It seems that online shopping is becoming more popular each and every year, and some of the main reasons for the trend are easy to see. Most significantly, online shopping seems to simply be more convenient than retail shopping, as it allows consumers the ability to browse, choose, and order products from the comfort of their own homes. Additionally, online shopping can often end up being more affordable, as the discounts, coupons, and even base prices of many products online are often favourable. But there is a third reason that online shopping has become the preference of many people all over the world: it often has less of an environmental impact than retail shopping.

To most shoppers, environmental impact doesn’t really seem like a topic of concern with specific regard to shopping. However, there are several ways in which online shopping – whether at a large scale online store like Amazon, or a niche store like http://mysmartbuy.com – is the more environmentally responsible option. Here are a few details.

Less Driving
The clearest environmental benefit of online shopping is that it reduces driving needs. For many people, shopping is an activity that can take them all over town, stopping at a number of different malls and stores – which, of course, involves a good deal of driving and fuel consumption. Reducing fuel emissions and driving dependency is one of the most significant environmental efforts in the world, and doing a majority of your shopping online is a good way to contribute.

Less Packaging
Another key worldwide environmental effort is the reduction of material consumption. When you shop retail in person, the chances are good that you will end up with a number of different bags and/or boxes, which will simply be discarded once you get home. Shopping online is more efficient with regard to packaging – typically, everything you order will come in the smallest possible box, which means that ultimately fewer materials are used and ultimately disposed of.

Responsible Returns
Also with regard to the waste of materials, many people who shop online are more likely to return unwanted products. Sometimes it can be hard to find time to make returns around town at different stores, which means people who shop retail are often more likely to waste purchased goods. Returns can be done more conveniently and efficiently through online shopping, meaning you will be less likely to waste products that end up unwanted.

Purchase Of Green Products
Finally, it is also worth noting that it can be easier to find green products online, simply due to the massive selection of online stores. Environmentally responsible products are certainly available in many retail stores, but finding them can be more difficult in person. Shopping online affords you the opportunity to seek out and rely on these products. ‘

The post The Environmental Benefits Of Online Shopping appeared first on EcoHustler.

In the garbage, I see a rose.

In the rose, I see the garbage.

Everything is in transformation.

Even permanence is impermanent.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Two years ago EcoHustler explored the curse you put on your relationship by giving a Valentines gift with a dire ethical footprint in How Deep Is Your Love. The following year we looked at ethical alternatives in Turbo-Charge Your Love. This year we are keeping it short ‘n sweet with 3 reasons not to buy roses this V Day:

1. Ten thousand tons of roses are shipped from Kenya to England for Valentines Day. Kenya is a poor African country, highly susceptible to fluctuations in weather, prone to drought and last year suffered a serious famine affecting 10 million people. That gift to your lover is the biological capacity of Africa diverted from either feeding Kenyans or maintaining the local ecosystem distilled into a disposable product. As the roses rot in an English landfill vital goodness has passed from the Kenyan soil to a plastic lined cesspit via giant planes spewing greenhouse gas; nice gift!
2. The roses are grown in massive greenhouses on Lake Naivasha. The lake is withering away, the hippos are gone, the shore is crowded and polluted. In ten years the lake will have disappeared like the Aral Sea. The land will be dead and the multinational companies profiteering from the business will move to other similar lakes, for example in Ethiopia.
3. Your hard earned wages go into the pockets of unscrupulous English supermarkets and international agribusinesses that will do anything to turn a quick buck, including sticking a label on Kenyan roses saying ‘ethical’ despite the fact that the whole process is fundamentally unsustainable and absolutely immoral. Nobody benefits from the business apart from some corporate drones who manage to keep the suicide economy chewing up what is left of nature for a little while longer.

Don’t buy roses out of season. Give your lover something special. Like a meal, massage or ménage a tois!

“See roses really smell like POO-OO-OO
Yeah, roses really smell like POO-OO-OO”

The post Roses Are Shit appeared first on EcoHustler.

More from Pearl Jam:

The post Do The Evolution – Pearl Jam (Music Video) appeared first on EcoHustler.

Coldcut showcase their version of White Christmas with MC George Bush on vocals and piano, with a message of (global) warming Christmas cheer.

The post Coldcut and Juxta’s ‘White Christmas At The White House’ appeared first on EcoHustler.

Music @ the beginning and @ the end = Lou Reed » Wild Side «

The post The next 10 years will be very unlike the last 10 years appeared first on EcoHustler.

Bill McKibben gets arrested

The bankers and financiers in the USA who orchestrated the ‘biggest swindle of all time’ setting off the global financial crisis were not only let off the hook, they were rewarded for their actions via a multi-trillion dollar government subsidy (‘bailout’). As any good parent will explain, if you reward bad behaviour, you can bet your bottom dollar what you will get a lot more of.

Amoral individuals driven by greed have been handed unfathomable extra wealth and the unsustainable economy has been given fresh gas to splutter forward for a few years longer. In contrast, Bill Mckibben, who has the knowledge, skills and experience to shift the country decisively towards a healthy, sustainable future in which citizens can flourish has been locked up. He has been languishing alone in a tiny cell. Talk about arresting the wrong guy!

McKibben has written over ten books. His most recent Eaarth is a practical guidebook for how to live on a new, harsh and unpredictable planet. He has campaigned for two decades on environmental issues and recently has been making a stand to block the construction of the 1,600-mile long Keystone XL pipeline that will lock in the States to arguabley the most environmentally destructive form of fossil fuels for decades to come.

Surely a fair an decent society  is one in which we reward those who add value to the lives of others? We can see the USA has a faulty moral compass because currently selfish greed is rewarded even when it harms the lives of millions of people and endangers civilization. The people taking a longer term position that is better for society go to join the USA’s vast prison population. Last month Tim DeChristopher was jailed for two years for acting to protect national parks

Times have changed and the government in the USA needs to catch up. One hundred years ago it made sense to reward the captains of industry as they built infrastructure, factories and machines. This work increased people’s well being. Today, this is no longer the case. We know now that we must use far fewer resources and allow nature to provide the vital ecosystem services we require. We can make this shift but it will require focused effort to adapt. Crucially, when we reward the right people we will start getting the right outcomes.

Please sign the petition to stop the tar sands here.

The post America arrests its future appeared first on EcoHustler.