I was raised by thrifty parents who avoided debt like the plague. They taught me to buy things that last and never spend money on what didn’t matter. Growing up, the logic was simple: why rent when you can own? Why pay a monthly fee when you can invest in something that builds value?

Yet, despite my thrifty upbringing, I looked at my bank statement recently and realized I’d fallen into a trap. Between internet, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and music streaming, I’m spending over $100 a month on subscriptions.

Remember when you bought an album once and played it until the CD wore out? Now, entertainment is a monthly fee that never ends. If you stop paying, you have nothing to show for it.

This got me thinking about how we use oil.

When we use petroleum to make a durable good like a plastic mixing bowl or even that old CD, it’s like buying a house. The manufacturing process creates pollution once, but then you get a lifetime of use out of it. You eat out of that bowl thousands of times. The environmental “cost” is a one-time purchase.

Burning fossil fuels for energy, however, is the ultimate bad subscription service.

When you fill up your gas tank or run a methane furnace, you burn the fuel, and it’s gone. To get that energy again next week or next month, drilling, refining, and shipping have to happen all over again. The financial cost repeats. The pollution repeats. It is a loop on infinite repeat, constantly pumping carbon dioxide into our atmosphere and warming the planet.

This is exactly why Fraser Valley Climate Action focuses so heavily on reducing use of fossil fuels. Utilizing petroleum to create long-lasting goods is one thing, but burning it for temporary energy is a trap that is stuck looping on repeat.

At Fraser Valley Climate Action, we look at it simply: it’s time to cancel the subscription.
Please, just stop lighting things on fire for energy.