Nowadays, online shopping has become a more and more popular choice for customers. This essay will analyze some of its impacts on the environment and the jobs required.
There are both positive and negative effects on the environment. Firstly, shopping online can reduce the number of private vehicles going to traditional shops. This is because orders from nearby places can be delivered together by fewer means of transport with a rational arrangement. Consequently, the pollution released from vehicles can decrease considerably, which contributes to lower the harmful effects on the environment. However, online shopping requires many packaging layers to ensure the items remain unchanged. This can lead to the increase of plastic waste, which is detrimental to the environment. Especially, when plastic waste is discharged to rivers or oceans, marine species and humans severely suffer from water pollution .
Meanwhile, the growth of e-commerce has also affected jobs in both positive and negative ways. On the positive side, online shopping creates more job opportunities, especially in fields like information technology. Many shops lack resources in this field, so that database administrators, web designers and data analysis are really useful. On the downside, since online shopping becomes more common, many people may lose their jobs. This places a burden on the government to create new jobs for them, which can take time and taxpayer money.
In conclusion, online shopping can help reduce the amount of toxic emissions and create new jobs for the market. However, it can increase plastic usage and force traditional stores to disappear.