A very interesting chain mail called the Green Thing is going around trying to encourage youth to take a more positive stance in tackling the current issue of global warming instead of lamenting of the mistakes of the previous generation. The message has is a very interesting tone that really puts a lot of notions the media portrays into perspective:
“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.’”
What it goes on to say is that today’s issues with global warming cannot be the sole responsibility of a single generation. It starts to quote a phrase of the opening anecdote (“Green Thing”) as it tries to prove that no single generation tarnished the world but rather the cause of global warming rises from the natural progression of human society and that the issue is all of ours to solve.
“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.
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. ”
So, at the end of the day, this chainmail has two takeaway messages:
1. No need to blame a single generation for the problems of global warming, it’s something everyone has to take part in
2. Sometimes the “retro” way of life is one we can try to adopt for the sake of the environment 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMkUdFNeJQQ
OMG Arjun is doing YAA? Awesome! (Great article by the way)