Likely, their lives will be greatly enriched by an extra day off of work per week.
Bank accounts, the GDP, and other similar metrics fail to capture enormous amounts of value and meaning in our lives. Even the progress of scientific understanding is poorly measured in this way.
* Spend valuable time with a young child
* Relax at the park
* Spend time with family and friends
* Take care of household chores or administrative life tasks that one has been procrastinating on
* Go hiking
* Read a book
* Watch a show or movie
* Learn a new skill or start a new hobby
* Build a website or start a blog that isn't profitable but adds value to the world
MrMoneyMustache retired at 30 because he was willing to forgo a lot of toys. He is willing to go without those toys.
I don't find this style of discourse productive. Why do you insist on putting words in their mouth in an attempt to lead them down the discussion you want to have instead of what's being presented? Asking for clarification on why you don't understand their statement could be more productive, but I don't think you're interested in that anyways.
Anyways I agree that we need to work less.
I don't want poor people to have nothing. I want the middle class to look elsewhere for status besides carbon footprint.
Perhaps a better alternative is: a good goal would be to allow people to have more while using less natural resources and polluting the environment less. While certainly difficult, I'd hope that advances in efficiency (such as more automation) could theoretically allow this!