Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by amelius 1864 days ago
I hate to say it but we should kill online shopping.
4 comments

You may be underestimating the 'carbon footprint' of retail shopping; I have never seen a clear comparison of the two, but I am not sure one would be significantly 'better' than the other.
Generally, products from online shopping come from further away.
I doubt that, but would be receptive to any evidence in your favor.
Everyone knows that online shopping is much worse in terms of footprint. First, think of all the items that are returned. Second, think of the incentive it creates to buy more stuff.

EDIT: of course reality is more nuanced:

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.9b06252

This study is about fast-moving consumer goods, but (quote):

> Hiselius et al. argued that consumers who frequently shop online make the same total number of trips to shops as consumers who do not

I don't know that for a fact.

Do you have any idea of how many emissions are caused by people driving 'across town' to buy very little? What about people who drive to the store to buy one thing? How about the air conditioning in the mall?

Warehouses are much more efficient places to store things than malls and stores.

Consumers are very bad at logistics, whereas logistics companies (like couriers) are very efficient at logistics.

In many countries people often go shopping by foot and then buy multiple items from multiple shops in one go.
I am not sure which mode of shopping is more 'energy intensive', I'm just pointing out reasons why online shopping may not be worse than retail shopping.
It's not just about the energy per delivery. It's more about the enormous extra amount of stuff we are buying since online shopping and online advertising became a thing.
Not sure that driving to the mall, which itself is a square mile of cement, is a great solution either.
What if online (and retail) shopping was more expensive the farther it had to be transported from? Some things would be expensive enough for local businesses to make a profit.
Nice idea, but we should really kill any incentive to buy more stuff. Online shopping is too convenient.
The stuff at local stores also came long distances by truck.