STOP COMING TO WORK AND SAVE THE PLANET:I’ve written on this topic before. And Rep. Frank Wolf has been pushing the idea too. But a lot of employers don’t like telecommuting for various good — and not-so-good — reasons.

Then there’s always the prospect of losing weight: “How much is one’s carbon footprint increased by the consumption of food? Isn’t everyone who is overweight overconsuming? I’d like to see a number representing the environmental damage we do for each excess pound we carry. . . . It’s a serious matter that’s got to be at least at the level of leaving the wrong kind of light bulbs on when you’re out of the room. Plus, it might help people lose weight if they could reenvision their problem in terms of environmental responsibility. And if you’re going to say to me that it’s bad to shame people into good behavior, then are you against all the other shaming we are subjected to about the environment?” On the other hand, if you’re fat aren’t you just sequestering carbon?

Let’s start with the telecommuting. More thoughts on that here.

UPDATE: Reader John McGinnis emails:

Key component being missed in the whole discussion — the inability of management to match deliverables with work. I’ve worked in the IT business for 30 years in all that time management in some 10 firms have never been able to measure my productivity or those of my peers. As a consequence rewards go to the suckups. Here is a classic difference. I can setup a trip approved by management and rack up $5k in expenses in Chicago for 4 days. That will be most likely considered a ‘success’. However if I was to suggest that I need 4 days of privacy away from phones and interruptions to get a project done it is reviewed with a great deal of scrutinty. Management has to get over thier fears and come up with a reasonable objective measurement system that works.

Yeah, I had some related thoughts on that phenomenon here.