Anne Goodchild, a logistics expert at the University of Washington, says the question isn’t just whether ordering from Amazon results in lower emissions than driving to the mall; also important is whether the ease of online shopping gets people to buy more than they would otherwise, and what people do with the time they save and how much greenhouse gas that creates. “We’re not going to solve the climate problem through online shopping,” she says.

“It’s the best possible time for companies to regroup and improve the efficiencies of their operations,” said Amelia Regan, who now directs the University of Washington Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics graduate degree program.