{"id":17892,"date":"2014-09-01T13:25:36","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T17:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=17892"},"modified":"2014-09-01T13:25:36","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T17:25:36","slug":"shorter-work-week-lead-sustainable-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/shorter-work-week-lead-sustainable-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Would a Shorter Work Week Lead to More Sustainable Lives? [Video]"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image credit: Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s Labor Day, and while I”m mostly looking for ways to relax, I’m also thinking about the connection between our working lives and our environmental impact (because that’s the kind of things I do when I relax!). We’ve touched on this concept before<\/a>, but the TED talk below takes an even more radical approach to shortening the work week as a way to address natural resource consumption… as well as deal with\u00a0elements of social and economic sustainability.<\/p>\n

Anna Coote first proposed this concept in a 2010 report for the New Economics Foundation<\/a>; she gave the talk below at TEDxGhent in 2012<\/a>. She makes a compelling case for a gradual shift to a 21-hour work week as an answer\u00a0\u00a0(though not a “silver bullet,” nor the only answer ) for overconsumption<\/a>, work-related stress, underemployment, and family dysfunction… in addition to climate change and other environmental challenges.<\/p>\n

Take a few minutes (OK, twenty) to listen to Coote’s argument, and then let us know what you think. Feel free to wait until later in the week, US readers – it is a holiday, after all! Happy Labor Day!<\/p>\n