What's the carbon cost of shipping a plastic stand?

Fwiw I do think that non-consumtion is a more 'real' protest than buying recycled but if you _have_ to get something

> but if you _have_ to get something

You don’t have to get it shipped, most of the time. Whenever you next go to town, go into any hardware shop and buy whatever they have.

Heck, hop on freecycle and you’re bound to see someone giving away one of these that you can pick up for free, in person.

Or buy one second hand.

Or use a large book.

Or, or, or…

Hey yeah I agree, I just thought OP was being over the top with the moralizing. Like, OK its a bit virtue signal-y but so is complaining about it. And its still better than plastic.

I'm not sure that being shipped is much worse than buying from a store that also gets it shipped and wrapped in as much plastic. And if its a town over, you're driving there which is CO2 as well.

Using nothing at all is better for sure and I said as much. Second hand stuff rules.

All in all though, this sort of individual choice is peanuts compared to taking a single plane ride which is itself peanuts compared to what corporations get away with. So imo. having any sort of strong opinion on this is silly.

Fair, I agree with most of what you wrote.

However, advertising yourself as sustainable (like this store does) is also a marketing move which caters to a specific type of audience. If your products aren’t actually sustainable, it is valid criticism to point that out.

Imagine having two companies selling candy. One says their sweets not only taste good but are good for you, while the other doesn’t make any kind of health claim. Both are bad, but one of them is outright tricking you, which feels worse.

Note I’m not claiming this is what this seller is doing. Maybe they think what they’re doing is sustainable when it’s not. But that’s all the more reason to point it out so they can work of something better.

I'm with you, its corny, and meant to sell product

I grew in poverty. This looks to me crazy expensive. Sustainability comes second. These things are probably made overseas, shipped in a container and distributed in a small package. Then used few weeks, paper will wear out and then thrown away. But that’s how quick fashion industry works anyway.

Edit: Asus laptop had foldable stand included in the paper packaging.

What would a less idiotic timeline look like?

Reuse the cardboard box your laptop came in.

Stick a book under your laptop.

What's the carbon cost behind buying and shipping the book, or cutting down the tree to make the book?

Use whatever's lying around. Some more ideas:

  - A shoebox
  - An old binder
  - A food container
  - Some coasters
  - Egg carton
  - Jenga blocks
  - Cereal box
  - Legos
  - Picture frame
  - Tennis ball (cut it in half)
  - Door stoppers
  - Cake pan
  - A screwdriver box
  - A few junk mailer magazines
  - Crumple up a couple newspaper pages

Or better yet, order one of these and make 3 more with the shipping box it came in. That'll help once it wears out, or you accidentally sit on it.

Not sure how many cereal boxes can hold a laptop... unless you're stacking them flattened, and then you need to eat a lot of cereal, but you can adjust height very precisely. :)

A cereal box is likely thicker than the material used in the product this article talks about. It wouldn't take very many folds to prop up a notebook.

They didn't say to buy a book just for this.

Assuming you don't have a book in your possession?

I'm old enough to have owned a lot of paper books at one point, but as a Kindle owner and person who moves every few years, I no longer own any physical books. For fiction and non-fiction prose, I find an e-reader to be strictly superior to the paper version. I've even embraced e-cookbooks. The UX is markedly inferior while cooking, but the convenience of not having to move boxes and boxes of paper around with me is worth it.

this is actually more common place than you might expect. just like wearing tube socks vs ankle socks has become some sort of age delineation, owning books is as well.

This makes me so sad.

I have no books that have any value other than I already own them. After moving across the country a couple of times with them plus all of the other various moves, I have thought about getting rid of them numerous times. The only reason I have not is just sheer laziness on taking them some place. My most recent move left them in boxes and just stored.