Do You Have a "Green" Perspective?

An appropriate question given the current political situation in Australia... and it still stands... do you have a green perspective?

Even though you may not (although I'd be a bit surprised at that)... this is a powerful story about having a green perspective... and not just that, but about having a marketing perspective as well... because most businesses, unfortunately, are lacking any real perspective where their marketing is concerned.

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to a much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because the plastic bags she was using were not good for the environment. The older woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded (with a certain amount of arrogance), "That's the problem today. Your generation didn't care enough to protect our environment for future generations."

The older lady agreed -- and said that her generation didn't have an ecological perspective, because they didn't need one...

The older lady went on to explain:

Back then, we all returned our milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store we bought them from… the store then sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it that they could use the same bottles over and over. So they were really recycled... not pretend recycled as they are today.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable... besides using them as household garbage bags. we used the brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to make sure that public property (the books that were provided for our use by the school) were protected and not defaced with our scribblings. We were then able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. Although we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

We use to walk 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 cars every time we had to go a couple of blocks.

Back then we washed our baby's diapers 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 those early days (and often still do).

Kids didn't always have new clothing... they often got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters... 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 a dining room table.

In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged fragile items 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 gasoline 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.

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 blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. Back then, people took trams or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mother's into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $65,000 SUV or van, which is what a whole house cost before the "green thing".

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 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we were and didn't preserve the planet for them... yet it is interesting that most of this newer generation just don't seem to be capable of give up any of their gas guzzling, energy consuming toys that help them enjoy their lifestyle and expect others to do the "green thing" today on their behalf?

Two very different perspectives living on the same planet... it is this same generation that is willing to spend billions of dollars to create machines that capture carbon from the air and put it back into the ground to reduce carbon emissions and cool the planet...

Yet every old person that I know... knows that the best way to do that, is to simply plant more trees... and I can tell you that the over 2.5 billion dollars that has been spent on two carbon capturing prototypes, could have and should have, been better spent on planting trees that capture carbon, put it back into the ground and cool the planet far mor efficiently than any machine that man can create.

And this is also a very powerful lesson for businesses who constantly over complicate and spend ridiculous amounts of money and time on their marketing...

Instead of looking and finding different marketing perspectives that can offer real and affordable solutions... that have often worked for generations... they are always looking for the next best, easy thing... that won't necessarily work or will cost far too much to make it scalable for their businesses.

Something that all businesses need to seriously consider now that we are at this interesting point in our economic life.

Oh... and please share this with other selfish old people who need a lesson in conservation and marketing from a smart-arse young person.

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off... especially from someone who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much (just sayin').

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