> Under the proposals, employers within the European Union would be legally required to suspend work if temperatures exceeded 30C
That's... uh... the entire summer in most of southern Europe?
I agree with the general intention, but the thresholds probably need to take into account humidity as well (i.e. be based on wet bulb temperatures), and I don't really see how one can apply a one-size-fits-all policy all the way from Greece to Scandinavia...
southern europeans have had to deal with the northern cultural view that we're lazy, and modern work culture imported from those countries has virtually ended siesta. well, now it's hot over there too. we can be nice and tell them "see?" or we can be mean and have them live with the consequences of their moral positions. Right now I'm leaning a bit to the later, but it might just be the heat getting to me :P
I’d lean towards writing an economics masters thesis that demonstrate that climate change will shrink GDP -A% per +/-B degrees/humidity variation from temperate, demonstrate this effect in past versus present data for Greece, modify the basic productivity formula underlying all of economics to include “divergence from temperate conditions”, and then finally show that when run against different world regions parallels, each region with positive (hot/humid) variances from temperate is commonly associated with the “lazy” stereotypes imposed on workers in high-divergence regions by residents of low-divergence regions. But sadly I have to get a job first, so maybe in a couple years.
That's... uh... the entire summer in most of southern Europe?
I agree with the general intention, but the thresholds probably need to take into account humidity as well (i.e. be based on wet bulb temperatures), and I don't really see how one can apply a one-size-fits-all policy all the way from Greece to Scandinavia...