What if we were to create a national holiday to plan a just and safe future?
Instead of looking back, we could paint a picture of the next 70 years.
As with the royal jubilee, there would be wall-to-wall media coverage, with documentaries and chat shows, and heroes like Paddington advocating for climate justice. Locally, people would decide what they want and need to do.
I imagine streets closed to traffic for feasts and cycle lessons, and workshops in schools and libraries on DIY insulation, mending and food growing. Lots of wonderful things like this are already happening – look up Surrey Docks Farm, Transition Towns and Fun Palaces – but a national ‘Just stop oil’ jamboree would give a sense of urgency and common purpose.
We’d need, of course, to give everyone another bank holiday or two.
Better still – let’s move to a four-day week across the board. Economist Juliet Schor has shown that a four-day week (with the same pay) is actually more productive and better for both society and individuals, tackling burnout and climate change. The extra day a week can be used for whatever you want – catching up on life admin, repairs and maintenance, or time with friends and family.
Alongside a Universal Basic Income, it’s an investment in quality of life and the social fabric.
Take food as an example. We pick up ready meals because we’re in a rush. But highly processed foods contain more salt, sugar and fat, as well as added preservatives, colouring and stabilisers – so they’re not good for our health. (In 2020, approximately 1 in 4 Southwark children were overweight or obese in Reception, increasing to more than 1 in 3 by Year 6.) And ready meals are packaged in plastic and transported hundreds of miles in complex chains between factories and distribution points in refrigerated lorries. The cost to the planet is not counted. Cooking from raw ingredients, in contrast, can be a great pleasure but takes resources and time.
Ideas like the four-day week unlock a world beyond our current ecocidal system. As Ursula Le Guin wrote: ‘We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. So did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings.’