The simple fact is, if it were not for the cheap labor in China and other places who manufacture most of our consumer goods, we would not be able to afford them. Your Nike's would run about $500 per pair if manufactured in the U.S. Shipping is relative. You ship 5 illion items and your cost per item is almost nil. Shipping by rail or truck in the U.S. is going to be much higher because you don't get the economy of scale you get with cargo ships, simply because you can't ship nearly as many of them and your price per unit goes through the roof, relatively speaking.

If you are oh so concerned about being a greenie, I suggest you buy a couple acres, plant a garden and raise some chickens and rabbits, make you own clothes and toys for your kids, heat your shack with cow chips and live like the settlers did in the 1870's. Wouldn' you feee so much better about yourself. Or maybe we could just nuke China, kill off about a billion of them and stop their polution.