Now that "low-carbon life" is being advocated, I was a little confused at first. I didn't know where "carbon" was, and it couldn't be linked to my own life. Later I heard that buying one less piece of clothing can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25 kilograms, and driving one less day a month can reduce emissions by 98 kilograms per car per year... Then I roughly understood. Simply put, "low carbon" means to compare Live frugally.

Our generation grew up frugal. The material conditions at that time were scarce, and it was impossible not to be frugal. Advocating thrift and not being afraid of hardship is the "main theme" often promoted by the media. When I started writing, I wrote a lot of articles like this.

There is an old saying, "Three years of new life, three years of old life, and another three years of mending." Nowadays, clothes have been eliminated before they are worn out, and patched clothes are no longer seen. When we were young, clothes were passed down from generation to generation. At least we had to inherit the clothes that our elder brothers and sisters couldn’t fit into. The areas where clothing is most susceptible to wear and tear are the hips and knees of pants, the elbows of coats, and the collars of shirts. When these parts of the coat are about to wear out, line them with a piece of cloth and use a sewing machine to make circles from small to large, making them look like target paper on a shooting range. At that time, I would never have imagined that I would distress new clothes or sew two "patches" on my elbows as decoration.

As a result, many service industries that are now extinct came into being. In the old days, some women in small towns made a living by mending clothes for the poor. In big cities like Shanghai, the "sewing poor" have also been "modernized". They use machines to sew and have professional shops with names like "cooperatives" or something like that. There is a shop near my home that specializes in replacing the cuffs and necklines of worn-out cotton sweaters. For just a few bucks, I was able to change into a collar and cuffs of a similar color, and I felt as excited as wearing a new piece of clothing. At the entrance of many alleys, there will be a small stall with a sewing machine. It does not make new clothes, but only accepts odd jobs. My shirt collar was frayed, so I turned over. For as little as a dime, a tattered shirt looks brand new.

I don’t know if you have seen an old movie by Zhao Dan. He plays a poor man who wants to save face. He has no money to buy a shirt. He just makes a collar and puts it under his armpits. He wears a coat and the collar is exposed. There is basically nothing. flaw. This collar was very popular in the 1960s. The famous Wanxiang Department Store on Nanjing West Road in Shanghai sold collars with the "Wanxiang" trademark. They were still the "small square collars" that were very fashionable at the time. They cost one or two yuan each and charged a small cloth fee. Shanghainese call it "fake leader", but it is actually a real leader with fake clothes. Later, it was officially called "Thrift Collar", which is more worthy of its name. It is especially practical in winter. Put it under a sweater to protect the sweater and make it easy to wash. I still have two brand new "thrift collars" at the bottom of the box. Because they record a period of life's history, I have been reluctant to throw them away; maybe after a few years, I can give them to the museum.

When we were young, we paid attention to giving practical things when giving gifts. For example, weddings, weddings, and funerals, and giving quilts are fashionable. In earlier years, wedding flower baskets were given, including fresh flowers and silk flowers. Each flower opened into a handkerchief (called "silk head" by Shanghainese) and would never wither. At that time, children went to kindergarten wearing a back-to-back dress with a small handkerchief on their chest, which was neat and cute. Nowadays, "disposable" is popular, and handkerchiefs are replaced by paper towels, which does not seem to comply with the low-carbon principle.

Originally I was not willing to talk about these past events. Young people would say that this happened in a lifetime, and you are "remembering the bitter and thinking of the sweet" again. Now when I talk about "low-carbon life", it makes me change my mind. That kind of life is miserable, but it coincides with the "low-carbon" requirements of modern society. It can be seen that what history has left us is not all backwardness and lessons. As long as we are good at discovering, there may not be buds of advancement in backwardness; in addition to lessons, there may not be flashes of experience.

Of course, life in the past was not all "low-carbon". The most obvious ones were the large chimneys everywhere and the small chimneys (briquette stoves) in every household. The black smoke was considered a symbol of the prosperity of production and life. . At that time, we lived a "low-carbon" life but had no conscious awareness of low-carbon. Nowadays, science, technology and productivity are developing rapidly, and material conditions have been greatly improved. Of course, we will not advocate returning to the low standard of living at that time.

It is important to consciously establish the awareness of "low-carbon life", make full use of high-tech achievements, and live a better life while protecting the environment.

Hope to adopt!

Thank you!