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Workers Of The World
Relax

There are approximately seven billion people on the earth today. As population continues to grow it is becoming clear that the planet is not as big as we once thought it to be; it is also becoming obvious that humans are wreaking havoc upon the environment. The big question we have been trying to solve for the past 100 years is, "how do we maximize production and produce more and more stuff?" The big question we now face is, "what do we do with all the junk and pollution we have created?". To make matters worse, we now seem more determined than ever to work harder and produce more stuff, which creates a bizarre paradox, we are proudly breaking our backs to decrease the carrying capacity of the planet.
So what is the solution?
A great beginning would be to reduce the industrial workweek. We would consume less, produce less, work less, pollute less and live more. Providing that the remaining work be distributed among more people, an industrial slow-down could have the additional benefit of reducing unemployment. This is a simple concept which has not garnered much attention. This book tackles the ideological constraints to environmental sustainability and proves how a reduced workweek can help solve many of our social and environmental problems.

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... Schmidt seems to possess Ariadne's thread. He manages to provide a comprehensive political, economic and social framework
, based on sound reading of history and remarkable research. Impressive

Theo Haris. Car Busters Magazine

... Schmidt does not limit himself to the role of doomsayer, a common pitfall in much activist writing. Instead he levels constructive criticism at the myriad of problems facing our dangerously wasteful society and responds with policy alternatives that are thoughtful, well-researched and, most importantly, practical.

Martin Twigg. BC Book World

Despite Schmidt's humorous comments, his book is anything but light and is an eye-watering kick in the crotch for anyone who
believes the world economic system-and its twins, capitalism and globalization-is sustainable now or into the near future.

Mathew Burrows. Georgia Straight

Conrad brings economics down to Earth and right close to home. As a writer, and as an activist, he makes changing the world fun.

Bruce O Hara, Working Harder Isn't Working

WORKERS OF THE WORLD, RELAX! is short and sweet, an easy read that won't
take too much of your precious little leisure time, but will help you
understand why you have so damn little and why our economic priorities in
North America are unhealthy, unsustainable and making us more stressed and
less happy. This clever and timely handbook by the founder of Canada's
irreverent and irrepressible Work Less Party offers great ideas for a better
life
--John de Graaf, US Coordinator, TAKE BACK YOUR TIME

"Conrad Schmidt provides the sort of culture-crashing ideas that modern
society needs to reverse the headlong rush toward ecological destruction.
His book offers reasonable steps to help us wake up, slow down, and learn
what it means to live within the natural world." --

Rex Weyler, Co-founder of Green Peace

Conrad Schmidt efficiently and clearly makes perfect sense out of what may seem to be incompressible.
The times we live in and the social and economic challenges that we face are not without solutions.

Dr Faith Carlin, Simon Fraser University

Schmidt does a compelling job of elucidating how our prevailing high-production, high-consumption way of life is putting our planet at risk and robbing our lives of joy and satisfaction. Along the way, he makes the reader yearn for a well-deserved hammock and iced tea, with a breeze in the leaves, and a more measured (and less MEASURED) approach to life all around.
My only quibble is an aesthetic one – the text is a bit compacted on the page – but that’s a small price to pay for fewer trees pulped, and makes the book an easy carry to the local café, and a bit of relaxation. An excellent book for anyone concerned about Rat Race life, and the Race’s (and the race’s) destination.
Michael Haaren, THE RAT RACE REBELLION

Read this book. This little book is wonderful because Conrad is a true activist.
His written work is grounded in his incredibly creative work for social change.
This book is real because he's the real thing.

Cecile Andrews, author of Slow is Beautiful and The Circle of Simplicity

"Human society, like the Titanic, is headed for a serious collision. Unless we change our ways of thinking about consumption and resource use, unless we demand that government provide really sustainable solutions, we, as a society and species, are headed for disaster. According to the latest UN report, we have only a few years to change our ways. Most political parties mouth the platitudes about sustainability, but few examine the fundamental nature of the crisis we face. Conrad Schmidt, founder of the Work Less Party, tackles the questions of over-consumption and the future of society in his newest book, “Workers Of The Word Relax”. The book, in brief, is a revolution in the making and a revolution worth joining and fighting for. In a series of brilliant essays, Schmidt addresses questions that most politicians fear to face and offers “thinking-outside-the-box” solutions. Readers beware: Schmidt will make you think and question things you have been trained to accept as received wisdom. This is dangerous, radical stuff. It might just help you save your world. Read it and be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem."

Christopher A. Shaw, Ph.D, UBC Professor.
2005 Policy Chair BC Green Party

A great job, easy reading, but a very serious book. Good economics, good politics, personal stuff.
Buy this book, buy a few copies.

Gene Coyle, Ph.D Economics

"Within the pages of Schmidt's first book WORKERS OF THE WORLD RELAX lies the most interesting, comprehensive, readily grasped
and sensible writings on economics I've ever run across in my own research. Run, don't walk, to the nearest book store, read this book and internalize
the message as it may be the only way out of the lethal financial and environmental mess we humans find ourselves in.

Betty Krawczyk. Women in the woods. Author of Lock Me Up or Let me Go

Very well thought out, pertinent and timely.

Irwin K. Feinstein . Professor (Emeritus) of the University of Illinois at Chicago

For media review copies please contact Greg Hamilton