WEBVTT

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- Amazon Prime Day was earlier this week.

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For two days,

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the internet was alive with deals galore,

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timely listicles of Amazon products

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for every niche,

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including "eco-friendly" Amazon deals.

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But the problem is,

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there's no such thing.

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Unlike its massive, namesake,

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South American rainforest,

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Amazon the company is straight up

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bad for the environment,

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despite its many
corporate climate pledges.

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And though the two days of Prime Day

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are now over,

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the company's harms continue on.

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The U.S.'s largest online retailer

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produces literal tons of garbage,

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boosts greenhouse emissions

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with its one and two
day delivery strategies,

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and isn't transparent at all about

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its own carbon footprint.

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The cherry on top,

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Amazon works directly with oil companies

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to help them extract

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more fossil fuels, even faster.

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The company has taken small steps forward,

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like promising to reduce packaging waste,

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and move to all recyclables.

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But just last year, the non-profit group,

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Oceana, estimated that Amazon

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created 599 million pounds

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of plastic trash,

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which was almost 30% more
than the year before.

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Plus, FYI recycling

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in the U.S. doesn't really work.

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Then there's the push

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for ever-more instant shipping

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that means delivery vehicles

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go out less full,

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and make more repeat stops.

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The company has said it wants

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to shift towards an
electrified delivery fleet,

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but still they continue to increase

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the number of fossil fuel-powered vans

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and trucks on the road.

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And Amazon has broken past

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environmental promises too.

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All the way back in 2014,

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the company pledged to power

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its data centers with entirely renewables,

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but it abandoned those efforts

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just a couple of years later.

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Which makes Amazon's current

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"carbon neutral by 2040" goal

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feel more like an advertising

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ploy than a green guarantee.

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An investigation by Reveal News

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earlier this year showed

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that Amazon's own reporting

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of its carbon footprint is deeply flawed,

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and vastly underestimates

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its contributions to climate change.

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The company apparently only considers

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1% of its sales when calculating

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its carbon costs.

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Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services

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has spent the past few years actively

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pursuing more contracts

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with oil companies

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to help them boost drilling efficiency.

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Taken together, it's enough

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to make Prime Day feel

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less than primo for the planet.

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To read more about this story,

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check out Gizmodo.com