Stories from my grandparents

I like to listen to stories about youth of my grandparents, so I decided to ask them how energy and resources were used at that time.

First i talked to my grandmother from father's side. It was hard for her to tell me anything about those topics since during the war and occupation our country was poor, undeveloped, in lack of groceries, so the only thing which counted was survival.

My grandma was born a few years before the beginning of World War II. Back then her family lived in the city, but she had a contact with country - her grandfather was a wealthy owner of a homestead.

She told me that:

• electricity was in use before the war, but during it occupants implemented a warrant that lights had to be extinguished at particular hour in order to conserve energy (because of this in most houses people also had oil lamps)
• after the war people were traveling by buses, tramways and steam-powered rails; cars were rarely seen, so there was no problem with crossing streets
• steam was also used for heating buildings (by using "house boilers" and "district boilers")

As for grandparents from mother's side: they also were born before the WWII. Their current lifestyle reflects habits from the past. Nothing wastes at their house, e.g. they are saving bottles and boxes in order to use them again or use organic wastes to fertilize the soil on their allotment.

I don't know if current lifestyle is better or worse than the one which my grandparents had to lead... but I believe it's so much easier. With awareness of the past we can build a sustainable future.