What did we Learn from the 60's?

[weavis]

Greece is already beginning to put people off with the new cruiser tax.....

Bar Stewards.

[gypsy wanderer]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

What can we do to effect change? I think we cannot be unified like we were back then. We all have our own agendas. It's quite depressing really. And were is our cause? We will fight to the death over anchors, but let the local refinery dump tons into our sky.
I don't know.
It does not sound like we learned much.

Newt, just wanted to thank you for this thread.
I can feel the concern in your question and rightly so. Your avatar has you holding your son which shows a fathers care and worry for his future.
I don't have all the answers or maybe even any, but one thing I do know and want to put out there is that the cruising sailing community is already affecting change or maybe even a vanguard in regards to living on less.

Of course not all cruisers are the same in this regard or are full timers but for the most part full time cruisers-
1. use less energy than the average person or family.
2. consume less water
3. employ solar and/or wind energy devices.
4. have a smaller carbon footprint

What can we do to affect change.
1. Use less gas and oil.
This is a tough one and to me is at the crux of pretty much everything.
If everyone everywhere could move towards using less gas and oil, the power base would shift. Oil based money or really any concentration of money in the hands of too few is what needs to change.

With out big government this is not going to be a fast change.

But --- you know sometimes just getting the snow ball rolling down hill is all that it will take.

Where is our cause.
Well it is right here. People like us sharing info on stuff like "how do I install some solar panels on my boat" or " which wind generator works best"

I'd be willing to bet your kid will be better than us at all this stuff.
Maybe he will invent something cool, who knows.

[s/v Beth]

gypsy- Thank you for the complement and the upbeat post. I'm holding my grandson btw . I agree that if we just get it together here and raise great kids that there is hope for the next generation.

[IdoraKeeper]

Wanderer, you are so right! I also thank Newt for this thread. I would just add for all who are discouraged, we ain't dead yet!

[Mike OReilly]

My partner and I are beginning our transition to full-time cruisers this summer (if summer ever comes ... more snow again tonight ). We are doing this, in part, to reduce our environmental and social footprint on this planet. It's not the only reason we're going, but it is one of the big ones. A sailboat is one way we can live small in this world. There are other ways, but this is the one that works for us right now.

In my youth I wanted to save the world. In my adult life I tried to save and improve part of it. Today, at the ripe old age of 47 all I want to do is stop being part of the problem. It will have no real impact on anything or anyone except us, but if everyone did it, then the problems would be solved (although we'd find new ones, I'm sure ).

Cruisers can set an example for others. Perhaps if enough of us do it, more would follow. And I don't just mean moving onto a small boat. I mean living with less -- a lot less. We in the rich western world simply use too much of the resources of the world. We use our power to shape the world to serve us. We all need to stop. But on a day that is to commemerate the 1100 Bangladeshis who died a year ago so you and I could buy cheap socks -- and yet nothing has been done -- I find it hard to be upbeat.

[weavis]

Sadly, You cant see the ring of armed soldiers keeping you there

[theaton]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

The only thing I've learned from the people of the 60's is they underestimate the younger generations.
...

As a child of the 70s I find myself underestimating the younger generations. I strive daily to not do so.

[gypsy wanderer]

from Mike
"Cruisers can set an example for others. Perhaps if enough of us do it, more would follow. And I don't just mean moving onto a small boat. I mean living with less -- a lot less. We in the rich western world simply use too much of the resources of the world. We use our power to shape the world to serve us. We all need to stop. But on a day that is to commemerate the 1100 Bangladeshis who died a year ago so you and I could buy cheap socks -- and yet nothing has been done -- I find it hard to be upbeat.[/QUOTE]


Oh yeah, that's another one
Cruisers don't wear socks much

[gypsy wanderer]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

gypsy- Thank you for the complement and the upbeat post. I'm holding my grandson btw . I agree that if we just get it together here and raise great kids that there is hope for the next generation.

OOPS! Grandson of course. Duh!

Told you I don't have all the answers!

Not having brain farts would be nice though.

'Spose if he was your son we would have to be buying you a few rounds of drinks just for the effort GRAMPS!

[Hudson Force]

I don't understand this idea of claiming a decade. I spent the 60's growing from 14 to 24. I remember a few forties,- I was in school for all of the fifties. ...I am of the 70's ...80's ....90's and all of this millinnium so far. Who quits, drops out and claims to have such a short life that they are "of a decade"?

I do notice some trends. Older people have always seemed to claim that the younger people don't know enough of the past or how to gain from their experience. Younger people are often claiming that they are not going to follow the disfunctional path of the older people. As it turns out, there always seems to be many good and very intelligent people doing well for all of us and plenty of those that are disappointing.

I've always been optimistic about society and it's probably because I choose to spend my time with those in the present and doing good things,- "children of now"!

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Target9000

As a child of the 80s I've learned that children of the 60s like to talk about how they're giants in their own world and how its just a pity that they won't pass some crumbs of wisdom to us poor late comers. I guess it wouldn't matter much since I'm probably too busy watching TV and complaining about something to receive the baby boomer's glorious scraps.

I'm surprised anyone in the 80s can lift their head up long enough from texting on their cell phone, to notice people from the 60's.

This is a reprint from a post on this forum, that I saved. I thought it appropriate.

How life has changed ... unfortunately (Bluewaters?)
"CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL BORN IN 1930's, 1940's, 50's, 60's, 70's and Early 80's !!!

First, you survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, your baby cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paints. You had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when you rode your bikes, you had no helmets, not to mention, the risks you took hitchhiking .. As children, you would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always great fun.

You drank water from the garden hosepipe and NOT from a bottle. You shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. You ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it, but you weren't overweight because...... YOU WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

You would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as you were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach you all day. And you were OK. You would spend hours building your go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out you forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, you learned to solve the problem .

You did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no text messaging, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........YOU HAD FRIENDS and you went outside and found them!

You fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents! You played with worms(well most boys did) and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. You made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although you were told it would happen, you did not poke out any eyes. You rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Local teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! The idea of a parent bailing you out if you broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. You had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and you learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! And YOU are one of them"!

[sabray]

The 60s laid the path for future generations on a couple of key areas. First today we have much nicer hair and hair products. There was a space race. Which the US won. Winning the race is not important. Proved by the Russians having to ferry everyone to the space station.
Man it's all about the hair and hair care. Thank god for the 60s. Otherwise were about the same. Start a war fight for the cause fight against the cause etc... We just look better doing this today because of these fab hair treatments and hair transplants and hair removal techniques.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Celestialsailor]

dude...you're obsessed with hair!

[weavis]

So we are all agreed then. Nothing really changed, kids are not like their parents, life is worrying and there may be SOME hope for the future but dont hold your breath.

Some of failed as parents, some didnt, Kennedy is dead and the school is out as to who did it.

And we can all face the future with better hair today.

According to Boatie..... Westerly made one of the best boats ever.

I feel so settled now... and can move onto my next question as to which style of sail is the better one.

[s/v Beth]

CS: that was one funny post. I broke almost every bone in my body before I realised there was health care. Parents would set it at home and put me in a bed sheet sling. But I did learn to be self sufficient.
Different world.