During the early months of 2020, countless workplaces around the world turned off the lights and sent their workers home. While employees got settled into their new work digs, climate experts wondered: Could working from home be good for our environment?
Over a year later, a clear, concise answer has yet to be reached. Even before COVID-19 sent workers to their living quarters, research indicated this scenario might not be any more sustainable. The International Energy Agency suggested last summer that for workers who commute more than six kilometres via car, work from home would likely reduce their carbon footprint.
Many Canadian workers remain in work-from-home limbo during this brutal third wave. So how can we understand these conditions — which appear increasingly necessary given the danger of COVID-19 transmission in the workplace — in the context of the climate crisis?
Tune in to a new Conversations event with data journalist and author Alexandra Samuel to find out. Samuel joins Conversations host and Canada’s National Observer founder and editor-in-chief Linda Solomon Wood on June 10 at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET. Reserve your spot for the event here.
Samuel’s husband, cartoonist, standup comic and communications expert Rob Cottingham will also join the event for a Conversations first: live cartooning! Cottingham, who is known for his Noise To Signal cartoon series, will sketch and dramatize Samuel and Solomon Wood as the event progresses.
Samuel’s new book, Remote, Inc.: How to Thrive at Work ... Wherever You Are, covers the complexities and possibilities of working from home. Along with co-author Robert C. Pozen, Samuel argues that our new realities present a sink-or-swim moment that requires creative solutions to our new, home-based work woes.
Can this new era be a force for good in the climate crisis?
Join us on June 10 for this Conversations event. Got questions for our guest? Send them ahead of time to [email protected] for consideration.
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