Overwork Costly to Environment

WASHINGTON — Being a workaholic is bad for the environment, suggests an analysis by the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

The report, written by researcher David Rosnick and economist Mark Weisbrot, warns that if Europeans worked the long hours that Americans do, it would boost their energy consumption rates by 30 percent. This would boost the international demand for fuel, as well as Europe's overall carbon dioxide emissions.

"There is an important political debate in Europe over whether Europeans would be better off economically if they moved towards a U.S.-style economic model, most importantly in their labor markets," the authors write. "But aside from the economic and political implications, there are some potentially large costs to the environment if European countries were to move to a U.S.-style economic model."

So the debate is settled: Midday siestas and extended vacations are environmentally friendly, as long as Europeans don't hop a transatlantic flight during their free time and burn up lots of fuel along the way.

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