You’ve probably heard the warning that a tense global supply chain threatens to empty store shelves as holiday shopping begins.
The combination of sick workers with Covid-19, lack of shipping containers, problems such as the ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal, cyber attacks, labor shortages and natural disasters caused by climate change have resulted in an increase in prices and empty shelves for consumers.
For the climate, they translate into increased emissions that will only make supply chain problems worse.
The process your Black Friday sale goes through to become the Christmas gift that arrives for your loved ones must be invisible, and when the supply chain is working well, it usually is. But these supply chain issues are highlighting the fact that we cannot continue to ignore the enormous climate impact of our consumption habits.
Creating a product for Black Friday purchases starts with extracting the raw material that is transported to a factory where the item is made. This product, likely made abroad, is then transported to the United States or Europe, unloaded at the port of a large cargo ship, and transported again by truck or train to a warehouse. From that warehouse, it is transported to a retail store or to the customer’s door.
the shopping cycle
Every step in the supply chain to bring a product into your home – whether it’s a plastic toy, a video game or a reindeer pajama – uses fossil fuels, increasing greenhouse gas emissions and driving change. However, we rarely stop to ask whether the cost of climate is worth it.
Our dependence on the global supply chain is making climate change worse and, ironically, climate change is making supply chain problems worse. For example, Western Europe and China’s Henan Province, two global transport hubs, are struggling to deliver holiday items due to devastating weather-induced flooding.
And in the United States, hurricanes, forest fires and floods are damaging our transportation infrastructure, increasing container shortages and decreasing the availability of workers, making it difficult to deliver Christmas products domestically. It’s a hamster wheel where one problem leads to another and drives it.
But we don’t have to stay on that hamster wheel
Experts predict that this holiday shopping season will be hit by these supply chain issues with fewer and fewer Black Friday discounts, higher overall prices, longer shipping times and limited in-store inventory.
Even buying new and green gifts can be difficult due to problems in the supply chain. It will be hard to find bicycles, electric vehicles, energy-efficient appliances and durable clothing.
So rather than bemoaning fewer discounts and higher prices or indulging in Black Friday promotions, let’s treat these holiday shopping issues as a wake-up call. Our supply chain problems are just the tip of an iceberg that melts if our consumption habits and the systems that drive them don’t change.
What you can do
This holiday season, you can break free from the Black Friday frenzy and create a new tradition – one that protects the environment, supports your local community and embodies the spirit of the season. Instead of buying new gifts, buy used or refurbished products.
Or change things by buying an intangible gift as an experience or making a donation to charities on behalf of a loved one.
Our economy is based on unsustainable resource extraction, global supply chains and never-ending growth. To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we must challenge the way we think about vacations and shopping in general.
And businesses and policymakers should lead the way, not with past Black Friday sales, but with solutions that support reuse, repair law laws and local savings. We need to recognize supply chain disruptions for what they are, a canary in the coal mine, and create new Christmas traditions that don’t rely so heavily on carbon emissions.
By Sustainability Times. Article in English