La Vie en Vert

Those infuriating Europeans. Always gloating about their shorter working hours, their long, stress-free vacations, the pleasures of good food (well, okay, strike the Brits from that part). And of course how much more enlightened they are about tiresome problems like global warming and the Kyoto Protocol.

But Europeans could soon be downright insufferable, because they appear to be right on two counts: Carbon emissions and working hours seem to be more closely related than anyone realized. A new study from the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a think tank in Washington, D.C., reports that if the countries of "old Europe" adopted America's longer working hours, their energy consumption would rise by 30 percent. For years, most economists and politicians have argued that Europe (not to mention the developing world) should shift toward a "more flexible labor market" -- longer hours, greater corporate prerogatives, weaker labor unions -- on the assumption that the U.S. model brings higher productivity. Au contraire, say the researchers. Take France, the butt of most of our gripes about self-indulgent, self-righteous Europeans. The French work 22 percent fewer hours than Americans, but each hour is 9 percent more productive. So, mesdames et messieurs, unbutton your collar, uncork the Beaujolais, and with that superior, knowing smile, take a break -- for the sake of the planet.