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Ref. : Letters to the editor

Open Letters:

03.05 Open Letter to Congressman Bart Stupak

Health & Environment

Video National Health Care Systems In Other Countries

03.12 Slick Barry and the $100-Billion Medicaid/Medicare Fraud Claim

03.09 Kill Bill: Death to Obamacare!

03.09 Obama’s Rhetoric May Be “Fiery,” But His Health Care Reform Is Still Lukewarm

Media Watching

03.17 CNN Scrapes Bottom of Right-Wing Barrel With Erickson Hire

03.16 WPost Blames Obama First, on Israel

03.16 Letter to the New York Times' Editor: Stovepiping To Persia

03.12 Cud and Complicity: Burying the Alternatives to Empire's Dominion

03.11 NYT and the ACORN Hoax

03.05 Sorry, Rove, Bush Did Lie About Iraq

03.03 It's Snow News

03.03 The Woeful Washington Post

Ref. : The Daily Howler

Legal Matters

02.26 America's Supremes: Court Over Constitution

US Politics, Policy & Culture

03.11 Power Rangers: Policing the System With the "Fightin' Progressives"

03.09 Thinking About Countings

03.07 Unnatural Acts: Breaking the Fever of Militarism

02.25 Future Shock: A Better World Beyond the Imperium

“High Crimes?”

03.17 Expecting Gen. McChrystal to Reduce Afghan Civilian Casualties is Like Asking Ted Bundy to Cut Sex Harassment in the Workplace

03.16 America's Secret Prisons

03.13 Palestinian Dispossession in East Jerusalem

03.12 Israeli Settlement Expansions Continue

03.11 Brutalizing Palestinian Children

03.08 The Russell Tribunal on Palestine: Barcelona Session

03.05 Targeting Israeli Apartheid

03.01 America's Permanent War Agenda

02.25 Global Sweatshop Wage Slavery

Economics & Business Non/Mis/Malfeasance

03.14 The Crisis in America's Telecommunications Network

03.09 The Business of Water: Privatizing An Essential Resource

03.05 Is the Recovery Real?

03.04 IMF-Style Austerity Measures come to America: What “Fiscal Responsibility” Means To You

03.04 Barry C. Lynn's "Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and Economics of Destruction"

03.02 Obama's Budget Revealed: Money for Wars and Weapons, While More Americans Face Joblessness and Hunger

03.01 Thinking About Fees

International

03.15 Peace Process Hypocrisy: Stillborn from Inception

03.03 Muslim Disunity

03.02 Funding Israeli Militarism, Belligerence and Occupation

02.26 Iran Captures a 'Good' Terrorist

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  Change Work Policies to Reduce Commuting, Fuel Costs, Pollution
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EDITORIAL:

Change Work Policies to Reduce Commuting, Fuel Costs, Pollution

If businesses are slow to implement such changes, their employees should take the lead in making 4-day week and telecommuting proposals.

Employers should evaluate current policies to cut commuting costs to workers which are rapidly rising without relief in sight. It appears the problem is a permanent one, to be relieved only with future alternative fuel breakthroughs. But until that time--some years from now--employers must aggressively change work rules and policies.

One seemingly easy solution would be to switch to a four-day work week, which could reduce 20% of workers' gas costs for commuting, and result in a substantial reduction in overall gas consumption.

Staggering which weekday workers stay home would also ease traffic congestion, thereby increasing gas mileage per vehicle, reducing fuel consumption still further.

Another major solution would be for far more businesses to embrace telecommuting, allowing office-type workers to either work at home or from regional offices via broadband Internet access. If this were allowed every day, fuel savings could be very substantial; an overall reduction of 50% per worker might be possible, allowing for their personal driving. Obviously efforts to monitor worker productivity would be advisable; but the threat of losing the benefit of working from home should be a sufficient incentive to keep productivity high.

If businesses are slow to implement such changes, their employees should take the lead in making 4-day week and telecommuting proposals. The important thing is to get moving in the right direction—now.



Copyright © 2008 The Baltimore Chronicle. All rights reserved.

Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent.

This story was published on June 3, 2008.

 


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