Staying together for the…ice caps?
Stop the presses everyone! Something else has just been identified as contributing to global warming. What is it now, you ask? Divorce.
Divorce is not just a family matter. It exacts a serious toll on the environment by boosting the energy and water consumption of those who used to live together, according to a study by two Michigan State University researchers.
You mean, you had to do research to conclude that people living apart use more energy? I could have told you that without collecting any data. The National Academy of Sciences could have given me 1% of what it paid these researchers and the world would have been told the exact same thing.
Their paper, published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also found that if the divorced couples had stayed together in 2005, the United States would have saved 73 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and 627 billion gallons of water in that year alone.
Whoopty-do. So everyone who wants to get divorced should stop and think about what they might do to the environment? Nevermind that parents who are constantly angry and irritated with each other have a negative effect on their children. Nevermind that these children might grow up thinking that relationships are nothing but a burden on everybody and should be avoided. The important thing is that we do all that we can to conserve energy. Let’s be miserable in the name of the environment!
I’m well aware that the MSU researchers are probably not proscribing that nobody get divorced. But then we’re back to my original criticism: why do this study in the first place? If the environment should be of minor consideration when deciding to get a divorce (and I think it should be the most minor of considerations), then these researchers have added little value to anything. Note to NAS: do call the next time you want to throw funds around. I’m cheaper by the hour and my final report will use much less paper.
Here is the full article.