Online shopping is becoming more popular. How could this trend affect our environment and the kinds of work required?

A recent phenomenon of modern societies is online shopping, with conflicting views on whether it makes any difference to the environment, especially regarding

carbon

footprint. One idea claims that purchasing goods online is actually better for the environment. Advocates of

this

believe that the limited trips to the physical stores using vehicles means that

carbon

dioxide emission is reduced. Hardly

does distributing

Suggestion

distributes

goods to various locations in certain neighbourhoods using the efficient delivery route release as much gas emission as each member of those neighbourhoods making a round trip to the stores using their personal vehicles. In countries where cars are highly used for the purpose of shopping, like in the U.

S and

Suggestion

Sand

in the U.K, e-commerce method is a greener choice.

However

, there are some opposite aspects that are not considered.

Firstly

, frequent online purchases produce more packaging waste, and online items tend to come from different distribution centres, both of which result in higher environmental pollution per item.

Secondly

, barely do people buy a lot of items per purchase, which

further

increases the

number

of to-and-fro trips and

carbon

footprint, as well as packagings.

Although

most shopping trips are made by car in the U.S and U.K, in countries where shopping on foot or by bike are prevalent,

such

as China or a

number

of European countries, online shopping will certainly not reduce greenhouse gas compared to going to physical stores. From a personal perspective, if people want to reduce the harm of

carbon

footprint, purchasing a large

number

of products from one distribution centre, which is equivalent to the lowered

number

of trips, is beneficial. Another way to protect the air from CO2 is by avoiding failed delivery that results in unnecessary trips from the warehouse. In conclusion, online shopping is neither bad nor good inherently.

Instead

, it is the consumer awareness that we should enhance to achieve the environmental protection

that is

needed.