I saw a post on Facebook recently that had to do with an old woman buying groceries who asked for plastic bags, and the young female cashier who reamed her out for not thinking of the environment. The younger woman started lecturing the older woman on the importance of taking care of the environment. The older woman thought for a moment, and then started to list up all of the things that her generation did that were actually environmentally-friendly, but that were never pushed as being trendy for that reason. The following things were mentioned, and I'm adding some of my own:
- paper grocery bags were reused to make book covers for school books, otherwise they were used as garbage bags and were burned in the incinerator
- milk was delivered to the door each day, and the empty bottles were recycled and used again. We even used the thin cardboard bottle caps to make daisies and other decorations
- appliances like washing machines, stoves, refrigerators and dishwashers were built to last. My mother had a Maytag washing machine that lasted for at least twenty years (from 1960 until circa 1980) and never needed service. Nowadays, appliances have a 5-7-year lifespan if you're lucky
- women in my mother's generation used cloth baby diapers that were washed and reused. For a history of the disposable diaper check out this link: https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2008/04/brief-history-disposable-diaper/ Nowadays disposable diapers fill up the garbage landfills at record speed. Young mothers take for granted that they'll be using disposable diapers. Ask them to give them up in favor of washable cloth diapers and see how far you'll get
- we grew up with one landline telephone in the house, and one television set. There were no cell phones, and the idea that one would replace a cell phone every two years would have been anathema. Nowadays that is de rigueur and the cell phone companies are helping to cause this by forcing customers to download updated software that slows down the phone to the point of obsolescence. And then cell phone batteries are tossed away like the phones themselves, and fill up the landfills unnecessarily. Ask any young person to keep his or her phone for a minimum of five years and see how far you'll get with that idea. Additionally, many homes have multiple television sets, which also increase the use of electricity
- likewise--computers; whether they are stationary or laptops, they are continually being updated with new software that slows them down to the point where they are no longer usable, and so you need a new one. All those worn-out computers have to be dumped somewhere
- we are pushing electric cars as environmentally-friendly, but they are not really. The batteries require constant charging (electricity that has to come from somewhere), and they must also be disposed of eventually as garbage when they can no longer be recharged
- politicians in most westernized countries fly constantly from one international meeting to another. There is nothing environmentally-friendly about this. If our parents' generation was lucky, they took perhaps one plane trip every five years or so for vacation purposes only. Air travel was simply not a common thing. Politicians don't seem to be intelligent enough to make the connection between too much plane travel and the fact that this doesn't help the environment. They would rather preach to us about how we sin against the environment by using our cars to go to work. In this country, they would prefer that we biked to work year-round. Never mind that they are being transported around in comfortable cars with chauffeurs in addition to frequently flying halfway around the world. The hypocrisy is appalling. I'm simply not interested in their 'do as I say, not as I do' policies
- kitchen appliances like electric bread makers, electric juicers, electric poachers, etc. were not popular in my mother's generation. That generation made bread by hand, juiced by hand, and used their gas stoves to poach a few eggs. Their kitchens were not loaded with useless gadgets requiring a lot of electricity to use them.
- produce in the supermarket was not strangled in plastic wrap the way it is now. It is completely unnecessary to have all of the plastic packaging and wrap that smothers the fruit and vegetables they cover. For what purpose, I have no idea
- coffee pots were used to brew coffee on the stove. Electrical drip coffee makers arrived on the scene in the 1950s-60s. My mother continued to use percolator coffee pots. We did not drink espresso, just regular coffee. Nowadays, we have coffee machines that brew coffee using disposable pods (I own one but use it only on the weekends). I have grown to dislike using the pods, but the company that makes the coffee machine I have encourages us to return the used pods to their stores, so I do. They recycle them and that is at least something
I'm sure the list could be even longer, but I'll stop here. The appliances, phones and items we take for granted today, will pollute tomorrow's world in ever-increasing numbers. We can make a start by returning to manufacturing that produces appliances that are built to last. We can stop trading in our old cell phones for new ones every two years. We can mention to supermarket managers that it is not necessary to cover produce in plastic wrap. There are many things that can be done. But it is fallacy to think that young people are the environmental saints, while older people are the sinners. Young people have a lot to learn about how to care for the environment. They can start by keeping their cell phones for at least five years, by cutting down on their air travel, and by not wasting food or throwing away perfectly good food that is one or two days past expiration date. When they've attained some street cred, then older people might be willing to pay attention to their demands.
