Personal Finance and (Environmental) Collapse

Count your money as the world burns

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It’s been a depressing few weeks. The UN released a report saying that unless governments across the world actually start doing something to avoid catastrophic climate change, we will experience catastrophic climate change.

The US government then declared that as climate change is likely to be catastrophic, there is no point in implementing any policies to make it less so.

And Japan keeps building new coal plants. Lamentable, indeed.

I also got some very bad news this week.

All of which gives me pause. This whole save and invest for the future, be the ant not the grasshopper, frugal and responsible, thing. Is it the best way to spend my life?

If life is going to get noticeably more difficult in a couple of decades, and continue worsening for the rest of our lifetime, what’s the point?

Right now I could probably stop working and live off savings for 15-20 years. I kind of want to. I feel really tired right now.

But on the other hand I enjoy my life. It’s not really about depriving myself in order to save, it’s about designing a life I enjoy that leaves a bit extra to put aside to make ourselves more financially resilient.

And that is good for the environment too. Instead of buying more things we don’t need to impress people we don’t like, we can buy our time back so that we can cook at home, cycle to work, walk to the supermarket, and be more deliberate with our time.

This has just been a bit of a rough year. It would have been even rougher if we didn’t have decent financial habits. Just need to get through the next few months and wait for a brighter time.

However, I have decided to sell all my fossil fuel stocks. BP, Enbridge, KMI, Oneok, BHP, Rio Tinto. I know this probably doesn’t make sense from a financial point of view (although it might do if their businesses collapse in the future as I hope they will) and I am aware I still own them as part of indexes, but this is a small concrete thing I can do.

Another thing I can do is change my diet. Eat less meat, and less beef specifically. Fly less. Drive less. Small things, but again something I can do.

And talk about the issue. The only way to escape the dark future is for massive action at the governmental level. And that requires enough people to demand it. I can’t vote here, but I can talk to people, write things, and teach.

I think people my age will just about escape from the worst of it, but our children and grandchildren won’t.

How about you? Do you think about environmental issues? Are you as worried as I am?

15 Responses

  1. I have been taken an interest in global warming for almost 30 years now, but still few people around seem interested in the topic. I remember when peak oil was all the rage and I didn’t visit the UK for at least six years because of environmental concerns. I remember when you (Ben) felt that science would find the answer and I commented negatively, believing that greed and profit would not allow that. I don’t lose any sleep over the issues but I do realise that I am in a far better situation than many others in the world. A frugal lifestyle and an almost whole plant food diet at home help in a small way, but I agree that it will take “massive action” at a world level to change things, but I don’t see the political will to change as almost all governments are more concerned with keeping themselves in power than in global climate change.

  2. I’m also worried about the environmental issues, especially because nodody seems to really care. I feel like if people don’t have a big catastrophy in front of their eyes, they just do nothing.
    Especially in Japan, I’m always impressed by all the conditioning when we buy food, and plastic bags everywhere.
    They seem to like their plastic bags so much, even though they buy a small bottle of water, that I don’t see them stop that anytime soon.
    When we buy stuff it’s always plastic conditioning inside another one, inside another one again!
    I’ve never threw that much garbage since I live here.
    On a personal side, there’s not much we can do about this, but I try to do the more I can.
    I don’t have a car, so I just take public transportation to go to work.
    I walk everywhere nearby or take my bicycle…
    I think stopping completely to eat meat is a solution either, so I just don’t eat meat that much. Maybe 2-3 times a week? and in small portions.
    I also started to refuse bags at conbini, and always have my shopping bags with me in case I want to drop by the supermarket after work.
    I bought a brita to stop buying bottles of water and also stopped soda, alcohol and stuff like that (well this is more for my diet ahaha but I took a good new routine, I don’t feel the need to drink that anymore except maybe with friends).
    But yes, with all the typhoons and the strange weather we got this year, I’m more worried than ever :/

