| Saint Jiub 06.08.2018 15:37 |
link Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment. The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days." The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." The older lady said that she was right our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain: 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. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. 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 personalize 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 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 she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day. 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 our clothes back in our early days. Kids got 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 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 Montana. 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 wadded up old newspapers 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. But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then. 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 blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the "green thing" back then. 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 in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what 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 computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint. But 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 forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart ass young person. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much. |
| Saint Jiub 06.08.2018 15:51 |
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| Holly2003 06.08.2018 15:57 |
"And back then we didn't just hug trees, we put them to use by hanging black people" said the old lady. |
| Saint Jiub 06.08.2018 16:09 |
Holly2003 wrote: "And back then we didn't just hug trees, we put them to use by hanging black people" said the old lady.... and immigrants too ... link link "Thomas Jefferson, too, despite believing in emigration as a fundamental right, wasn’t too keen on the Germans, whom he apparently saw as setting a bad example for other immigrants. “As to other foreigners it is thought better to discourage their settling together in large masses,” he wrote, “wherein, as in our German settlements, they preserve for a long time their own languages, habits, and principles of government.” link "In New York City alone, the number of Italians soared from 20,000 to 250,000 between 1880 and 1890, and by 1910, that number had jumped to 500,000 immigrants and first-generation Italian Americans, or one-tenth of the city’s population, according to historian Thomas Repetto. The majority of these immigrants were law-abiding, but, as with most large groups of people, some were criminals who formed neighborhood gangs, often preying on those in their own communities." |
| Holly2003 06.08.2018 16:31 |
Nostalgia ain't what it used to be... |
| Saint Jiub 06.08.2018 18:59 |
Holly2003 wrote: Nostalgia ain't what it used to be...I liked your original post better. "something something something ... dark side" |
| Holly2003 06.08.2018 19:08 |
They're all good :p |
| The Fairy King 08.08.2018 08:31 |
I blame Generation X for the hipsters. They fucked up. Raised self-righteous, entitled, humorless c*nts and now they ruin society. :D |
| Dr Magus 09.08.2018 09:38 |
In the words of the late, great Barry chuckle - "tomb you, tomb me!" |
| princesslina 10.08.2018 07:25 |
That's one serious problem with people nowadays. If you also notice that not only young generations seem not to take care of the environment anymore. |
| The Real Wizard 16.08.2018 23:58 |
I once came across this excellent rebuttal to the original post (which was actually a slideshow, hence the numbered bullet points): 1) There's nothing wrong with recommending that someone bring reusable bags for their groceries. Reusable bags use dramatically less of everything than plastic or paper bags. A life-cycle analysis of the alternatives bears this out (obviously). In addition, the carbon emissions over the life of a paper bag are higher than a plastic bag. The environmental impact of each has to be measured under varying criteria (energy, carbon, waste, pollution, etc). 2) Referring dismissively to something as the "green thing" appears to be nothing more than a way to intellectually dodge an uncomfortable truth that the author doesn't understand by labeling with a stupid name and set up a series of poorly informed insults against "kids these days." 3) The clerk is conflating too many different types of environmental impact in one statement. Also, environmentalism wasn't even a movement until Rachel Carson's silent spring. Conservation was a force but it was largely based on looks and recreation. Much of our knowledge of environmental science was developed in the back half of the 20th Century. It is verifiably true that the people of western society consumed natural resources at a staggeringly unsustainable pace upon the advent of the industrial revolution until recently. Finally, it is unfair to blame a single person for the behaviors of a raft of business and governmental groups that had a much larger hand in the overconsumption of resources. It's also gross to use young as a pejorative. 4) Same problem with the term "green thing." Also, the video seems to be changing from third to first person narration jarringly, and then back again. 5) Not every person did this, not every container was glass, not everything was washable, and not every container should've been reused (sterilization doesn't get rid of chemicals that can make you sick). Also, this is basically the same principle as using a reusable bag so it isn't clear what the problem with reusing a bag is. 6) Brown paper bags require glue (often made from animal parts) and used to be very unsustainable from a deforestation perspective (they are much better now). If you mention various things you should be prepared to back it up... 7) Garbage bags and covering books? At most, one would need ten books per year to be covered, and that would barely put a dent in the number of paper bags used. Using them for garbage is great as long as the garbage is completely dry. Why did the author think that scribbling on the cover was particularly common? Book covers wouldn't protect the inner pages. Why is it remarkable that the books were provided by the school? Who says that schools don't do this now? P.S. they do - but you don't need hundreds of brown bags to do this. Not every school required the kids covered their books and the book covers didn't provide perfect protection. 