Back Then We Weren't Green

In line at the store, the cashier told me that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. I apologized to her and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.” (I actually told her I didn’t give a shit and to just put the damn things in the plastic. But for this post I’ll give it like I received it - with minor changes.)


That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in my day. Back then, we 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 we didn’t have the green thing back in my day.

In my day, we walked up stairs, because they 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 we didn’t have the green thing in my day.

Back then, we 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 we didn’t have the green thing in my 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 pizza dish, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, the women blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for them. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

And 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 then we didn’t have the green thing in my day.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty, instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. We refilled 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 in my day.

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. 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.

Nope! We didn't have the green thing back then! But we were healthier, slimmer and activities revolved around the family unit.

What did we know back then?