The solarpunk movement should support working less to live more
Solarpunks might feel building a more sustainable and socially just society would be great if only they had more time.
After working a 40 hour plus week, family and other commitments trying to take meaningful action to make a solarpunk world a reality can seem like a stretch.
Like Oscar Wilde said, “The trouble with socialism is that it takes up too many evenings.”
Wouldn’t it be great if we all had more time to enjoy, contribute and live more?
Oscar Wilde Statue in Merrion Park, Dublin @Wikimedia Commons Arbol01, CC BY-SA
This is where the 4 Day Week Campaign comes in. They are fighting to make a 32 hour week the new normal.
Thousands of workers in 70 companies across the UK are taking part in their pilot program. Many employees will go down to 80% of their previous hours with no reduction in salary.
For us at SolarPunk Stories the essence of the better future we want to build is one where prosperity is defined more by the quality of the experiences and relationships we enjoy, rather than the quantity of crap we consume.
A shorter working week is one of the most delicious ways we can create a more sustainable, even solarpunk, society.
Evidence has shown that when people work less they tend to lead less polluting lifestyles.
This is because they gain the time to do things like cook fresh instead of buying pre-packaged food, repair or making clothes instead of getting new ones, volunteer at a community garden, the list goes on.
Others benefits of a shorter week are laid out by The New Economics Foundation (NEF). They argued a 4 day week should be a stepping stone to the more desirable 3 day average.
In their brilliant report, 21 Hours - Why A Shorter Working Week Can Help Us All to Flourish in the 21s Century, other benefits of such reduced working time include greater wellbeing, employment, health, care and possibilities for democratic participation.
This is one of the reasons why in our SolarPunk Detective series, set in a much better Britain of the future, an average 3 day working week is the norm.
Some of you reading this might think a 21 hour working week sounds too utopian and idealistic even for a solarpunk society.
It’s worth remembering that one of the most mainstream capitalist economists of the 20th Century predicted that we would be working even fewer hours by now.
John Maynard Keyenes wrote in 1930 that by 2030 we should be working 15 hours a week, or less.
This was because he predicted that continuing increases in technology and output would mean an ever greater reduction in time needed for workers to provide material abundance.
This part of his analysis was essentially right.
We produce more than enough for everyone to live a life rich in quality experiences and relationships while being low in consumption.
Keynes’s prediction didn’t come true mainly because of factors independent of technological progress.
The history of the successful campaigns up to 1930 to reduce working hours was one of an alliance between visionary entrepreneurs, like Robert Owen, civil society campaigners and the trade union movement.
Unions were a key part of reducing working hours from as much as 18 to 8 a day, and shortening the working week to 5 days.
Image @Tasmanian Unions
Keynes could not anticipate how successful Margaret Thatcher and her emulators would be. From the 1980s on, they broke the power of the British trade unions, putting in place the most restrictive anti-union laws of any nominally free country in the world.
From then on rather than productivity or technological gains resulting in a further reduction of working time for all, the average working week stayed the same as shown by the graph below from NEF.
Evidence indicates that not only do many of the poorest work much longer hours than they did in the past, a high number of the more well off do too.
Out of 1500 white collar professionals interviewed in 2019 by recruiters Morgan McKinley, 91% reported unwillingly working as much as 10 hours more than their contracted time each week.
Some of the media reporting has implied that a move to a shorter working week might be paid for entirely in productivity gains.
The evidence for such gains are considerable in certain companies. However we don’t feel it’s realistic for the transitional costs of moving to a shorter working week to be entirely covered this way.
We support the calls by NEF and Will Stronge, from Autonomy, for appropriate state intervention and regulation to ensure a just transition.
Those with the broadest shoulders should pay their fair share of the costs. This is not least because this change would benefit us all, better and less well off alike.
Time to live in a solarpunked future. Image Credit: WATG Architects
We ask you, our fellow solarpunks to support the 4 Day Week Campaign. So we can all have the time we need to make a solarpunk world a reality.
Ways you can support the 4 Day Week Campaign:
Ask your employer to become a 4 DayWeek Organisation.
Get your union to help. If you’re not in a union yet check out the below:
If you’re self-employed, freelance or in the gig economy you can join the union Community here.
If you’re in employment find out which union you can join and how from the Trades Union Council site.
If you’re unemployed, a student or retired you can join the Unite community membership scheme here.
If you are an employer you can get 4 Day Week accreditation.
Donate to the campaign
Sign the petition.
Share the campaign through your networks and social media.
If you want to volunteer in helping the campaign contact their team here.
If you are not based in the UK check out the 4 Day Week Global Campaign.