Divorced Couples Contributing to Global Warming!

There are a large number of studies and research conducted by different groups of people all over the globe, all round the year. While most of these make for very serious reading, there are some that may make for lighter reading, even though the results of the research are often grave and serious. One such report talks about the impact of divorce on global warming.

A new study shows that we can lay some portion of the blame with regard to global warming on divorced couples, i.e. people who have failed marriages. While this may sound a bit bizarre, there is scientific data to back up the claim. The study has been funded partially by the National Institutes of Health and appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The new report shows divorced couples utilize more areas inside their homes. This effectively means there are 38 million more rooms to provide lighting, heating, and cooling for. Do your math correctly and you will see this works out to 73 billion extra kilowatt-hours of electricity.

The study also shows that when they live separately, they tend to use up 627 billion gallons of water more than they would if they had stayed together in 2005. The logic behind the calculations is simple. Being divorced and staying separate effectively means having two sets of the same things – from the plates to the SUVs.

The report, however, does not seem to be totally rounded off. For instance, it does not carry an estimation of the amount of natural resources children of divorced parents consume by getting two sets of gifts for their birthdays and other such festive occasions. The report also does not have an estimate of the amount of greenhouse gases parents emit while shunting their children between their respective houses.

The conclusions to be drawn are understandably slightly on the bizarre side. For the religiously minded, they might even sound evil. For one, the research seems to show that it is better to stay hooked to another person once you are divorced, even if it is for the sake of planet Earth!

One may wonder what prompted the researchers to zero in on this unique subject for their research. Probably, it has something to do with being environmentally conscious and also being aware of the rising rates of divorce in the world.

Rutgers’ University’s National Marriage Project indicates that while there has been a rise in divorce rates around the world, North America has seen a slump in divorce rates, accompanied by a slump in the number of marriages as well.

According to Divorce Magazine, the United States has the seventh highest divorce rate in the world at 46 percent. Sweden has the dubious distinction of having the highest divorce rate, at 55 percent, while Guatemala has the lowest divorce rate at 0.13 percent.