Amazon Prime is such a convenient way to shop, especially during a pandemic. Just a few clicks and the item is on its way to your door. If it arrives damaged or the wrong size just send it back for free. As a consumer its a far better system that having to drive to a retail store and deal with parking, searching for stuff and waiting in those long checkout lines. It does however come at a huge cost to the environment, 165 billion packages were shipped in the U.S last year. That equates to 1 Billion trees worth of cardboard. Most of what is shipped is just air, one tiny item often arrives in a shoe box size container stuffed with air filled plastic. Amazon claims to be committed to reducing its carbon footprint but it actually increased by 15% in 2019. The online shopping giant said it emitted 51.17 million metric tons of carbon dioxide last year, the equivalent of 13 coal burning power plants running for a year.  Here are 10 things you can do to help reduce this footprint.

1-Only buy what you really need by spending a little more time getting the correct item rather than returning so much. Stop buying three different sizes to find the one that fits. 

2-Complain to Amazon about the amount of plastic and packaging waste they send you. Companies do listen to customers. 

3-Lobby your law makers to force manufacturers to declare the carbon footprint of their product and online retailers to add lowest carbon footprint in your search filter. 

4- Group your items into a single shipment at checkout. Make a rule in your household not to hit the buy button until 5 or more things can be grouped.

5- Chose slower shipping whenever possible.  Faster shipping burns more fuel in transit. 

6- Make an effort to buy environmentally friendly stuff. Search for sustainable products and discover a whole new world of bamboo utensils, reusable make up pads, washable paper towels and bamboo toothbrushes.

7-Give yourself a 24 hour cooling off period on all purchases. Stop the impulse buying and leave stuff in your basket overnight. It will often look less appealing the next day, especially if you were a bit tipsy when you selected the item. 

8-Declare 2 specific days a week as online shopping free in your household. Use those days to give something back to the planet like planting tree or growing your own food. 

9-Learn to repair broken things rather than toss them and buying replacements.

10-Share these ideas with your friends and any other victims of the online shopping disease.