Thursday, September 23, 2010

21 Hours - Why a Shorter Working Week Can Help Us All to Flourish in the 21st Century

According to the The New Economics Foundation (NEF) in Britain, a ‘normal’ working week of 21 hours could help to address a range of urgent, interlinked problems: overwork, unemployment, over-consumption, high carbon emissions, low well-being, entrenched inequalities, and the lack of time to live sustainably, to care for each other, and simply to enjoy life.

NEF is an independent think-and-do tank that inspires and demonstrates real economic well-being. Their goal is to improve quality of life by promoting innovative solutions that challenge mainstream thinking on economic, environment and social issues. They work in partnership and put people and the planet first.

To download the free 40 page pdf of the 21 hour workweek, click HERE.

2 comments:

Theslowlane Robert Ashworth said...

Shorter workweek is better and can be a higher quality of life.

Still, we will have to adjust society to create room for this. Rent, or mortgage payments, can be well over half some people's income. Health care costs are too high and working part time means even being less likely to have health insurance (many full time people don't have health insurance either).

If we can figure out how to lower some of the basic costs of housing, health care, possibly education, we can do it. People don't have to live in large houses, but having some place to live is still important.

Many things that we buy, now days, are cheap enough that part time employment can work. Being able to afford things like housing and health care are the main problems, but solutions to these obstacles are possible.

Bakari said...

I can't find anyway to contact the blog owner!

I am trying to get the ball rolling.
This petition needs a minimum amount of signatures to go live.
If anyone ever reads this, please, sign it, and then pass it on to your networks.

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/a-35-hour-work-week-will

The arguments are valid, we just need people to start thinking about it!