Rising university fees and scarce employment prospects for graduates have led some people to say that universities should not teach arts subjects, like philosophy and history, and only offer practical degree courses that maximise chances of employment. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

The way we shop in the past few decades has changed dramatically due to the environmental impact of online shopping. Department stores, traditional shops and high street were used to buy our goods. Online buying

is increase

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is increasing

is increased

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among the

customers

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, where they can order whatever they want directly to their door with the click of a mouse.

One

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in seven sales are now made online, at the suggestion of studies, global online retail will reach an enormous US 4.8 trillion. The trend towards shopping online is predicted to continue as

companies

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race to improve their internet shopping experience. But what is the impact of all

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online shopping on the environment? Shopping online might be thought of as greener than in-

store

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shopping. After all, an online

store

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doesn't require

customers

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to drive anywhere and it does not use the electricity that a traditional

store

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might use. You would think the

carbon

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savings must be significant because items are often delivered to several homes at once. Take the typical home delivery round in the UK, producing 20 kilograms of CO2 in total, supermarket drivers often do 120 deliveries on an 80-kilometre round.

One

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household would generate 24 times more CO2 with

21 kilometre

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21-kilometre

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drive to the

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and back.

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, the reality is slightly more complex than that. The driver has to make a

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or

third

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attempt to deliver the purchase because many home deliveries fail the

first

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time. The

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footprint increase by

customers

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who choose speedy delivery or those who buy single items from different places. In case of a

return

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of the item

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footprint

also

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goes up.

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in three online purchases

are

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returned as a study in Germany shows. In the USA merchandise worth nearly US$326 million

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return

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returns

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according to another study. Lead to 13 tonnes of CO2 being released two billion kilograms of

this

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ends up in

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a landfill

the landfill

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landfill

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landfills

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.

One

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product that has high

return

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rates is clothing.

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Shoppers

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Shopper

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The shopper

A shopper

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cannot try things on before buying

unlike

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a walk-in

store

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. To make it easier for shoppers to purchase the same item of clothing in different sizes and colours

companies

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offer free returns.

Customers

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try them at home, keep

one

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and

return

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the rest of them.

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However

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clothes are not always cleaned and put back for sale when they

return

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. To simply throw away the returned items is found cheaper by many

companies

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than to pay someone to sort the damaged goods from the unwanted ones. In these cases, the returned clothes, which might be in perfect condition, end up in landfills or burnt. We realise that online shopping is not necessarily as green as people might think when we take all these factors into consideration. For

companies

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and for the environment that

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last

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the last

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kilometre to your door is costly. There is some positive news, as various online retailers are starting to lower their

carbon

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footprint by investing in electric delivery vehicles.

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, the question of how to deal with returns efficiently and without waste is a challenge that many

companies

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have not wanted to face. As campaign groups demand urgent action in the face of the climate and ecological emergency and shoppers online become more aware of what

companies

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do, there is increasing pressure for

companies

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to take responsibility for the environmental impact of their activities.