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Sunday, November 24, 2024 |
The Green Thing Date: Sent Tuesday, March 19, 2013 Category: None | Rating: 4.08/5 (236 votes) Click a button to cast your vote
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In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that 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."
That's right, they didn't have the green thing in her day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles, and beer bottles to the store.
The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But they didn't have the green thing back in her 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 she's 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 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 old lady is 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 pizza dish, 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 them.
When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded-up 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 or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled 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 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 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 just to find the nearest pizza joint.
But that old lady is right: they didn't have the green thing back in her day.
Received from Pam Clark.
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