My Carbon footprint

Whatever the issues with the global supply chain, Christmas in September is not a solution

A shipping crisis shouldn’t be the green light for three months of frenzied consumption

Wednesday 22 September 2021 21:30 BST
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<p>Clogged up UK ports needn’t drive us to panic-buy toys  </p>

Clogged up UK ports needn’t drive us to panic-buy toys

For weeks I’ve had an inbox alternately screaming real warnings that we’re going to miss our climate targets, and endless, but not quite so desperate press release ‘warnings’ that it’s less than 100 days until Christmas and that we’ll have to secure that mountain of gifts right now or risk a catastrophic festive season.

By now, and they really aren’t going away, we must surely have all seen the headlines that toys could be in short supply because of container shortages and the knock-on effect on shipping prices. We have been urged loudly and in no uncertain terms to buy the avalanche of, well, everything, right now. NOW. DO IT NOW.

When the Christmas tree shortage chat emerged this week I very nearly cracked and wrote up the whole “how to plan for Christmas in the middle of a global supply chain crisis” article. In September. With the sun shining harder than it has for months.

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