The Green Thing—what a crock.

This was sent to me by a couple of friends...how true it is!  We should all stop & think about our day-to-day activities; interesting:

The Green Thing

 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.
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.
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 the clothes.  Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old 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 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.

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 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 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.
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.
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?

Water, Water Everywhere

As I was on my way to a medical appointment, pounding down 25 oz. of water in 10 minutes (literally), it struck me how millions of people in this world don't even get 25oz of water a week to drink.  Think about that:  884 million people lack access to safe water supplies; approximately one in eight people. More sad stats (thanks to Water.org):

• A typical bathtub, if you are lucky enough to have the time to take a bath every day, holds about 151L.  Someone living in a slum typically only gets 30L for all of their needs; that number will be even less if you lived in a remote area.
• Waterborne diseases cause 1.4 million deaths in children every year.  Most are a result of drinking or bathing in unsanitary water.
• Millions of women and children spend hours a day collecting water from distant, unsanitary sources.

Oh, I could hit you with tons more statistics; they're all over the web.  My thought wasn't about stats, but about how #1, fortunate we are to not have to face thirst, real thirst for which you have nothing to quench it and #2, how much we waste without even thinking about it.  I recall how in the summer, my daughter would take a swig of water & spit it out all over the place, just goofing off.  Makes that seem not so funny, when you picture a sad little face that hasn't had but a sip of water in a couple of days.

I am well aware that this is a real downer and come on, do I really think about that every time I drink water?  No, but I am genuinely conscious of how I use it.  If I'm not going to drink the rest of my water, I put it in the refrigerator for later, or use water that I boiled spaghetti in to water my plants, etc.

As a B.A.B.E, I really do feel that I want to & should not only live the way I dream the world to be, but also maybe, just maybe, be an example to others.  Never know, it might catch on.