The other day I went to the supermarket unplanned, to buy a few things.

When I got to the checkout counter, the lady told me that they no longer sell single use plastic bags, instead they offer low cost reusable bags and ‘closed loop recycled’ paper bags.

Since I bought a couple of things, I opted to for the paper bag.

This got me thinking. I grew up in the era of plastic bags where plastic bags were given out for free.

Then our laws changed a few years ago where we now bought plastic bags. That was a bit strange buying something you used to get for free.

Now, that thing you used to get for free is completely phased out.

I understand the impact that plastic has on the environment and that understanding makes the pain of transitioning to the a plastic-free world bearable. When you know better, you do better.

Things have changed and just because I was born in a era where certain things were normal, does not mean those things should not change.

Those born in the stone age, found it hard when the world transitioned to the industrial revolution, but they transitioned nevertheless.

Those born in the world of LPs found it hard to the transition to CDs, but they transitioned.

I struggled to transition from CDs to streaming music, but hey, I had no choice but to transition. Kids today will never know the feeling of going to Reliable Music Warehouse or Musica to listen to an album on headsets and then decide to buy a CD 🙂

Those born in the industrial revolution and the era of jobs-for-life, must accept that the world is changing to the 4th Industrial Revolution and that the concept of a job-for-life has changed.

Stories were first told as drawings on cave walls, and sitting around the bonfire at night, then the way we shared stories shifted to books, then radio and television, now there is new technology of ebooks, audiobooks, blogs and podcasts.

You can complain all you want that you prefer things done a certain way because you were born an era of doing things that way, but that does not mean change and progress has to stop, especially for those born after your era.

The Stone Age did not end because they ran out of stones, it ended because better technologies were developed to meet humanity’s changing needs. Likewise, the age of fossil fuel will not end because we run out of oil and coal.

Coal does not have to end before we move to clean forms of energy, we just have to embrace better technology.

Coal is old technology, just because we were born in the era coal does not mean we should resist better technology.

Better ideas are how we move forward.

Coal age is like LPs and CDs age, there are better technologies.