Reply #13: Not this "old" person [View All]

[frazzled]

Though not quite 63, we're only a couple of years away from it. And I can bet my bottom dollar that we're pretty low on the CO2 scale compared to a lot of younger folks. We drive a Prius, but only take it out one or two times a week (because we now live in the midst of the city in a condo and can walk to groceries, drugstores, etc. and take the bus and train to other places). Compared to the years when we were schlepping kids around to all kinds of lessons and activities daily and living in a less urbanized situation, we have a phenomenally lower carbon footprint with respect to auto usage. We also do one-fifth of the laundry we used to--again, because the kids who throw a pair of jeans down the laundry chute after one wearing, because it's easier than putting them away, no longer live in the house. Ditto for the dishwasher: we run it only once every several days, when it is full. We recycle extensively, and have done so for years. We buy little that comes in heavy packaging; we take our own bags to the supermarket.

This seems to be the case for many of our empty-nester generation. It's hard for me to believe that we have a worse effect on the environment than a 30-something family with three kids. And I'm not blaming them for that. It's just the truth that you're going to drive more, need more lights on in more rooms, use up more water (not to mention diapers) than other people.

And talk about old people. Mr. Frazzle and I were just discussing our own mothers and the the ridiculous lengths they always went to to conserve energy, water, and goods. His mother passed away a few years ago, but mine is still going strong. Products of the Great Depression, they carried their thrifty ways throughout their lives, driving us somewhat crazy in the process. My mother insisted on turning out lights in every room immediately upon leaving and would allow only about two inches of water in the bathtub--you can't waste water! she would aways say to us as we shivered in the tub. His mother would save every piece of tin foil and string and plastic there was, and wash and reuse them. These REALLY old folks knew how to conserve!