Episode 15 - Green Online Shopping
Episode description: Pre-black friday sales have started, and the normal black friday sales are just around the corner which means you’ll be buying tons of things online! But are you buying them in a way that is helping or hurting the planet??? Let’s find out! And this week I’ll finally dig into Amazon shipping I’ve been hinting at for a while now.
Intro: Welcome to 1000 Ways Green! The show where we give busy people like you easy ways to help save the planet for our future generations, and of course, try to save you money along the way. I’ve broken free of Dan’s possession and am taking control back of my podcast again this week. I may need to look into some better security going forward. But for today’s episode and as we near the height of holiday shopping we will be looking at the effect your choices can have when you shop online.
Onto this week's three things…
Mint Green level: When you’re shopping anywhere online, which if you’re anything like most Americans, you’re bound to do soon considering the pre-black friday deals are already popping up, please try to plan ahead as much as possible. Last minute shopping causes us to rush things, speed up delivery times and often buy things we don’t need and then need to ship them back. So your actual mint green challenge this week is to choose the slowest shipping option you can. Whenever you choose the slowest option, companies will take their time putting your packages into one box rather than many, wasting less materials and will make sure they spend more time filling the truck up all the way. If you choose same day, next day or 2 day shipping, Amazon and others will send off trucks half empty, requiring more trucks to go out and use more gas to deliver them.
If you have Amazon Prime you should now have an option called No Rush Shipping. By choosing this option you are intentionally letting them pack better and ship with more full trucks. By choosing this option you also will get a credit to your account, earning you money for your next purchase.
Shamrock Green level: For our Shamrock green level challenge this week I’m asking you to try and buy your clothing in person. Why? Because you are able to try it on and see what fits before you take it home. When you buy online there is already the extra greenhouse gasses being emitted from shipping it to your home but there is also the chance that what you’re buying might not fit and then you’ll need to ship it back, beginning a new round of creating greenhouse gasses. If you must buy clothing online PLEASE measure first so you’re more likely to get the right size the first time. And lastly DO NOT shop at places like StichFix, sending packages back and forth is pretty much their business model.
Forest green level: And that makes a great transition into our Forest green level challenge this week: stop buying clothing from cheap fashion brands/companies and start buying them from sustainable companies. I will list a few companies you likely know, with which to avoid in a minute but some questions to ask yourself when shopping are:
Are they quick to release a trend as soon as it is seen being modeled on the catwalk or by a celebrity?
Are their clothes made in a large factory? Probably by workers who are paid unfair wages?
Are you pressured to buy their clothing due to a limited availability?
Are the clothes made from cheap, poor quality materials? Ones that they expect to last less than a year so you’ll have to come back and buy more?
Some common companies that produce cheap fashion with poor labor practices are:
Urban Outfitters
Victoria's Secret
GAP
Guess
SHEIN
Just to name a few. I’m linking the full list of 25 Fast fashion brands to avoid in the show notes for you to check out. However on the flip side of this are brands like Patagonia, which has probably been THE name in sustainability even before the owners gave away the entire company in September of 2022 costing themselves over $17 million to ensure that the company continues to give hundreds of millions of dollars to fight climate change. But if you’re looking for clothing that isn’t as outdoorsy I have a list of 35 other good, solid, sustainable brands for you in the show notes, plus all of my own 1000 Ways Green sustainable clothing that you can check out on the website if you’d like to support the show and share teh message. 😀
As we move into the holiday shopping season I’ll give you a heads up that I’m creating a Eco-conscious, good for the planet, sustainable shopping list that will be available to you after next week's episode. Until then, and as always, be green and be seen.