There was no green thing back then

A friend of mine posted this on her facebook page and I thought it's great. Read it even if you are not 35, or unable to admit it.

Food for thought!! Anyone over the age of 35 should read this, as I copied this from a friend ..

Checking out at the supermarket recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. I apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my... earlier days". The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations". She was right about one thing--our generation didn't have the green thing in “Our” day. So what did we have back then?After some reflection and soul-searching on "Our" day here's what I remembered we did have.... Back then, we returned milk bottles, pop 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 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 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 nappies because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 240 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 Wales. 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 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 petrol 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 bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums 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? Please post this on your Facebook profile so another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smarty-pants young person can add to this.

The problem is obviously that too many people changed towards something that was supposed to be better but turned out worse for the environment. I figured I actually do quite a few things the way they were done in the "earlier days". So if I can survive the old fashioned way, why can not every else too, no matter their age?

Updates Parks Act & LRT

The new proposed Alberta Parks Act has been withdrawn by the parks minister for "further" consultation with the public and will not be brought back before the Legislative Assembly until in eight months. Yeah, we did it! Big thanks to everyone who called or wrote their MLA, Premier Stelmach or the parks minister to express their concerns! The Parks Act wanted to dismantle current protection for Alberta's conservation areas and instead allow more industry in.  

The LRT extension in Edmonton will still go ahead but now with costs savings because the time pressure disappeared now that Edmonton will not bid for the Expo 2017. The time frame has already been extended by a couple of years. Oh well, better late than never.          

Where to start?

I wanted to start this blog with my pet peeve the Alberta oil sands but currently there is two other things that keep the media and my mind busy. Alberta is "reviewing" its Parks Act and introduced Bill 29 as the potential law-to-be. This bill does NOT state the conservation and preservation of Alberta's parks (provincial park, areas of ecological importance, wilderness areas) as the prime purpose of the Act. In fact, it wants to give one minister the power to decide on any development in any of the current parks, such as tourism infrastructure. Even though I used to work in the tourist industry I still consider the protection of nature as far more important than the tourist industry. It would probably not stop there anyway. Next thing is big industry moves into those fragile areas for mining or drilling.


The other even more annoying issue is the downturn of Bill C-311, the Climate Change Accountability Act, by the Senate. After this bill has been a proposal only for far too long Senate voted on it without any discussion or any notice of the upcoming vote, practically ensuring that the people in favour of the bill - everybody but the Conservatives - is not present. Very democratic indeed. That's betrayal of the Canadian people, too. I bet Mr Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, was  well aware of what was going to happen. It's obvious that this government avoids being held responsible for the environmental damage their actions cause. A very impolite way of chickening out of a major problem that effects the whole world. Unsurprisingly, this downturn leaves the Harper government once more in a bad light. At the upcoming summit on climate change in Mexico Canada will proudly appear as the world leader in increasing greenhouse gas emissions, Canada against the rest of the world! I wonder what Mr Harper's excuse is for the failure of the Climate Change Accountability Act.     
  
I have written my letter to Ed Stelmach, Premier of Alberta last Friday and my goal for today is to write one to Mr Harper.