Consider The Environmental Cost

Posted by Kirby Turner on February 6, 2015

Two days ago I wrote a post about how I bought a new snowboard online because it was cheaper than buying locally, or so I thought. Turns out a local shop in Stowe was offering a 20% discount on the board I bought, but I didn’t know this at the time since that shop didn’t advertise the sale on their website. So in the end I paid a little more to buy a new snowboard from another local shop located on the other side of the country.

Today I read an article written by Hana Beaman about how we might want it all but we don’t need it all, see the picture below, when it hit me I was totally missed the point in my earlier post. I should have bought locally even if the price was slightly higher. I forgot about the cost on the environment.

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Sure, I thought I was saving a few dollars by buying online, but now that snowboard must travel across the United States by truck, airplane or some sort of and combination of fuel sucking transport. Regardless the means of transport the snowboard takes to get from Oregon to Vermont, it will have a negative impact on the environment. The environmental impact would have been much lower if I had bought locally since I live only a mile or so away from the store, a store that ultimately had the better price.

The lesson here for me is that I need to buy locally more than I already do1, and I need to consider more than just how much an item will cost me. I need to also consider the cost to the environment.

  1. My spending habits have changed a lot since moving to Stowe. I buy a lot more things locally, from eggs to gear. Even my Amazon purchases have dropped to a third of what they were 3 years ago. 


Posted in personal. Tagged in life, snowboarding.


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