[pf] From today's Grist: Retail or e-tail?

by Fitzsimmons, Diane

08 December 2000 21:16 UTC

>From today's Grist  (remember that the url might not translate well):

HARRY POTTER AND THE OZONE LAYER
As the holiday gift-buying frenzy picks up, no one really knows whether
online shopping hurts or helps the environment.  The nonprofit Center for
Energy and Climate Solutions says such shopping may be an environmental
plus, citing the benefits of delivery trucks and warehouses over the
multiple car trips and energy-intensive retail space necessary for
traditional in-person shopping.  But Carnegie Mellon's Green Design
Initiative, in its case study "Harry Potter and the Ozone Layer," says it
may be less environmentally efficient to ship books individually to
customers, often overnight by plane, than for customers to buy books
in-person that were sent to 
bookstores by the crate load.  Researchers at the New Jersey Institute for
Technology found that buying a computer online was worse for the
environment.  Meanwhile, some catalogue and online retailers are
experimenting with reducing the environmental impact of their packaging.

straight to the source: Salon.com, Katharine Mieszkowski, 07 Dec 2000
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/12/07/ecology/print.html>

straight to the source: Portland Oregonian, Michelle Cole, 08 Dec
2000<http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf?/news/oregonian/00/12/cu_61gre
en08.frame>