Never like this year we have relied so much on online shopping , and I have already spoken about this so I will avoid redundancy.. But it is inevitable, especially these days, to look in greater details at one aspect of this: the transport of goods, and in particular shipping. Yes, because it is easy to buy something online and ignore completely the thought of ‘where does it come from’ and 'how will it get here'.
We are so used to click , maybe enter card details (or to make it even easier let the computer fill those in automatic) and a few days later receive a parcel at the door. I get it. I say ‘we’. I do it too. And, promise, I get it. The thought where does it come from is not one that comes up there with the list of items must have. Maybe it's price, then material, then brand, the colour. Perhaps we are even looking at the sustainability of production and try to ensure it is a brand that respects the employees. But we forget about the 'how will it get here part' and actually would choose something based on the speed in which it can arrive at the door. Ultimately, if it was a long process then probably would be easier to get to the store (although even there things will be shipped, and even there we ignore it!). And so goods travel incredibly long distances and at incredible speed in a process that is extremely efficient . Because that's what today's society wants! So efficient that one single blocked ship across the Suez Canal can cause havoc to the whole system. A few days blockage, caused by the EverGreen being stuck sideways, has caused delays that would be solved in months . Months! I find it hard to believe. Not to talk about the costs - something like 10 billions a day - just for a blocked canal. Okay. By a ginormous ship, but still just one. This is how much moving goods around the world is worth. Enormous amounts of money . With or without a pandemic going on . And actually , it seems that with a pandemic going on, the demand for goods has increased so much but costs of shipping have also increased and so, to keep it economically viable, containers have been filled more and more and more and as a result more incidents have happened. Recently, for example, the ship ‘Maershk eindovhen’ lost various amount of containers at sea while going from China to Los Angeles recently (end of February 2021). And there have been reports of upwards of 3000 containers lost at sea between November 2020 and February 2021 compared to 1382 in 2018-2019. while this could be attributed to climate adversity (due to climate change ?) the numbers just show the entity of the issue. So what can we do? Aside from generally steering away from online shopping, which is a great thing to do regardless of shipping issues , it should be important to make sure we ask ourselves some questions: 1) where does it come from? 2) Is the shipping price right for such distance? 3) Can we choose a longer delivery? 4) Is there a more local 'brand' ? I think 'sustainable' should encompass all the aspects, thus even items marketed as ''sustainable'' lose their sustainability if they have to travel half way across the world on a tight schedule...
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