    1. I personally think it is worth it (to live this kind of life).
      Number one, you’re being an example for all your readers.
      Number two, your expressing love to your wife and kids by constantly planning and furnishing your future. It’s like your shielding them from outside risk, like being a shield from society for them.
      Number three, it’s selfless, which in itself is a virtue. If you have a guilty pleasure by all means treat yourself sometimes, but I really agree with the practices you preach.
      Keep it up man, you’re not the only one who feels burned out. Let’s not give up the fight ’till we reach the “downhill” part of this financial “life” hill. 🙂

    1. They could have been. They’ve had access to the research for decades.
      But yeah, I would call it window dressing. Their investments in their as yet unmined reserves (which should be left where they are if we are to survive as a civilisation) fatally compromise them. 20% of spending on renewables by 2030 is a joke.

  4. You’ve reminded me of something I read last night in a packed train after a long day at work:
    “Minuscule though every individual, every ‘self’, is, he/she/it is an object through which life is being expressed, and leaves some sort of contribution to the world…our whole environment, cities, farmland, deserts — the lot! — is built up of contributions, useful or detrimental, from the innumerable swarm of serfs preceding us, to which we ourselves are adding our grains of sand. To think our existence pointless, as atheists are supposed by some religious people to do, would therefore be absurd; instead, we should remember that it does make its almost invisible but real contribution, either to usefulness or harm, which is why we should try to conduct it properly”.
    Somewhere Towards the End — a Memoir
    Diana Athill (born 1917)

  5. I think voting with your purchases and investments is at least as effective as voting in elections. Don’t give up!
    Actually, as a request – could you do some research into socially responsible investments, with an emphasis on those that support climate-friendly outcomes? I’ve put some money into Iroquois Valley Farms (https://iroquoisvalleyfarms.com/ ) but have no real confidence that that was the most effective use of my investment “vote.”

  6. I have been concerned about the environment since I saw that Al Gore movie about the environment back in 2007 I believe.
    Hopefully we will get a recession/depression soon and this will help the environment if things slow down a bit
    I believe free money/low interest rates is not helping this environmental issue

  7. Timely article indeed, as you mentioned on my blog 🙂
    Regarding diverting your investments from Oil industries: I recently checked https://80000hours.org (which I might have found from articles in your Monday Read section?) and that has given me some food for thoughts on how people can really help. The logical conclusion in my case, even if I don’t like it, is that if I want to maximize my help for the causes that matter to me, the best would not be to leave my job and join some charity, but instead to keep my high paying job and give most of my paycheck to said charity. (I probably won’t do that given how badly I’ve been wanting to leave my job for years now, but that would be the rational choice)
    There might be something in there that lets people decide if diverting your investments away from Oil really is the best way to help…

  8. I am willing to change my lifestyle drastically if needed but only if everyone else does it too. That’s the kicker. So I think until something changes, or some leadership emerges, fuck it

  9. I believe we have a moral obligation to do our bit (however small it may seem in the greater scheme of things), especially as governments and large corporations seem unwilling to change. The only way to force change is for people to say ‘enough’ and change their behaviour. This is too important an issue to just close our eyes and hope for the best. All life on this planet deserves to be left with a good chance of survival.
    To this end, I sold my car when I moved to Japan 15 years ago and haven’t bought another one. I’ve been vegetarian for over 30 years. I don’t use air conditioning at home. I always carry a shopping bag with me. I try not to buy unnecessary things. I’ve also been careful to ensure my money is ethically invested, despite being told I wouldn’t earn as much.
    Of course, I’m not perfect but I do believe in leading by example. It makes me really angry that so few people seem to understand the severity of the situation and are not prepared to change. How many more warnings does the world need?

    1. In a small way, it reminds me of giving up smoking. You ask how many warnings the world needs. I didn’t smoke because it was expensive or bad for my health. I was addicted to nicotine. Eventually the expense and health concequences outweighed the addiction and I quit. The warnings never did anything except cause me stress. My go to for coping with stress were cigarettes. We’ll probably have to experience the effects to really change. I guess it’ll be too late by then

      1. Yep, once we cross one of several lines (melt too much ice, thaw out too much tundra, etc.) we’ll go into a death spiral where climate change accelerates and we no longer have any control over the inputs.