Sustainable Past

 I had an opportunity to interview my grandmother last week and I must say that I’m really touched with what she has told me.

My grandmother was born in 1947 and spent her childhood in a small village, they had rather big house for whole family. There was electricity in house, but no central heating of course. They used stove for firewood or coal which stood in the kitchen to cook or just heat. I also asked her where they threw out all the rubbish, and the answer surprised me a lot, she told that they had practically no rubbish. Why? How is it possible?

Major garbage were organic wastes, which they had a special place for, old newspapers were put into stove to light it, drinks were sold in glass bottles which they had to return to the shop. So what did they do with plastic staff? There was lack of plastic bags, bottles etc. Everything was packed into paper or glass.

I must also say that my grandmother was smiling during this whole talk with me. These times must have been really happy for her. Looking at her I started to wonder if the past times are better than present? Of course they didn’t have such comfortable life as we today, but what is for sure, they better coexisted with the environment.

Happens that I’d like to live in those times, but then I realize how much I’d lost, and I’m starting to wonder again.