Need to buy something? Why go to a store? Buy it on the Internet! Need it now? Why wait? Ask to receive it the next day! Each day, more and more people try on-line shopping. In fact, online sales have doubled in the last ten years. But not everyone is excited. Some scientists now say that online shopping is bad for the environment.

"People are surprised to hear this." They think, "I don't need to drive, and the business doesn't need to build a store, so there will be less pollution," says Nuria Prost, an environmental scientist. "But it is not so simple. In fact, online shopping is wasteful. It also adds to air pollution."

In truth, the Internet is not always as good a friend to the environment as it seems. For example, most people thought that the Internet would help offices use less paper and other materials. But paper use increased by 33 percent between 1986 and 1997. "Online shopping could have similarly harmful results,"says Nevil Cohen, a researcher of environmental science. Part of the problem is what people are buying these days. In the past, people bought things on the Internet that did not require much packing material, such as books and clothing. But now people also shop online for large, heavy products such as televisions, computers, chairs and tables. These products need to be packed in lots of plastic and paper. This creates a lot of waste.

Another problem caused by online shopping is air pollution. When customers buy products and ask to receive them the next day, online businesses often have to send them by air. Airplanes use much more oil than cars and produce more carbon dioxide*. When people buy a lot of different things from different online businesses, this creates even more travel by airplane.

Online product returns are also a problem. For example, an online shoe store may allow customers to return shoes for free if they are wrong size. This doubles the packing materials and number of airline trips required to sell one pair of shoes.

"If people want to protect the environment, they need to think before they shop," says Prost. "People need to ask themselves: Is this exactly what I want? Do I really need it tomorrow, or can I wait? Online stores can also ask customers to pay money for returns. This may make people shop more carefully. "Online shopping is fast and easy, "says Prost, "but we can't forget the harmful result it has caused to the environment. "