A recently concluded research on the Environmental Impact of Divorce, has demonstrated convincingly that liberal lifestyle, particularly divorce, can be very bad for the environment!
The logic is simple, really: each time a family dissolves the result is two new households.
According to Jianguo Liu, the author of the article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, "A married household actually uses resources more efficiently than a divorced household," More households means more use of land, water and energy, three critical resources.
The critical concept here is sharing. A household uses the same amount of heat or air conditioning whether there are two or four people living there. A refrigerator used the same power whether there is one person home or several. Two people living apart run two dishwashers, instead of just one. Likewise, multiple people can use the same stove, watch the same TV or eat under the same lights.
According to Liu’s calculations, in the United States alone, with 16.5 million households headed by a divorced person (2005 data), that translates to some $6.9 billion in extra utility costs per year, plus an added $3.6 billion for water, in addition to other costs such as land use. When other countries are taken into the picture, then it is clear that the impact on divorce on the environment is quite substantial. According to Liu, "People have been talking about how to protect the environment and combat climate change, but divorce is an overlooked factor that needs to be considered." (www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22086806/)
Yet Divorce is getting easier!
Just like the case we reported in Vol 10 No 4, where despite proven serious deleterious effects of abortion pills on the environment, notable green groups insisted that campaigning against abortion is a no-go area in their fight to protect the environment; we predict no attention will be given to the above publication by Jianguo Liu! If anything, getting a divorce is not only being encouraged more and more, it is also becoming more and more simplified and accessible.
For example, a report from the Sun Sentinel indicates that in Broward County, Florida (US), “residents now can file for a divorce without leaving the house.” This is because of the new online service launched in November by the Broward County Clerk of Courts, which steers citizens through the application process for filing divorce actions. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbclerk1112nbnov12,0,3701326.story
Similarly, in an article titled Breaking up not hard to do for China's "me" generation , Reuters reported one little-known repercussion of China’s aggressive one child policy. This is the evolution of a generation of spoilt, over-pampered only-children, doted on by parents and grandparents who are ready to cater to their every whim, in an increasingly affluent society. This so-called “me” generation children, unlike their parents, “often put their needs before anything and anyone else”. Not surprisingly, they are unable to sustain relationships with some marriages barely lasting a few weeks. Divorce therefore is becoming big business, and can now be obtained in less than 20 minutes! www.reuters.com/article/inDepthNews/idUSPEK33230720071128
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