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Save the planet by working less
Working a five day week puts a huge strain on the planet’s resources from burning fossil fuels, to energy used in working environments such as electricity used by computers. It also leads to an increase in carbon emissions and climate change. What are the implications of this for our future planet and what are the alternatives?
Throughout the western world most people work a five day week getting up early each morning, often before the cockerel calls, to embark on a one or two hour commute to work. Some travel by car in a slow snake of traffic and others by train and tube each person hemmed in by masses of other people. Working a five day week uses up considerable resources including energy in working environments for heating, lighting and computers. On top of this road transport releases carbon emissions and contributes to global warming. So, if people worked a three day week less resources would be used and there would be less impact on the planet. For certain careers and jobs people could work from home thereby reducing traffic, vehicular carbon emissions and pollution.
The daily slog of rising before the crack of dawn, especially unpleasant in winter when it’s dark and cold, and returning home again in the dark is taking its toll on people’s health. Overwork is leading to variety of health problems including exhaustion, difficulty sleeping and insomnia, stress and depression. Mental health problems account for a £75 billion loss of earnings and healthcare expenses in the UK and the World Health Organisation (WHO) reveal that they expect that depression will be the second biggest cause of ill health worldwide by 2020.
According to Frank Lipman, medical doctor and author of "Spent? End Exhaustion & Feel Great Again", an exhaustion epidemic is spreading throughout the developed world. Lipman suggests that people are not just a little run down from stress and overwork but are totally ‘spent’. This is a result of "the way we live our lives today - it's our bodies saying, 'Enough, we can't do it any more.' Everyone who comes to me is exhausted. They often don't complain of exhaustion; they may come with back pain, headaches, insomnia, or no sex drive but, when you delve into their histories, they're all exhausted. "Work is the greatest factor which depletes people of energy and causes stress. Lipman suggests having five minutes of eyes-closed meditation throughout the working day to calm the mind. Music can also be a great calmer.
Employees have very high levels of sickness and some 175 million working days are lost each year in Britain costing employers, industries and businesses billions of pounds each year. In America over 400 million working days are lost to illness each year at a cost of $260 billion a year and in Japan the number of illness related absenteeism is similar to USA. Sickness is also on the rise in the developing world as more and more people adopt the western work ethos. If employees were healthier and less stressed there would be less sickness and this would be healthier for the economy.
Overwork and commuting may also play a huge role in family breakdown and the rising scale of divorce as each partner tries to outwork the other, or as the man commutes and the woman stays at home looking after the children and feeling resentful of her partner’s freedom while he feels resentful of hers. This lack of understanding and the reduced time couples and families spend together leads to a lack of togetherness and a gradual drifting apart into the realms of affairs and divorces.
So, instead of working a five day week and feeling permanently exhausted people would benefit from having more leisure time. People could use their time to relax, and for leisure activities such as walking. Just 30 minutes of outdoor exercise every day, preferably in fresh air, boosts the immune system for the whole day. Exercise helps to keep infections at bay and helps our white blood cells destroy stray cancer cells within our body and reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, and obesity. The feel good factor of exercise also combats stress and leaves people feeling uplifted and more positive. This in turn will reduce the need for antidepressants and other pharmaceuticals taken so readily in today’s society.
So, by working fewer days each week and having more leisure time humans will put less strain on the earth’s resources and could spend the time improving their health and fitness so they live longer. This will have a positive benefit both to the planet and to people’s longevity. What are your thoughts? Add your comment below. Have your say. We welcome your thoughts and proposals. Not a Planetary Citizen? Sign up
