How a Frugal Lifestyle and Earth Day are Interconnected

Earth Day is an annual event where one day each spring activities are planned around the world to bring attention and appreciate our Planet’s natural environment. The first Earth Day was observed on March 21, 1970 and is now celebrated in many countries each year.

Thousands of school kids and volunteers will plant trees and pick up litter, and for at least one day, make the world a little more clean and healthy.

In a world that idolizes possessions, status symbols, and everything shiny, frugalists take the contrarian view, and in essence, with their minimalist lifestyle, “live” Earth Day each and every day.

So does the frugal lifestyle turn everyone into long-haired, tree-hugging hippies? No of course not, it just means that their lean lifestyle saves them money by utilizing less of everything, which has a direct and positive impact on the natural environment due to their minimal energy requirements. Their cars are fuel-efficient and owned longer, their houses are smaller and well insulated, they don’t clutter their life with over-priced cheaply-made junk, and most importantly are not lazy and will put forth a little effort to save money, such as using a filtered water bottle and drinking tap water instead of buying two dollar water bottle from the vending machine every day.

And that is a very good thing because, according to a recent Forbes interview with Shell CEO (Peter Voser),

“We estimate that energy demands worldwide will double by 2050. Ninety percent of the new demand will come from non-OECD countries – and half of that from China. The numbers I’ve given you assume gains in energy efficiency. If we don’t have those gains, then energy demand will triple by 2050.”

Peter goes on to say…”as the world grows to 9 billion people and also grows more affluent, it’s not only the demand for energy that will double but also the demand for water and food.”

Peter offered some very insightful predictions, which if they hold true, will have a major impact on the price of everything.  Those not leading a frugal lifestyle now, may not have a choice in the future. Use this information to your advantage, for example, re-think the future energy cost of the house you are looking at, consider its location in proximity to water source, or evaluate companies that will benefit from this upcoming energy boom and consider an investment in them.

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