The real cost of things

If there was something that was fairly cheap to buy and use, provided convenience or pleasure, but meant either that a. you would have longer term ill-effects from the use of the product, or b. that the product became progressively more expensive to use, you would find some ways of avoiding the product in question. 

Several examples of this kind of situation abound: 

1. Cigarettes provide short-term pleasure and are known to cause cancer longer term.
2. Recreational drugs of various kinds fall into a similar category - near term high, longer term brain damage
3. Adrenaline junkies take larger and larger risks to get the rush, sometimes sacrificing safety risking severe injury or loss of life and limb.

In all these cases, taking a longer term view would help people make wiser choices. But what about situations where the quality of your choice changes with time? Let's look at a couple of examples of these:

1. You buy shampoos, perfumes, and mouthwash in small containers - you know you'll use up larger quantities, but buy smaller containers for convenience, but the plastic is not biodegradable, and the ecosystem chokes up
2. Garments you purchase are synthetic - similar issue - and with rapidly changing fashion, they get outmoded and are discarded quickly but do not disintegrate.

Even 15 years ago, these might not have been considered particularly bad ideas, but they would be frowned upon now. Single use plastics are another such item - utility is for limited time, but the damage caused is long lasting. This balance is to be set right if we believe we do not inherit the planet from our parents but borrow it from our children. There was even a recent article in the news that adults on average ingest a credit-card's amount of plastic each week through the food they consume. Microplastics are now invading water supplies, aquatic life, and other areas of the ecosystem that impact humans.

The true cost of a good thus, is not just the cost of its production, distribution and sale. The true cost should include the cost of harvesting the waste generated and recycling it away from the environment. As regulation ramps up (as it must), prices will reflect environmental realities. True, for a while corporations and people can get by through regulatory arbitrage, but this will likely be a limited period before laws are stringently enforced globally. In a related post in this blog, I explore some interesting ideas companies are pursuing in terms of becoming more planet-friendly. 

As individuals we cannot by ourselves solve global issues such as plastic pollution, but if we move together, convince our friends, etc. The movement can change the planet for the better. There are some outstanding efforts like the man who started a movement to clean up Versova Beach in Bombay, the couple that worked to re-forest areas of Latin America, and the movement to plant new trees in Singapore.

Saving our planet is not Greta Thunberg (or other young people)'s responsibility alone. We all live here. We all need to take an interest and do what little we can do to protect and conserve natural resources. As they say, "reduce, reuse, recycle". It appears that a greater awareness and adoption of ESG principles in investing will force a gradual movement in that direction.