We didn't have the 'Green Thing' back in our day.

I received a joke email recently that made me think about the origins of certain things. Just like my recent visit to Haiti, a local guide told me how the history books talk about Columbus 'Discovering' the Americas. Only what did he discover when he landed there? People, who had been there for hundreds maybe thousands of years already.
So when i got this email it made me think about the 'Green Thing' and whether or not it belongs to one generation over another?
Take a read for yourself.  and if you really feel like it, leave a comment or question and see where the discussion takes us?

The Green Thing

I was at the Check-out in the supermarket recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. I apologised and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days, old habits die hard" I said. The cashier responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation didn’t care enough to save our environment for future generations".

It’s strange because back then, we returned milk bottles, plastic bottles and glass 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 repeatedly. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator or lift in every store and office building. We walked to the shops and didn't climb into a fuel guzzling machine every time we had to go down the road. But she was right, We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw-away kind made out of plastics. We dried clothes on a washing line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning electricity that comes from coal, peat, oil & gas -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days.

Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing brought in from all over the world. We ate fruits that were in season, not food that had to be flown half way round the world just so I could have an Orange in January. But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our 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 big enough for all the family to see, not a screen the size of the wall. In the kitchen, we blended & 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 crumpled 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 grass. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to join a health club where you run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank water from a tap when we were thirsty instead of buying a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the bus, and kids cycled their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their parents into a 24-hour taxi service. 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.

So I wonder, who is it that doesn’t have the ‘Green Thing’?