[Zeke]

OTOH, we left the hose running while washing the car and then we washed the driveway, patio and walks for 30 minutes and then watered the lawn forgetting the sprinklers until the water ran 2 blocks down in the gutter. When we did jump in that old jalopy to head to the store, it used 8 gal to the mile and spit out enough hydrocarbons to sting your eyes.

We slathered on lead based paints and the exterminator came by once a month and blew DDT into the clothes closet and linen closet. The nearby refinery produced enough pollutants that taking a deep breath on a hot summer day led to choking.

Beer cans didn't have pop tops yet, but they did rust in the sand at the beach. A lot of cigarettes didn't have filters to choke birds, but the smoke in restaurants sometimes made it hard to see who was across the room. The government was lighting nukes out in the desert and people came to watch the glow in the sky.

Diesel trucks blew black smoke and the more the prouder the driver was. Trains blew coal smoke as did the power plants. Paper manufacturers treated and bleached pulp and piped the expended treatments directly into the rivers. Housewives used lye and phosphates for cleaning and the waste went in the rivers and lakes. Farmers used anything and everything to poison anything that reduced yield.

Timberlands were clear cut and left to erode to rock. Anytime refrigeration needed recharging the existing contents were bled off into the free atmosphere. Used motor oil was poured out on the ground as was anti-freeze.

This one goes both ways.