Mother Nature Hates Divorce - 12/5/07

[Smartmarriages]

- DIVORCE SQUANDERS EARTH'S RESOURCES
- DIVORCE WRECKS ENVIRONMENT, TOO
- DIVORCE PAINS THE PLANET
- MOTHER NATURE FEELS THE PAIN

Fascinating to see the variety of nuanced spins put on the Effects of
Divorce on the Environment study by newspapers and blogs around the world.
Just think if there weren't a writers strike what the late-night stand ups
would do with this one, or what Larry David could do on Curb given his
divorce from his global-warming-crusader wife. And, it just goes to show
that people will write about divorce if we just come up with new angles.
Guess they're sick of our "it's bad for men, women, children, and the
economy" research.  Now we can add that it's bad for polar bears, palm
trees, and people living on peninsulas.   -d


######################
- DIVORCE SQUANDERS EARTH'S RESOURCES

Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com
Dec 3, 2007

> Past research by Liu and his colleagues, published in
> 2003 in the journal Nature, revealed globally the
> number of households increased more rapidly than
> actual population growth between 1985 and 2000. "Even
> in areas with declining population size, we still see
> a dramatic increase in the number of households," Liu
> told LiveScience.
> 
> Liu and Michigan State colleague Eunice Yu thought
> divorces could perhaps reconcile the anomaly. . .

> Environmental footprint
> 
> No matter how many people live in a home, the extra
> house itself requires resources to construct it and
> takes up space. It requires fuel to heat and cool. A
> refrigerator uses roughly the same amount of energy
> whether it belongs to a family of four or two, as an
> example.


Divorce leaves more than a trail of legal documents,
stinging egos and uprooted kids. The split-ups wreak
havoc on the environment.

A global trend of soaring divorce rates has led to a
surge in the number of households with fewer people.
The result: We collectively devour more space and
gobble up more energy and water, say the authors of a
new study published online this week in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Not only the United States, but also other countries,
including developing countries such as China and
places with strict religious policies regarding
divorce, are having more divorced households," said
co-author Jianguo Liu of Michigan State University.
"The consequent increases in consumption of water and
energy and using more space are being seen
everywhere."

The study gives the down and dirty truths on exactly
how much of Mother Nature's resources go down the
tubes when unions are severed. But the remedy for such
"squander" is made for TV: Fall back in love, or at
least cohabitate.

Dirty divorce

Past research by Liu and his colleagues, published in
2003 in the journal Nature, revealed globally the
number of households increased more rapidly than
actual population growth between 1985 and 2000. "Even
in areas with declining population size, we still see
a dramatic increase in the number of households," Liu
told LiveScience.

Liu and Michigan State colleague Eunice Yu thought
divorces could perhaps reconcile the anomaly. They
analyzed global household data for both divorced and
married homes in 12 countries between 1998 and 2002.
The countries included the United States, Brazil,
Costa Rica, Mexico, South Africa, Greece and Cambodia,
among others.

Though China wasn't included due to lack of relevant
data, the authors suggest the same trend occurs there.
"Even in China, where divorce was traditionally
uncommon, divorce rates have recently surged," they
write. They add that 1.9 million Chinese couples
divorced in 2006, compared with 1.6 million in 2004.

Results showed on average there were 27 percent to 41
percent fewer individuals living in divorced
households compared with married ones. Between 1998
and 2002, divorces in the 12 countries studied
accounted for 7.4 million extra households.

In 2000, divorced households ranged from 16 million
(15 percent of the total households) in the U.S. to
40,000 divorced households in Costa Rica, or about 4
percent of the total.

Environmental footprint

No matter how many people live in a home, the extra
house itself requires resources to construct it and
takes up space. It requires fuel to heat and cool. A
refrigerator uses roughly the same amount of energy
whether it belongs to a family of four or two, as an
example.

Analysis of U.S. data for 2005 showed that divorced
households used an extra 73 billion kilowatt-hours of
electricity and 627 billion gallons of water compared
with married households.

The researchers also compared married households in
the United States with households that had weathered
divorce and remarriage: The environmental footprint
rose, then shrank back to that of married households.

Other lifestyle trends that impact family living
structures include the demise of multigenerational
households, and people remaining single longer, the
researchers concluded.

The results, Liu said, indicate another lifestyle
trend needs to be taken into consideration in
environmental strategies.

"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," Liu
said.

Visit LiveScience.com for more daily news, views and
scientific inquiry with an original, provocative point
of view. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20071203/sc_livescience/divorcesquanders
earthsresources

###########################
- DIVORCE WRECKS ENVIRONMENT TOO

Divorce Wrecks Environment Too
Divorced individuals use more resources than they did as married couples
THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
Karen Hopkin reports
December 4, 2007
 
We all know divorce can be hard on the kids. But did you ever stop to think
about what it¹s doing to the environment? Well scientists at Michigan State
University have. After crunching the numbers, they¹ve found that when
couples split, they use more land, more energy, and even more water than
before.

