# Older people are NOT green, or are they?



## 113016 (Jun 5, 2008)

Older people are not green, or are they?


Checking out at the supermarket, the young cashier suggested to the much older woman in the queue in front
of me that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The
woman apologised and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days". The young cashier
responded, "That's our problem today – your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future
generations". She was right – our generation didn't have the 'green thing' in its day. Back then, we returned milk
bottles, lemonade bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed and
sterilised 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.
Grocery shops bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we re-used for numerous things, most memorable
besides household bags for rubbish, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was
to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school), was not defaced by our scribblings.
Then we were able to personalise our books on the brown paper bags. But too bad we didn't do the "green thing"
back then.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have a lift in every supermarket, shop and office building. We walked to the
local shop and didn't climb into a 300 horsepower machine every time we had to go half a mile. But she was right.
We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's Terry Towel nappies because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried
clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 3 kilowatts – wind and solar power really did dry our
clothes back in our early days. Kids had 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.
Back then, we had one radio or TV in the house – not a TV in every room and the TV had a small screen the size of
a big handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Scotland 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 post, 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 pushed the 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 tap or 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, of course, 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 in the family's £50,000 ‘People Carrier’ which cost the same as a whole house did before the "green
thing". 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 computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to
find the nearest Pub! But isn't it sad that 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 smart arse young
person. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to really upset us, especially from a tattooed,
multiple-pierced smart arse who can't work out the change without the cash register telling them how much it is! Here
endeth the lesson!


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## cronkle (May 1, 2005)

and we let it change.


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## A14GAS (Oct 9, 2014)

Well said .


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## wobby (May 1, 2005)

And back in our childhood we got a clip round the ear for chucking rubbish on the ground. Now our country is like a rubbish dump.

Wobby


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## cronkle (May 1, 2005)

> And back in our childhood we got a clip round the ear for chucking rubbish on the ground. Now our country is like a rubbish dump.
> 
> Wobby


On the bright side there's much less dog cr4p around.


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

It's how it is

The smart young person would have been cutdown to size by me

A pussy cat until I extend my claws

The young have the right ideas

We old ones have the memories

And the common sense to know change takes time

And with a combination of young and old ideas

We will get there

Aldra


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

I take it that you are a Liberal then aldra.

cabby


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## Cazzie (Feb 13, 2009)

The litter thing really gets me!
I'm always picking up rubbish from the end of our drive which has been thrown out of passing vehicles.
Last week our son walked around his small village picking up litter mostly thrown from vehicles. He filled two large black sacks.

Cazzie


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## tony50 (Oct 16, 2007)

Who supplies the plastic bags ? the shops, in the USA they use a lot of large paper bags. Use your own reuseable bags ! you know where yours have been, do you know where others shoppers bags have been ? do you think about that when you load your bags up where someone else has had theirs ? I think they are Germ carriers , Recycleable bags are the answer I think, and a further point where we used to use these supermarket bags for the pedal bin at home, you now can see shelves of different plastic bags pedal bins on sale in your supermarket to replace the bags you use to get free !!

Tony A.


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## daffodil (Aug 7, 2014)

No such problems here,as the kids are brought up like it was in Blighty 60 years ago,

To show respect for their elders and their environment :wink:

We do not have individual bins, we have communal bins, see pics ,Blue ones recycling, brown one normal household waste (these are for 5 houses, and most of the recycling is wrapping from the shopping GRRRRR

Pleas note the difference in size ,we do not waste anything and throw out very little food wise










and please also note no litter anywhere not even around the bins ,That"s because we ALL pick up any that gets dropped accidentally :wink:


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## Jmdarr (Oct 9, 2013)

We live exactly where they finish there chips and drinks going home from school so always picking up litter did suggest at a council meeting that the food shops have there names stamped on there boxes so they could identify where the bought them from and fine the shop for littering 
Answer was cant do that you have to prove they dropped the rubbish.stood outside and they still threw there rubbish down.
Bet they wouldn't do it in there houses or maybe they do and don't care.
My job was to rush out with a bucket and shovel and collect the horse sh*t from the milk cart to recycle it for the roses first come first served that stopped when the council decided the horse had to wear a nappy 
As it was unhygienic.

Kids of today have no sense of hardship as it was then and as a throw away society don't care 

John and Angela


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## Glandwr (Jun 12, 2006)

Keep Britain Tidy was a campaign started in 1955 by those shocked at the way young people threw litter about. Enough said  

Dick


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## 113016 (Jun 5, 2008)

Ahr, some of us were young then!lol


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## hulltramper (Nov 2, 2013)

Hi.
While on a village,"Litter" pick,a lady remarked."How come they can carry the bottles/cans when full.but not when they are empty and weigh nothing ?......


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

Can't say there is much litter around us

Occasionally a can pushed into our hedges

True SOME kids have no sense of hardship, thank God

But many still do, too many still do

And no kid should know hardship in this day and age

I know we talk of hardship as a badge of honour

It's not a badge I would want pinned onto my grandkids

Aldra


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## 1302 (Apr 4, 2006)

Jmdarr said:


> ..did suggest at a council meeting that the food shops have there names stamped on there boxes so they could identify where the bought them from and fine the shop for littering
> Answer was cant do that you have to prove they dropped the rubbish.stood outside and they still threw there rubbish down.


How is it the food shops fault that their (note the correct use of their rather than there ) packaging became litter?


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## icer (Dec 11, 2006)

Some People have a complete disregard for our countryside. Ejecting cans , bottles, wrappers and other detritus from cars at will.

Where I live we have drainage ditches on the sides of the country roads that link to the river. You would not believe the amount of garbage that I clear from mine. Nearest McD is about 15 miles away so the little darlings must carry them in the car for a while before they throw them out.

A while ago drink of choice was red bull now it seems it's fosters.

Our village does an annual cleanup and the school is involved now, fingers crossed that new generation will learn something.

Ian


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## Cazzie (Feb 13, 2009)

Its not just the youngsters who discard litter. A friend of mine who is now in her eighties would quite happily throw her used tissues on the ground until I asked her if she would like other people doing it on her property.We're still friends. :lol: :lol: 

Cazzie


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## Easyriders (May 16, 2011)

Agree with everything you say, Grath. This has become a throwaway society, and sometimes there seems no choice - many items are not made to be repaired, and have to be replaced instead. And recycling is all very well, but reusing was better!

That cashier was so rude! Also, pretty stupid. Ok, reusing plastic carrier bags is a good idea, but it would be a better idea if supermarkets stopped wrapping everything in plastic. What is the point of wrapping a cabbage or a cucumber in plastic?

And why can't I buy unwashed potatoes and carrots any more? They kept for ages. Now carrots have to be kept in the fridge, wasting energy, and if you don't use them quickly, get thrown out - more waste.

I have complained over the years about all these matters, but it has made no difference. Feeling virtuous because you've reused a carrier bag is all very well, but it really is a drop in the ocean.


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