I recently read something that inspired me to write this.
The “go green” movement that began not that many years ago is a good thing. Anything that humans can do to promote the protection of the God-given environment in which they live should be embraced by each and every one of them, and I think it’s good that lots of people try to do “green” things in their daily lives.
But I think it’s safe to say that along with the “green” movement has come a perception among many young people that us old folks grew up as a largely wasteful bunch who paid little attention to caring about “saving the environment for future generations.” On behalf of myself and all the other people of my generation guilty of this travesty, I apologize.
But in our defense, we hadn’t been enlightened to what it meant to “go green.”
Back in the day, I would gather milk bottles and soda bottles and take them to the local grocery store in exchange for pennies and nickels (which were worth something back then). The bottles were made of glass, so the store would send them to their respective manufacturers to be washed, sterilized and refilled, and they would often be used several times before being retired to a landfill.
But me and the millions of other people who did the same thing weren’t really into the now-common green practice of recycling. We pretty much did it for the money.
I recall my mom going grocery shopping when I was a kid, and having the goods placed in brown paper bags at the checkout stand. I also recall how those bags were used for many purposes after being brought home.
The thing I remember them used for most was household garbage (usually in a waste basket under the sink), but the coolest way I remember them being used was as schoolbook covers. Of course, that ensured that public property provided by the school district was protected, but that wasn’t the point. It was all about how some of the students made their books into awesome works or art (especially some of the girls).
But again, without knowledge of going green, nobody thought twice about how much better it would be to take home plastic bags from stores, as is currently commonplace.
I remember how back then, new mothers washed their baby’s cloth diapers and used them time and again. But I guess that wasn’t because of wanting to live green, it was only because they couldn’t buy the synthetic throw-away kind.
I clearly recall my mom being into solar and wind power when I was young, long before “renewable energy” was an issue on hardly anyone’s mind. It was really quite ingenious – after washing laundry, she would then take advantage of those two free power sources by hanging clothing on a line in the backyard.
But I guess the only thing green about that was the grass under her feet.
I also remember how my mom and dad would package a fragile item to be mailed using wrinkled newspapers to cushion it. But that wasn’t out of greenness, and I’m sure if they had foam “peanuts” or plastic bubble wrap at their disposal, they would have used that instead.
I recall, too, how my dad would refill pens with ink rather than tossing them out and getting new ones, and he’d replace the blades in razors when they got dull instead of throwing away the whole razor. But I don’t recall him ever talking about being environmentally conscientious, or using the term “green” for anything other than referring to a color.
And looking back, I recall how everyone somehow managed to exist without ever drinking water from a disposable plastic bottle or drinking soda from a 54-ounce plastic cup with a plastic straw. Even “to-go” coffee cups were made of paper, and a lot of people were more likely to ride a bicycle or take a bus than drive somewhere alone (especially in a carbon monoxide belching behemoth that cost as much or more than their house).
But alas, maybe back in those days we were all naïve, ignorant to what our actions would do to the environment, and generally lived a wasteful, un-green lifestyle. With that in mind, I submit it’s because we just didn’t know any better.
And again, I’m sorry.
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.
