h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Anon as far as I know


In the line at the supermarket, 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 her 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, soft drink bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the factory to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. They 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 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 a 220 volt energy gobbling machine - 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 handkerchief, not a screen the size of a cricket pitch. 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 used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. They didn't have air conditioning or electric stoves with self-cleaning ovens. They didn't have battery operated toys, computers, or telephones.

Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn fuel just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They used hand operated clippers to trim the shrubs. 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 glass filled from the tap when they were thirsty instead of using 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 walked or took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their mums 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 in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

sad how the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were back then just because they didn't have the GREEN THING

Nicely done, Prof.

Unfortunately, only one of the two knew that.
Perhaps you should print that out large & send it around all the supermarkets?

You forgot the bit where they pumped untreated sewage and industrial runoff straight into rivers

Now now, Mal, don't spoil it.

Prof, would you mind if I forwarded this to a few friends? It's what I've been trying to tell my "eco-friends" with for ages, but I was a lot less eloquent!

*quickly recycles the extraneous "with"*

>>sad how the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were back then just because they didn't have the GREEN THING<<

Cute, but misleading.

It's not because they were green that they did all those things like use cloth nappies. It's because they didn't yet have the technology that we have now. But as that technology became available, that generation jumped on those bad for the environment things with glee.

I remember talking with a friend about recycling plastic in the 1980s. No-one understood what we were talking about or why there was even a problem.

People were talking about climate change back then too, but were roundly ignored until it was too late.

Rachel Carson wrote The Silent Spring in the 1960s for god's sake. Do we yet manage chemical use sanely?

I think my grandmother's generation had values that were more simple. But every generation has jumped on the polluting bandwagon pretty dame quick to get at the shiney new toys. The difference now is that we are raising kids with some awareness so hopefully it will change.

I agree with Mal and Kea about the dumping and plastics problems. That doesn't downgrade that a lot of the things done back then were bad. The muscle powered lawnmover, and the clothes line come to mind -- except, now that they're "green" they'll set you back more money, adjusted for inflation, than they ever did back when they were old.

A case in point: my mother's clothes "line" looked like this, which is a very popular design, as not many folks have much of a yard to devote to a regular line. http://tinyurl.com/3otnewh When my mother replaced the rope line with one of this type, my dad had a fit because it cost all of $4. As you notice the price has gone up...

Energy efficiency is often costlier if it's green: A solar-powered water heater is *really* expensive now, but back in the 20's and 30's, just about everyone in Los Angeles had one on their roof, and it was the way things were done.

That's cool, I didn't know that about LA.

cant see the picture but when i was i cyprus, every building had a water tank and solar panel(black painted radiator) on the roof to provide hot water, the barrack block had a huge array, shaded half the block, in the summer you had to shower in the morning as the water was too hot on a night time

"That's cool, I didn't know that about LA."

Sadly, as natural gas got cheaper, most folks took them down and used the tank in the basement/garage option.

Here's a page with photos and details of the history of solar water heating
http://solarhomenj.com/history.html The bits about LA are on the right panel and towards the bottom of the text in the center.

go ahead SpaceyI was sent it via email from a mate