Largest threat to our nations resources "Divorce"

"Divorce Squanders Earth's Resources" The split-ups wreak havoc on the environment.

"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,"

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.

Environmental footprint of divorce - 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.

Read full from From Live Science (Link via www.sej.org)

Also see Growth, but at what cost? & Marriage is "greener" than divorce