Amazon deliveries are often better for the environment than driving to buy the stuff in a store

Andy Masley outlines the environmental impact of getting things delivered to your door from Amazon vs. driving to the store to do so.

A few things are at work here, I think:

• Most people never really seriously consider conterfactuals.
• The efficiency of modern logistics and supply chains is vastly underestimated (see also discussions about eating local).
• Climate claims that take seriously logistical efficiency are not aesthetically aligned with the preferences of many inclined to make climate claims.
• (🔥) Climate arguments are a socially acceptable way to criticize things that are also disliked for non-climate reasons.

On the last point, also see Masley’s piece Why using ChatGPT is not bad for the environment - a cheat sheet.

Related: Quantification bias.