Bangladesh bans suits and ties to save energy
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina orders government employees to ditch the old suit and tie ensemble to reduce need for air conditioning.
By Stephanie RogersThu, Sep 10 2009 at 1:27 PM EST
Photo: Xtau/iStockphoto Government employees in Bangladesh are going casual – by order of the prime minister. And, it’s all in the name of saving power. Sheikh Hasina has ordered men who work for the government to forgo ties, suits and jackets to minimize the need for air conditioning.
The switch in dress codes comes in the midst of a long energy shortage in Bangladesh, which has seen daily blackouts. Power plants have been unable to meet the increase in demand that has come along with the growth of the country’s economy, which has increased by 6 percent annually for the past five years.
Columnist Maswood Alam Khan of English-speaking Bangladeshi news source The New Nation opines that the new rules make sense not only for the purpose of reducing energy consumption, but for re-igniting a sense of national pride.
“Wearing suits and stuffing our necks with a tie, in spite of ourselves, is a sartorial fashion we have borrowed from the British who were our colonial rulers. Our ancestors enjoyed punishing themselves by mimicking the British style and fashion, which was seen as synonymous with being chic and modern,” Khan wrote.
The rules apply to men only, but extend even to the highest levels of office, and allow workers to wear their shirts untucked as well. A senior official told the BBC that Sheikh Hasina will soon encourage private businesses to follow suit (so to speak).
Shedding Western-influenced business attire isn’t the only way that Bangladesh is approaching its energy crisis. The government introduced daylight savings time in June and plans to spend $6 billion on new power plants.
MNN homepage photo: Vold77/iStockphoto
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Comments
Brian
09/23/2009 03:22 AM
Excellent! Prioritizing whats important in life. :D
Ross
09/11/2009 07:04 AM
Bangladesh and Pakistan have been plagued by crippling power shortages all year, with Pakistan's crucial textile industry decimated by lost orders due to lack of energy. The weak monsoon has also left India's hydroelectric power stations, which supply 24% of the country's energy, bone dry. The economic climate makes investment in new power stations nigh impossible, so small measures like this all add up to make a big difference.
Thanks for a great post: it's made the top climate change.... More
