In 1926, Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford made a groundbreaking change: 40-hour weeks with five working days became a must. Full-time work was born.

Full-time work is classified as 35-40 hours in the West. Having this kind of work commitment especially outside of the home means that you trade a lot of your waking hours for money. But if we are completely honest with ourselves, full-time jobs take away from the hours you spend out of work.

Ways that full-time work trickles into your life

Your commute to and from work adds additional time, preparing your work clothes adds more time. The unpaid work you take home adds more and more time, and finally, all the mental, emotional and spiritual strain robs you of your peace and time.

We rarely just go home and switch off the work problems mode- we take our day with us home whether it’s good or bad. Imagine that you got promoted or had an amazing presentation or secured a client at work, chances are you think of these successes as a reason to celebrate after work! In the same vein, if you have a bad day at work, you may also want to indulge after work, unless you’re a master of compartmentalizing your life and accompanying emotions.

Working during most of the week also means you have less time to live your life purposely. You may be living on auto-pilot and going through the specified motions required to survive each day. Here are some ways that working 5 or more days at a 9-5 has a high impact on you and the environment.

Food choices

Before work, you may buy a packaged breakfast such as granola, yogurt, and fruit or a tofu sandwich and a coffee (your own travel mug would be the best choice but you probably forget it).

At work, you may order in lunch or go out and grab take away in plastic and packaging. Styrofoam, for instance, does not ever disappear unless burned, which causes fumes that are unhealthy for all.

You may order in more often because you don’t want to spend the time you have before bed cooking (even if you like to cook), which means you’re using more packaging. More packaging equals more pollution in the oceans and more trash in the landfills.

Transportation

The distance you travel to work and the area you live determines how you will travel to work. While many in Europe are able to bike to work in cities like Copenhagen which is the bike capital of Europe and Berlin where we’re currently based which is ironically the vegan capital of Europe. However, when it comes to green transportation, those who live more than 30 minutes from work often drive in heavily toxic traffic or use public transportation. Driving over an hour a day increases gas emissions, which has a high impact on the environment.

Children and transportation

Having children is by far the highest impact choice we can have on the plane, but still, we are all here and are grateful.

As a driver, your time spent in car increases as you shuffle kiddos back and forth from school and hobbies, not to mention the resources needed to raise a new human.

Mind you, working full-time then coming home to work further is exhausting and takes away from raising the innocent children you brought into your life.

Those who ride their bikes with children are truly magical and they really help the environment; along with cloth diapers, wooden toys etc. But personally, aside from the latter fun stuff, I know that I would not be able to ride with a child in tow, because I’m comfortable on a bike as it is, especially for long periods of time with the pressure of being a valid source of transportation needed to get us from point A to B.

Note: I live an hour away from work and there are not appropriate bike lanes for those kilometres, even if I was able to cycle for 2 hours in traffic.

Time spent transporting at least twice a day to and from work means that you have less time to make conscious choices about the impact of your daily activities on the earth. But we can’t underestimate the rippling effects of a happy employee – someone who makes a positive difference through their work. On the other hand, having less time and energy to devote to looking at your life for what it is and changing what you don’t like means you continue doing the same thing that is bringing the same results of headaches and a lack of flow. This may lead to illness which uses up even more resources.

YOU are part of the environment

Are you happy with your job? If you are, then congratulations. You are living by example. If not, then you are the only person who can do something about it. Seek counsel from your boss and if nothing changes– move out of the environment because you are not a tree. You can move when something doesn’t work!

Your mood, your health or lack of affects the greater whole. Your choices to consume and create waste affects the world. The environment at work affects you. Are you contributing to a healthy environment or adding to an unhealthy one?

Would this be a solution?