Flying Rebels from Addis Ababa

A couple of years ago, as Christmas was approaching, our youngest son couldn't figure out what he wanted for his main gift.  Suddenly, with about a week to go, he made up his mind.  A Packer's jersey, #12, would do just fine. The catch--his name on the back, instead of Aaron Rodgers'.  He scoured the internet, and found a site with a good price.  But of course it would not be available by Christmas.  Still, he preferred just the right jersey to having it on the Day, so he was willing to wait a couple of weeks more for his dream jersey.  

We got an email from "Eddie", explaining that since it was a custom jersey, it would be seven working days to get it finished, and then they would ship it. OK, fine. Then we noticed in the fine print that it would ship from Shanghai. Shanghai!  It'll be a month! Disappointed, we hankered down for the wait.  It was tough, because the Packers were doing well and we needed that jersey.

Imagine our surprise and joy when, just a couple of days after Christmas, the jersey was delivered at our doorstep.  From Shanghai!  How was it possible?  Only one way--they flew that jersey all the way, 11,000 km, from China.  

Today an email brought this to mind.  I have a delightful niece who some time ago pointed out an Ethiopian shoe company whose shoes are hand made by female Ethiopian artisans.  Fair trade, save the planet, recycled tires for soles, Abyssinian pure leathers--all that good stuff. Get some cool shoes, and do a good deed. Nice. Now, most of their shoes are too funky for a boring physics professor, but I found a pair that seemed not too outlandish and ordered them for $80, shipping included--not a bad price.  

I was a little disconcerted when the delivery time was quoted at one month, but, hey, it's got to get here from Addis Ababa, 12,000 km away. For $80 shoes, they're probably shipping them through some sane, but slow, method.  Right?

Wrong.  I just got the shipping notice. 3 business days delivery after shipping from Addis Ababa! They're sending them by air. So much for saving the planet! Those "renewable" Abyssinian hemp shoes are smokin' through non-renewable liquid fuels like crazy.

These two incidents illustrate a basic problem.  It is just too cheap, too easy, and downright nutty to waste the world's most valuable commodity, petroleum, sending non-perishable goods all over the globe. It comes so naturally to us, we hardly think about it.

We will one day rue such extravagant habits. We need a massive tax on oil to account for the future opportunity loss from our current wasteful practices.