By Jim Leonard

Do you ever think about whether green living ideas are new or recycled (pun intended) habits from the past? There’s a big push to take your own bags to the store. I’ve done this for a few years and feel like I’m making my small contribution to living a greener life. My grandmother didn’t have choice between paper or plastic? Of course, she raised much of their food, but if she went into town and wanted to put her purchases in a bag, she took her own.

When my mom was growing up, they only had one radio and one car. They walked or road a bike if they needed to go somewhere. When I was young, we advanced from one radio to include one television. Occasionally, my mom would drive us, but mostly, we walked or rode our bikes.

With my first child, I used cloth diapers. There’s a debate as to which is better for the environment. Washing cloth diapers takes energy to wash and dry, but can you imagine how many disposable diapers have been put in landfills over the last forty years?

Do you remember when you wanted a drink of water, you took a glass out of the cupboard and put it under the facet. I do notice there is a surge or reusable drinking containers and the younger generation is getting away from the plastic water bottles we became so dependent.

Do you remember when people used handkerchiefs instead of tissues? While it may be better for the environment, that’s one area I just can’t go back to.

We live in a much more complicated world than when we were growing up. We can remember some of the things we did as children that we can do now that end up being green living ideas.