most extreme cases. Companies that polute should be responsible for what ever damage they inflict, not the taxpayers.”GMS
How do you plan to force businesses to be responsible for the damages caused by polluting without regulations? When oil companies or large manufacturing companies pollute rivers, lakes, stream etc., what motivation do they have to clean up the damages caused by industry? Do you believe BP would have cleaned up the Gulf Coast w/out governmental regulations? The point of environmental regulations is to make those reponsible for damages also responslible for the cost of cleaning up the mess made by their negligence.
id say…that power belongs to the states…
scummy
an accident is not negligence….OH wait to the victim mentality impaired it is.
states rights.
Seemed to leave out the government inspectors that signed off on all you have mentioned just two days prior. Who is the bigger fool. The fool or the fool who follows a fool?
wow..you’d think that BP had committed a crime…when they only did what all the other drilling outfits did….
then again…inspectors almost live on them rigs…howsitgo…dey dint’ say shyt till it was…too late…
dont blame BP…it was government screwed up…from the gitgo…only a moron missed that part…
just bizniss as usual…stooge droppins galore baby
But then again JS — IIRC, this administration donated $4 M US taxpayer dollars to PetroBras to drill in deeper water with the same (well, not as advanced) technology and we (as in the US taxpayers again) will become their very best & special customers. Happy, Happy. Joy, Joy. Unicorns and sprinkles all around (Maybe that was Michelle’s Target run–unicorns and sprinkles?)
At the same time we have over 200,000 drillers here in the states basically forbidden to work at this administrations whim. Where are the jobs? President Obama knows but he likes to blow ~ as in green energy that will not be productive for years.
tommyturban
On the evening of April 20, 2010, a gas release and subsequent explosion occurred on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig working on the Macondo exploration well for BP in the Gulf of Mexico
The fire burned for 36 hours before the rig sank, and hydrocarbons leaked into the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days before the well was closed and sealed.
Fundamentally, the accident involved a loss of control over the pressure in the well followed by the failure of the well’s blowout preventer, a specialized valve designed to maintain consistent conditions. After the initial explosions, the blowout preventer’s emergency functions failed to seal the well, allowing the leak to occur.
EDUCATE your self you Fn twit!
I would say that the company is responsible for the clean up. That if the company can not pay for it then the company is declred bankrupt and sold off to pay for as much as can be. That private insurance should be required to held that would cover the cost of any cleanups.
That is as about as much regulation that the federal government should require. The rest belongs to the states.
I love the way Velma regurgitates the talking point that the regulations that need to be repealed are those that only protect the environment! I heard a White House toadie regurgitate the same talking point just the other day – more fear mongering by the left.
I also love the way tommy-boy regurgitates the BP spill talking points without any sources to back up his claim. Thankfully, the deleted post can be refuted with the the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement’s own report on the Causes of the BP oil spill. Nowhere in the report does it mention the mindless regurgitation that tommy-boy spewed. Tommy-boy does not even mention the approvals by the MMS at each stage of the operation and inspections just before the blowout.
But why let facts get in the way of good political leftist brainwashing??
Remember, tired, Tommy/Sasan was working in the Gulf when that happened, for a rival company, so he evidently feels that gives him some credibility. Now he is struggling to apply some political lesson to the accident, but is really just spinning in place, as usual, driven only by his insane loathing of so much he can hardly keep track of it.
But to relax he gets in his cardboard-box “Porsche” with his inflatable “girlfriend” and in his fantasy zooms past people with real lives.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrAShtolieg&feature=related
“That green thing” didn’t happen soon enough.
dennistooge
unintended consequences, are not willful destruction of the environment.
we advance, learn, correct.
BFD
40 plastic cups on a beach
have the boy scouts pick them up on weekends…more leftist hysteria
Now tell us about the smog from those 50’s cars, or when everyone was a smoker or when they burned trash…or…