Naomi Anderson-Subryan

Is online shopping bad for the planet?

It’s complicated. From a transit emissions perspective, getting deliveries could be more efficient — compare the route of a single truck to multiple cars, making multiple trips to stores.

But three billion trees are cut down every year to produce packaging, according to some estimates. The convenience of online shopping may also encourage overconsumption. One 2015 study found that the production and use of household goods and services are responsible for 60 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

So try buying in bulk and bundling your orders. “It’s easy to get a rush from buying something new,” my colleague Dionne Searcey writes, “but environmentalists suggest getting your dopamine fix from something entirely different: Try taking a walk instead.”

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