Taking climate action — a question of time
Why a four day week could play a key role in a just transition to a more sustainable way of living — for all of us.
Time is running out.
We know this.
But there is still time.
If we can find the time to take action.
But we’re too busy, and we can’t find the time.
And on we go.
The social enterprise I co-founded 12 years ago works with people to come up with creative, collaborative ways to achieve two things.
Social impacts and environmental impacts.
We’re inspired by Doughnut Economics — to find ways to help us all to lead good lives, whilst living within planetary boundaries.
We think about things at different levels.
We’re system thinkers — so we explore how the system needs to change.
We know that we need big, system wide changes that go way beyond the things we can do as individuals.
How we generate the energy we need. How we make it as easy as possible to get around without a car. How everyone has enough food to eat. How we make sure people have enough to live on.
Whilst there are definitely ways we can act as individuals, we are clear that these are things that need big, systemic, changes. Politicians need to act. Businesses need to act. Investors need to act.
But alongside thinking about systems, we think about the actions we can take as individuals, and as communities.
We believe in grassroots, community action as a vital way to create the changes we need to see over the next twenty years.
That’s the thinking that sits behind our projects — like Zero Waste Leeds and Leeds School Uniform Exchange.
Yet taking action takes time. Time that many of us struggle to find.
This is why I’m convinced that moving to the norm being a four day week is one important way we can build a more sustainable society over the next 20 years.
It’s great to see it being talked about again this week, with more companies trialling the idea of us working over four days, for no decrease in pay.
And with each new trial comes more evidence of the benefits it could bring, both in terms of environmental impacts and wider social impacts, like improved wellbeing.
I’m particularly interested in how having more time can help us to make choices that are better for the planet.
I know from personal experience the difference this makes.
I haven’t worked full time for the last couple of years. Not wholly out of choice — money is tight in the kind of work we do, and to make sure our social enterprise is here for the long term, I’ve reduced my hours and my pay.
So that’s far from an ideal situation, but it has given me an insight into the impact that having more time can have.
Now I fully accept I’m hardly typical — I’m into this stuff already.
But I’m growing more veg this year than ever before. I’ve had time.
I’ve bought less stuff. Partly because of my drop in income, but because I’ve had more time. Time to learn how to do a few simple repairs on things I already own, or to get clothes mended.
I’ve had time to be a bit more organised. Simple things like setting up ebay searches for things I’d like to buy — and then (sometimes weeks or months later) buying it second hand. Rather than getting it delivered this evening from Amazon.
I’ve had time to do different things, make different choices.
We talk about this kind of thing a lot in our work. And in every conversation someone will get nostalgic about how things used to be.
How their mum used to shop at the butchers, the bakers, and the veg shop. How it might take up much of her day. How nothing was wrapped in plastic. How people knew their neighbours. People borrowing stuff. Passing stuff on.
To explore this more, I sometimes suggest at this point that the solution is perhaps for women to give up work.
Because undoubtedly the number of women in the workplace is one of the big societal changes we’ve seen over the last two or three generations.
I recognise of course that many, many women held (and hold) down one or more jobs whilst also doing pretty much everything else, but there was also a time when there were more women whose primary role was at home. And that was a time when more people (mainly women) shopped more at local shops, where nothing was wrapped in plastic etc etc….
Now of course I don’t think going back in time and women giving up work is a solution.
But it can be a starting point for a conversation about the future of work. What if we worked less? Across society, not just women, not just those of who are fortunate enough to work out ways to live on less money.
What might change? How might we use that extra time?
Might we live more sustainably? Might we even be a bit happier? More connected to people around us? Maybe not as desperate for another holiday — and another flight — this year?
Even as I write this, I’m struck by how hard it is to talk about these things in a world of perpetual culture wars. It can sound a bit naive. It can certainly sound privileged. But I’m convinced finding more time to imagine and create a different future will be a key part of an effective response to the climate crisis.
And it’s another reminder of why we need a socially just transition to a more sustainable future — as societal shifts such as a move to working less must be available to all of us.
It’s a positive step forward that more organisations are trying this out, and we’re building the evidence base of how it can work, and the difference it can make.