THE PROBLEM


Rutger Bregman, at ideas.ted.com, says:

"Could working less slow climate change? Turns out, yes. A worldwide shift to a shorter workweek could cut the CO2 emitted this century by half. Countries with a shorter workweek have a smaller ecological footprint. Consuming less starts with working less — or, better yet, with consuming our prosperity in the form of leisure."


We are working our planet to death, literally. The industries behind all the completely unnecessary things we construct, consume and throw away are the main reason behind the climate, energy and environmental crises we now have. Most of what is created is unnecessary, but all these things are created because people still need money; this must end, and that very quickly.



THE SOLUTION


The solution for this is very simple.


(1) First by renaming the term for the distribution of money that currently is aimed at those who are struggling from "Unconditional Basic Income (UBI)" to "Unconditional Climate Bonus." Here, we pay absolutely everyone so that they can work less.


(2) And then by establishing small, single-issue political parties aimed at promoting this simple solution to get the national debate going.


The aim is to give money to all of us so that we have a strong incentive and a real opportunity to work (and thus pollute) as little as possible and limit energy use as much as possible. A tax-free, generous, unconditional climate bonus that central banks, like the Federal Reserve in the US and the Bank of England in the UK, deposit directly into new personal bank accounts at the central banks for all citizens over 16 with a social security number every month. This must be newly minted money (which today is just numbers in a computer) — not money taken from taxes because taxes are an argument they forcefully use to make people work more, not less, and for the "bullshit" jobs — to use David Graeber's terminology — to continue.


Such initiatives must be created all over the world.


In countries such as Austria (klimabonus.gv.at) and Germany (klimabonus.info), governments already have Climate Bonus initiatives in place that pay citizens for their collective efforts to decarbonize their communities; these can easily be extended to reward everyone for working less.