Interview with my father
To understand the differences in the level of energy consumption between my generation and older, I decided to ask my father about his and his parents’ lifestyle in the past (because I was not able to make this interview with my grandparents). In this way I desire to state the changes that have occurred since my grandparents' puberty years (the 30’) until now. Being aware that this long period of time (almost 80 years) cannot be fully described in a few paragraphs, I decided to focus only on the most significant differences. Both of my grandparents were born in 1921. Before the Second World War they lived in small Polish towns. My grandmother lived in the South of Poland in a town called Nowy Sącz. In the streets there were horse-driven cabs instead of cars and the street lamps ran on gas. Electricity was present only in some houses. The most common sources of light in houes were oil lamps and candles. People cooked on wood-burning stoves and washed their clothes in bowls. Saving water was a must, because there was no water supply system and sewage was simply poured into the gutters for the lack of proper sewers. The problem of saving energy was absent because people consumed only a little energy. Although those times were difficult, my grandma really missed them. My grandfather was born in Włocławek, a town located in central Poland, where he also spent his childhood. His family had a farm where all work was done manually. The ground was naturally fertilized. The cereal was hand-cut and transported in hayracks propelled by horses. Then corns were milled in wind- or water mills. Although tillage was not as effective as nowadays it was much friendlier to environment. In the times of the Second World War, people cared only about surviving so they did not pay attention to environmental issues especially if there was shortage of food. The environment was polluted by numerous war activities. After the Second World War, power in Poland was taken over by communists. My grandparents moved to Wrocław, where they met each other and then got married. This city was destroyed and new citizens had to rebuild it. In Poland, extensive industrial development was launched. This economic development concentrated mainly on heavy industry such as coal mines, foundries, steel-works and factories. They all had huge negative impact on environment, which was disregarded by the communist government. This resulted in the formation of huge slung dunk near mines, bingsteads besides factories and high emission of CO2 by powerhouses. In the 60s’ the problem of pollution occurred especially in the southern part of Poland, called Silesia, where industry was mainly concentrated. However, life became much easier. Fridges, washing machines, TVs and other home appliances became available for most people, which triggered increase of energy consumption. Life became more comfortable also in villages. Farms were modernized and new machines to plough ground and cut cereal were applied. Unfortunately, also artificial fertilizers appeared. The communist government did not pay attention to contamination. The environment was important as far as they could make use of it. Although much more people were able to study (among them my grandparents), people were unaware of negative consequences of air pollution or excessive use of energy. Environmental issues were not present in schools even during my parents education. Presently, 20 years after Communism in Poland collapsed, negative consequences of the decades of Communist negligence are still present. Despite the ongoing environmental education and many people's efforts in the fields of recycling, reducing energy consumption and air pollution, there is still much work left to be done before the environmental gap between Poland and the developed European countries is bridged. Example on my family shows how Polish society moved from a way of life which consumes little energy to another which consumes a great deal of energy and how the ecological awareness has changed over the years. Nowadays, I and my family do as much as we can to conserve nature. We segregate garbage, economize on water and save energy by energy saving bulbs and solar collectors. I hope that the future brings more solutions to help us to stop global warming and save our environment.
