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

Change the verb form

is increasing

is increased

show examples

among the

customers

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

One

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

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

this

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

store

shopping. After all, an online

store

doesn't require

customers

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

store

might use. You would think the

carbon

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

household would generate 24 times more CO2 with

21 kilometre

Add a hyphen

21-kilometre

show examples

drive to the

store

and back.

However

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

second

or

third

attempt to deliver the purchase because many home deliveries fail the

first

time. The

carbon

footprint increase by

customers

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

return

of the item

carbon

footprint

also

goes up.

One

in three online purchases

are

Change the verb form

is

show examples

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

return

Fix the agreement mistake

returns

show examples

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

this

ends up in

Add an article

a landfill

the landfill

show examples

landfill

Fix the agreement mistake

landfills

show examples

.

One

product that has high

return

rates is clothing.

Fix the agreement mistake

Shoppers

show examples

Shopper

Add an article

The shopper

A shopper

show examples

cannot try things on before buying

unlike

Add the comma(s)

,unlike

show examples

a walk-in

store

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

companies

offer free returns.

Customers

try them at home, keep

one

and

return

the rest of them.

However

Add a comma

,However

show examples

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

return

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

companies

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

and for the environment that

last

Change the article

the last

show examples

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

carbon

footprint by investing in electric delivery vehicles.

However

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

companies

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

do, there is increasing pressure for

companies

to take responsibility for the environmental impact of their activities.