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As if the burdens of divorce weren't bad enough, people with failed marriages can now be blamed for global warming, according to a study by Michigan State University.
Divorced couples use up more space in their respective homes, which amounts to 38 million more rooms worldwide not to mention the energy costs needed to light, heat and cool them, said the report.
In fact in the US in 2005, divorced households used 73 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and 627 billion gallons of water that could have been saved had household size remained the same as that of married households.
As any estranged couple will know, dissolving a marriage also means buying another set of possessions -- from the lowly can opener to the washing machine. The report, however, did not estimate how many more natural resources the children of shared-custody parents consume by getting birthday and holiday gifts twice.
Nor did it count the greenhouse gases spent to shuttle kids between their pair of energy-hogging households. (Tip for carbon offsetting services: the domain name OffsetMyDivorce.com is still available).
Rates of divorce are rising around the world. The top world record is held by Sweden, where 55 per cent of marriages end in divorce. On the other end is Guatemala, with a mere 13 per cent divorce rate.
The research suggests that singletons who shack up with someone again can undo the ecological damage. Although it might be inferred that "living in sin" is also eco-friendly, the findings did not necessarily endorse the practice of unmarried couples living together.
The study's authors do suggest, though, that governments should factor in divorce into their environmental policy. Whether we'll appreciate being told to bond over our composter or share baths is another matter.
20 January 2008 11:24am
Seems to me that this is not really about divorce rates, but about the increase in single-person households. You could say the same about people marrying later or choosing to live alone. Or maintaining more than one household despite being married.
Kinda mean to single out divorced people (lame pun not intended).
22 April 2008 02:02am
Every broken family costs million Dollars, if you add up everything, including increased crime rates of fatherless kids, litigation costs, sposal support, unnecessary driving etc. I have experienced all of these myself. These costs and suffering of fathers and kids are the most horrible cost of feminism. Tom Simunovic, Ontario, Canada
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