8) Kids still do this in many school districts. See comments from slide 7). Not every store or office (??) building has an escalator. Some states only have a handful of escalators in the big cities. Escalators have been around for 100 years. Very few people should be surprised by them. Also, this diminishes the value they bring to move older and disabled people around (is that irony?). 9) People still walk to the store. Not everyone used to. Cars have been around for a hundred years. Not even the author walked everywhere. It isn't the fault of young people that older city planners did not design walkable affordable communities (they were designed before young people were born). Also, the storyteller claims that the clerk said that the storyteller "didn't do that green thing" when the term was invented by the storyteller as a narrative device. 10) Research shows that the environmental benefits of reusable diapers are overstated. It depends on how one prioritizes benefits. Reusable diapers introduce more wet waste and less solid waste, and they use vastly more water to clean. They also could increase the incidence of disease if not used properly and take considerably longer to use and dispose of. A stay at home parent or a nanny has a lot more time than two working parents (which is a requirement of the economy that young people inherited). Drying clothes on a "line" was only feasible for households with one income, as dual income households don't have time. It also requires vastly more space, time, and an appropriate climate, and it doesn't work if the environment has a lot of air pollution. 11) The storyteller doesn't complain much about automated washing machines - just dryers. Washing machines end up being vastly more efficient than washing clothes by hand by many measures. Hand washed clothes would shunt vast quantities of horrifically bad chemicals into sewers, whereas modern washers use considerably less water, are very efficient, and save vast amounts of time and chemicals. Children still pass clothes along to their siblings - it depends on the economic circumstances of the family not the generation. Rich people have always bought new things, poorer people always have to save. People didn't do this to reduce waste. 12) Again, the storyteller claims that the clerk originated "that green thing" which is not true, it was originated by the storyteller as a narrative device to ham-fistedly prove a point poorly. Again the storyteller frames the device in terms of the environment when it's a consequence of inequality. The trope of "everyone young has a TV in every room" is actually false. Young people are the least likely to own televisions at all. 13) The TV with the screen the size of a handkerchief is much less energy efficient and is a toxic waste disposal nightmare. People still blend and stir by hand frequently, it's part of cooking. 14) Newsprint is one of the largest contributors of waste to landfills, and the ink isn't too hot either. It's best to reuse existing material such as newspaper, but this isn't effective for shipping everything (newsprint doesn't provide enough resistance to jostling - even when balled properly). Recyclable inflatable bags or biodegradable packing peanuts are the best if you want to ship extremely safely. 15) Young people often can't afford homes with lawns. Lawns are often a huge drain on water resources, and often introduce harmful pesticides into the air and water waste stream. People "exercised" by working in extremely difficult conditions that would break their bodies by the end of middle age and reduce their lifespan and mobility significantly. "People" don't need to go to health clubs now - jogging, yoga, and martial arts all use body resistance for extra exercise. "People" do all three with significant frequency. "People" didn't stop doing so as soon as a treadmill was invented. Treadmills were created so that people could jog safely, as many streets are so pedestrian unfriendly (thanks, older generation, again!) that it's impossible to find safe routes in many cities, suburbs, and rural areas. 16) The clerk never said that the storyteller "didn't have the green thing." The storyteller claims that fountains were ubiquitous in the past and now are all gone. Such as the fountain for water that the storyteller installed at home (they refused to use cups apparently). Or perhaps the segregated fountains that only certain people could use. Wasteful water bottles are a real problem, but cups? Are we supposed to just suck water into our face through a garden hose any time we're thirsty? This is absurd. 17) People still refill pens. In the olden days, literacy was very poor and many people couldn't write anyway. People would often write with pencils (pens were for the wealthy because ink is expensive). People replace the razor blade in their razors now, Gillette notwithstanding. Blame an older person for marketing Gillette as ubi |
| The King Of Rhye 16.09.2018 14:55 |
Our "300-horsepower machines" are often more fuel-efficient than 100- and 200-horsepower cars of previous generations, and vastly safer too. (and that's even if you go by the "gross hp" ratings used in the US before '72 without trying to convert them to modern ratings) |
| The King Of Rhye 18.09.2018 04:39 |
And to ramble on that further... also, American cars kinda took a nosedive in performance around that time. It was a perfect storm of tightening emissions regulations and growing concerns about fuel economy. Really, it took the Big 3 till like the late 80s to catch up. |
| MisterCosmicc 04.10.2018 13:02 |
Trump is an ugly sea horn |
