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Robert M. Parkhurst is a former research chemist at Stanford Research Institute, and
the author of the autobiography, "The Best of Times: A Life in California." He receives
e-mail parkhurst@bigfoot.com
There is nothing wrong with going “green” and there is nothing new about it
either. This is what our grandparents practiced and it was just called good
sense and frugal living. They didn’t have to worry about a low flush toilet; they
called it an outhouse and it didn’t use water at all.
l
They didn’t have to worry about an efficient clothes drier; they called it a clothes
line and it didn’t use anything but fresh air and sunshine. They had windmills to
grind their flour and they had horses that didn’t burn gasoline.
But you know all this stuff! That was “green” living the old fashioned way. I
remember my grandmother darning socks when they got holes in them by using
a needle and thread to weave the thread back and forth to make them like new.
What do we do now? Throw the socks out and buy new ones, of course!
About a year ago our thirty year old Maytag drier would not work any more. My
wife called the Maytag repair shop and was told they could not repair a thirty-
year old drier,they just didn’t have the parts. They informed her that they would
sell her a new efficient “green”drier for less than $500 and that included picking
up the old one.
l
After calling around, she finally located an older shop that said they might have a
replacement pilot light for such an old drier and they would check. The repairman
came out and replaced the pilot light (a small part the size of a cigarette) and the
charge was about $80.
l
My thirty-year old drier didn’t have to be transported to San Francisco, crushed,
shipped to China, smelted down into metal ingots, rolled out into sheet metal
and stamped out into new more efficient “green” driers.
The amount of energy that would have been required to get the new drier
compared to the amount of energy to repair the old one would be a good
exercise for a college engineering class but it was a lot cheaper for me to have
the old one repaired.
l
Even without the engineering classes report, I can assure you that my wife was
doing the green thing just like Grandma would have done it and I didn’t have to
burn all that gas going to work to earn the $500 either. Now, will the real “green”
environmentalist please stand up! Yea, it’s my wife!
It may not surprise anyone that the Maytag repair shop did not carry spare parts
for a thirty-year old drier. Maytag would be happier selling us a new drier even to
the point of taking away the old one all included in the price of the new one.
You may not even be surprised that businesses are generally tripping all over
them selves trying to sell you a new, more efficient “green” everything from new
cars to a whole new house. No one can blame them, for that is the way they
make a living and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.
It used to be that the businesses had to convince the purchasers that this
product was really going to help them out and worth their hard earned money.
That is all changed now. Now businesses and the government have discovered
that they can work together.
l
Business lobbies (donate to the politicians campaign) to get the government to
make laws mandating that many products are obsolete, inefficient, or unsafe
and that consumers will just have to buy new replacements. The businesses win
because the consumers are buying more and the government wins because the
more consumers buy the more taxes are paid.
l
What a deal: everybody wins. Well, maybe not everybody: the consumers do
not win if they buy things they don’t need and the environment is not improved if
people are discarding usable items that could be fixed. You know: like my wife’s
drier or the socks we discarded last week.
So, If you are buying things you don’t need with money you haven’t got to fulfill
a mandate of a government that is totally bankrupt and you don‘t even like,
perhaps you should think about going “green” the old fashioned way! Fix the
stuff that you have, and vote the bums out.
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Going Green
There are some very strange things about Bob.
I have known him for almost 50 years. I have
noticed that he has an obsession with green. He
will only eat things that are green, wear green
clothes, lives in a green house and actually had
his wife dyed green. It takes 4 people to hold
her down, she gets redyed every 5 years. I think
she is getting use to it. His grown children hire
security when he comes over as he sizes up his
grand children with funny looks. I will keep you
posted on his condition. 7/17/10
No change so far 8/17/10
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