The Green Thing Environment

FOR THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND, GREEN FOOD (MY FAVORITE IS PISTACHIO CAKE)  IS A SAD REMINDER OF THE GREAT IRISH FAMINE OF THE 1840s.

When a fungus destroyed nearly every potato crop in Ireland in 1846, there were only enough potatoes left to feed people for one month.  Many Irish were left hungry.  People began to eat edible items found in the forest or seas such as shellfish, roots, worms and even grass.  Stories are told of people dying, with their mouths green from the grass.  About one million died during the six-year famine.  Between 1845 and 1855, nearly 2.1 million Irish moved from Ireland, about 70 % settling in the United States, in search of a better life.  

Recycled Web Page        The Green, Green Grass of Home  2015

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Chicago River dyed in green

Starting in 2012 in my town of Evanston, Illinois,  when I do my grocery shopping I have to pay for the plastic bags.  How much? I have to check how much.  Oh, goody, it's good Dominick's gave me one of those recycled bags. 

 Lib

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Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:42:58 -0700
From: bms
Subject: Fw: "The Green Thing"
To:

Right !!!

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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 him 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."

He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

But 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.  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.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers 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.   
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 Tasmania.

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.    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.  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.

Back then, we had gardens and fruit trees and produce grown locally not flown in a fuel hogging jet from Mexico or Chile.

Back then, we made gravy from pan drippings, and soap from the fat, sat on the front porch swing or glider with a breeze instead of being sequestered in the house with an 240 volt energy hogging A/C, used a dish cloth instead of paper towels, and air dried our dishes after hand wiping with a reusable towel instead of an energy sucking dishwasher.  Bathed all the toddlers in the same bath water, and never had kids with ear tubes, peanut allergies, and autism, or old folks with Alzheimers.  

Was he right to say we didn't have the green thing back in our day?  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 pass this on not to the old folks but to the young people like your kids and grandkids so they'll understand the real meaning of conservation.

Published  10/28/11  altgroup multiply

Web Page:  The Green Thing Environment