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Let’s Talk Trash! MAR / APR 2019
©2019 The Keenan Group, Inc
“We didn’t have this ‘green thing’ back in my earlier days.” From a Facebook post February 2016 by Debbie Donivan
Who is?
It is well known in Cheatham County, Tennessee, that A. O. Smith purchased State Industries (State Stove) which was one of the largest water heater manufacturing companies in the US. Did you know that A.O. Smith is more than a water heater manufacturing company? A. O. Smith has been in operation for over 140 years having started in 1874 by Charles Jeremiah Smith. He made hardware parts for baby carriages, bicycles, and so much more! Remember the original founder of A.O. Smith that was featured in last year’s Sept issue of Let’s Talk Trash News, Charles Jeremiah Smith? He was a skilled tradesman! “At 16 years of age, Smith became an indentured apprentice to Maudslay Sons and Field of London where his five year apprenticeship exposed him to some of the most advanced marine machine manufacturing thinking of the time. DO YOU KNOW WHY A.O. Smith uses GREEN IN THEIR LOGO?
Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable, besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn’t do the “green thing” back then. We walked up stairs because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn’t have the “green thing” in our day. Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. We had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power.
We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go
Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment. The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, “We didn’t have this ‘green thing’ back in my earlier days.” The young clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”
to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she’s right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back then. We drank from a water fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family’s $45,000 SUV or van, which costs the same as a whole house did before the”green thing.” We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. We didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint. Isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the “green thing” back then? We didn’t have the “green thing” in our day. This would be funny if it were not so true!
The older lady said that she was right -- our generation didn’t have the “green thing” in its day. The older lady went on to explain: Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed, sterilized and refilled, so these same bottles could be used over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day.
On Earth Day of 2008, the AO Smith company unveiled a new green look to express its focus on energy efficient and environmentally friendly products. A.O. Smith Water Heaters introduced its new branding efforts on Earth Day to further reiterate its commitment to “green” water heating solutions. A.O. Smith’s logo, featured an innovative design and a new color. The company chose green, to replace the blue used since 1977 to represent its commitment to efficient products that will benefit the environment. In addition, it unveiled a new branding message which continues today: - “Innovation Has A Name.”
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