How can you use frugal and prudence towards once environment
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I think there is an interesting correlation between being frugal and caring for and improving the natural environment. Thinking about this correlation led me to describe the wealth equation in my previous post
Lets be clear. The wealth equation is not an absolute or accurate truth. It is simply a model of the consequences of our actions. I made up this model to give me a framework to think about which actions would improve my well-being in the future. In that framework, I need consider all included variables, but there could be more, hidden variables that I haven’t figured out yet.
With that disclaimer, lets jump in.
A frugal person is a person who tries to minimize the monetary cost of their actions, and still trying to keep it lower than their useful need. For example, they might decide that they need nutrition, and buy rice and beans and eggs in bulk in order to keep the cost per meal miniscule.
A frugal person might go further and when comparing their options for which brand of rice and which brand of beans to buy, they might simply go with the cheapest option. There could be multiple explanations of why a given brand is cheaper than another.
First, the seller profit might be different. By buying the brand with less seller profit, the frugal person helps reinforce market dynamics and to make the product more of a commodity.
Then, there could be different fair prices for the natural resources. Imagine one brand claims that their product is of higher quality than the other. In that case, the frugal person determines the difference in useful need satisfied by both products and will select the cheaper product, unless the more expensive one really satisfies a lot more useful need.
Or, there could be a case where two competing of the same quality with the same seller profit cost differently, because in the production of the cheaper one, the manufacturer cut corners and dumped their dirty water without filtering it out, or used itself a supplier who cut corners. As a result the end product’s price will be lower, and it will be almost impossible for the consumer to determine the reason. In this case, a frugal consumer would buy the monetarily cheaper option but might incur some hidden environment cost.
In the last case, a well-meaning frugal person might get tricked into harming the environment.
Does that mean that being frugal hurts the environment? Not necessarily. I will argue that actually, being frugal correlates with being nicer to the environment.
Lets be clear. The wealth equation is not an absolute or accurate truth. It is simply a model of the consequences of our actions. I made up this model to give me a framework to think about which actions would improve my well-being in the future. In that framework, I need consider all included variables, but there could be more, hidden variables that I haven’t figured out yet.
With that disclaimer, lets jump in.
A frugal person is a person who tries to minimize the monetary cost of their actions, and still trying to keep it lower than their useful need. For example, they might decide that they need nutrition, and buy rice and beans and eggs in bulk in order to keep the cost per meal miniscule.
A frugal person might go further and when comparing their options for which brand of rice and which brand of beans to buy, they might simply go with the cheapest option. There could be multiple explanations of why a given brand is cheaper than another.
First, the seller profit might be different. By buying the brand with less seller profit, the frugal person helps reinforce market dynamics and to make the product more of a commodity.
Then, there could be different fair prices for the natural resources. Imagine one brand claims that their product is of higher quality than the other. In that case, the frugal person determines the difference in useful need satisfied by both products and will select the cheaper product, unless the more expensive one really satisfies a lot more useful need.
Or, there could be a case where two competing of the same quality with the same seller profit cost differently, because in the production of the cheaper one, the manufacturer cut corners and dumped their dirty water without filtering it out, or used itself a supplier who cut corners. As a result the end product’s price will be lower, and it will be almost impossible for the consumer to determine the reason. In this case, a frugal consumer would buy the monetarily cheaper option but might incur some hidden environment cost.
In the last case, a well-meaning frugal person might get tricked into harming the environment.
Does that mean that being frugal hurts the environment? Not necessarily. I will argue that actually, being frugal correlates with being nicer to the environment.
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