'WASTE NOT WANT NOT'

It has been suggested that the older generation don’t know much about ‘Being Green’, thus accused of having been uncaring towards our environment and unconcerned about future generations. It has to be said that as a young woman I did not know much about conservation, certainly ignorant about the Ozone layer and its effect on our environment.  I can’t remember my mother using sun cream in order to protect my skin but she was a great one for ponds cream to avert wrinkles. My husband remembers his mother applying Nivea before he went out in to the sun, not sure if it worked but it sounds sensible.

The older generation did not really know about so called healthy eating which we now hear protects us against strokes, heart attacks and diabetes. We had little or no idea about the dangers from alcohol it was part of our social life to get together in the local pub for a drink at weekends.  Smoking was a way of life and most of our parents had been encouraged to do so during the war when free cigarettes were given in food parcels to our soldiers.  In the fifties it was seen to be very cool to smoke.

In the main we ate hearty meals of meat and two veg, with a stodgy pud to follow.  Any fruit was usually seasonal and considered a great treat. Vegetables were generally grown locally seasonal.  Britain did not import expensive fruits to fill up the supermarket shelves it was the corner shops who bought from the local market gardener. Certainly it wasn’t possible to buy processed foods and I remember my mum made up the pets food with cheap mince or pilchards mixed with left overs, they seemed to fare well.

As a child I was able to run freely and play out without my parents worrying about my safety, for protection the dog generally tagged along. Violence on TV was unheard of and the nearest we came was in the movies as slapstick or cowboys and Indians, any violence being some swashbuckling hero. Our imaginary world was played out in the fresh air broken only by a dash home for something to eat, then off again using our imagination to keep us enthralled.

As a child school holidays were filled with outdoor play after breakfast of either porridge or jam butty’s only returning when you heard mum calling your name from a great distance. Never speak to strangers was branded on the brain. Generally there would be a local Bobbie on hand in times of trouble who would probably issue as standard a clout round the ear for being naughty. Us kids could run wild without fear of some paedophiles invading our play or our person. I do remember however a man flashing himself to me in the park. I was more curious than shocked, in truth seeing a man’s willy was more amusing than traumatising.  

It is true our generation did not know much about conservation or being green, indeed war time and post war babies were ignorant of many things. We did however return our milk and pop bottles to the local shop where they were sent back to the factory to be washed and sterilized and reused. Those bottles were not smashed and recycled at a massive cost. We also earned a penny or halfpenny per bottle for our trouble. We did not have multiple plug sockets in the house burning electricity day and night. We did play board games and read books avidly or draw on the backs of used paper. Any waste food was collected weekly by the local farmer for his pigs which we later ate in pork chops or a Christmas joint. Eggs were bought fresh at the market and veg from a market gardener. Granted we didn’t have the choices and variations of food but it wasn’t packaged in plastic and it wasn’t treated to prevent it from going rotten before one got it home.

As far as conservation is concerned there was no waste of energy by leaving the lights on all times of the day and night and vacuuming and washing daily was unheard of, however tide marks on the neck and arms were frequently seen. Sixty years ago for our exercise we walked everywhere and if we did not visit big stores there were no escalators so climbing stairs were natural. We carried large brown paper bags of shopping home from the grocers or butchers. Buying disposable goods wasn’t in our awareness. Children’s nappies were of the washable towelling kind and hung out to dry on the line. There was no such thing as an energy wasting dryer and we didn’t have central heating.  More importantly we did not throw clothes away when children grew out of them we either past them on or down to the next child or family member.

Young housewives  didn’t have ready meals, it was important to learn how to cook. Ready meals were science fiction.  If we had to send a parcel in the mail it wouldn’t be packed it in bubble wrap or polystyrene we used old newspapers and brown paper to protect it. Buying water in plastic bottles only to be thrown away was unheard of; we drank from the nearest tap. There were no plastic disposable pens only fountain pens that were refillable with ink. We didn’t use plastic bags for our shopping we carried a basket or a suitable cloth bag. Our generation did not drive everywhere filling the environment with damaging fumes we walked or took the bus or train or rode a bike to school and work. We didn’t have computers that received signals from about 2,000 miles in space to find the nearest takeaway on the internet.

It is true most of us knew very little about conservation, living most of the time without being wasteful. Not perfect by any means but our parents struggled with poverty and lack of medical care before the national health came into being. Post war it was more about how to get through each day rather than worrying about conservation. Accusing the older generation of being uncaring about conservation seems silly, when ‘Waste not Want not’ was our general motto.