Here¹s why. After a breakup, the parties move into smaller, individual
households, which means more land used, and more resources consumed per
person. In 2005, in the US, divorcees occupied 38 million extra rooms, and
used about 50% more electricity and water per person than they did while
married. These findings appear in the online edition of the Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences.

So how can we keep doomed relationships from taking the environment down
with them? The authors note that if all these newly liberated singles
remarry, the problem disappears.  Or maybe they could just move in with one
another.  Of course, then you have to wonderŠ[Odd Couple theme song and
voice over: Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each
other crazy?]

######################
- DIVORCE PAINS THE PLANET

DIVORCE PAINS THE PLANET
CNET News.com - San Francisco,CA,USA
December 3, 2007 
> 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 available.).
> 
> 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.


As if the burden of divorce weren't bad enough, people with failed marriages
can 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 to 38 million more rooms worldwide to light, heat and cool, noted the
report.

And people who divorced used 73 billion kilowatt-hours more of electricity
and 627 billion gallons of water than they would otherwise in 2005.

Dissolving a marriage also means doubling possessions, from the lowly can
opener to the SUV. 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 available.).

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.

Rates of divorce are rising around the world, while dropping in North
America along with those of marriage, according to the National Marriage
Project at Rutgers University.

Divorce ends 46 percent of marriages in the United States, the seventh
highest rate in the world, according to Divorce Magazine. The top world
record is held by Sweden, where 55 percent of marriages end by divorce. On
the other end is Guatemala, with a mere .13 percent divorce rate.

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences and funded partly by the National Institutes of Health.

######################
- MOTHER NATURE FEELS THE PAIN

> The United States, for example, had 16.5 million households headed by a
> divorced person in 2005 and just over 60 million households headed by a
> married person.

> And it isn't just the United States.
> 
> Liu looked at 11 other countries such as Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Greece,
> Mexico and South Africa between 1998 and 2002.
> 
> In the 11, if divorced households had combined to have the same average
> household size as married households, there could have been a million fewer
> households using energy and water in these countries.
> 
> "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," Liu said.


Mother Nature feels the pains of divorce
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer | Dec 4, 2007

You do not appear to have Yahoo! Messenger installed. Click here to download
and install it.
Email this article
To:
There is a problem with one or more email addresses entered

Enter email addresses, separated by commas.
From:
There is a problem with the email address entered
Send me a copy of this message

Email addresses will only be used to email this information on your behalf
and will not be used for any marketing purposes.

WASHINGTON - Divorce can be bad for the environment. In countries around the
world divorce rates have been rising, and each time a family dissolves the
result is two new households.

"A married household actually uses resources more efficiently than a
divorced household," said Jianguo Liu, an ecologist at Michigan State
University whose analysis of the environmental impact of divorce appears in
this week's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.

More households means more use of land, water and energy, three critical
resources, Liu explained in a telephone interview.

Households with fewer people are simply not as efficient as those with more
people sharing, he explained. 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.

Liu, who researches the relationship of ecology with social sciences, said
people seem surprised by his findings at first, and then consider it simple.
"A lot of things become simple after the research is done," he said.

Some extra energy or water use may not sound like a big deal, but it adds
up.

The United States, for example, had 16.5 million households headed by a
divorced person in 2005 and just over 60 million households headed by a
married person.

Per person, divorced households spent more per person per month for
electricity compared with a married household, as multiple people can be
watching the same television, listening to the same radio, cooking on the
same stove and or eating under the same lights.

That means some $6.9 billion in extra utility costs per year, Liu
calculated, plus an added $3.6 billion for water, in addition to other costs
such as land use.

And it isn't just the United States.

Liu looked at 11 other countries such as Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador,
Greece, Mexico and South Africa between 1998 and 2002.

In the 11, if divorced households had combined to have the same average
household size as married households, there could have been a million fewer
households using energy and water in these countries.

"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," Liu said.

Liu stressed that he isn't condemning divorce: "Some people really need to
get divorces." But, he added, "one way to be more environmentally friendly
is to live with other people and that will reduce the impact."

Don't get smug, though, married folks ‹ savings also apply to people living
together and Shaker communities or even hippie communes would have been even
more efficient.

So, what prompts someone to figure out the environmental impact of divorce?

Liu was studying the ecology of areas with declining population and noticed
that even where the total number of people was less, the number of
households was increasing. He wondered why.

There turned out to be several reasons: divorce, demographic shifts such as
people remaining single longer and the demise of multigenerational
households.

"I was surprised because the divorce rate actually has been up and down for
many years in some of the countries ... but we found the proportion of
divorced households has increased rapidly across the globe," he said.

So he set out to measure the difference, such as in terms of energy and
water, land use and construction materials and is now reporting the results
for divorce.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the National
Institutes of Health and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.