Recently I read an article which stated that “Divorce is bad for the Earth”...are you kidding me?! My mind automatically thinks well DUH! I coulda told you that. God didn’t design man to marry than divorce and marry again I’m thinking on an emotional level. It hurts the inhabitants of Earth in an emotional way. But than I read further. They were talking about natural resources! This is an interesting take on divorce. Ecologist, Jianguo Liu, from Michigan State University did an analysis of the effects of divorce on the environment. "A married household actually uses resources more efficiently than a divorced household,” says Liu because homes with fewer people are not as efficient as those with more people 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.
After reading it I thought well that makes sense. But, obviously, not everyone thinks about it that way and with all the research on how to conserver Earths resources Liu is surprised that divorce is over looked, and backs his findings with interesting numbers such as “The United States 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”.
But I’m wondering if we can put a twist on this. Almost a marketing tool if you will, because I’m so tired of seeing billboards with divorce lawyers on them. How bout we start advertising “Save your marriage. Save the Earth. Conserve resources by staying married!” it could appeal to the tree huggers and eco-friendly. This way we can “kill two birds with one stone”. I think its worth a try, after all saving marriages is a good thing. People are negatively affected by the consequential side effects of divorce every day. Children miss their parents, wife argues with husband, husband’s stress level goes thru the roof and leads to a coronary. And saving the Earth is important as well, in a few hundred years we could really be suffering and all because of selfish actions by our parents and grandparents. We cant reverse the wholes in the ozone but we can prevent further destruction. Its an interesting idea, I wonder who I can pitch it to.
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That's just common sense.
It's not really about marriage though; it's about sharing. You could get just as much if not more energy-saving by sharing your house with parents and siblings when you're grown-up.
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
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You know what really aggravates me? That this article is suggesting that people stay married UNDER ANY AND EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE. I am sorry but its better to save yourslef form an abusive marraige than to save the earth. Who agrees with me?
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
its certainly not my intention to imply that a person should stay married under ANY circumstances. i've been in an abusive relationship, i wouldnt have stayed for anything. so no that wasnt the point. i just that the article was odd.
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
When I first read the article, I thought that they were going to save the earth by using less products but I was wrong. i thought they were going to talk about how divorced people are depressed and therefore eat more ice cream and food and use up more plastic, glass, etc from eating so much and all that is adding up to the trash pile. But they didn't mention it. if they did, I would have to say that that is a little far fetched.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
I don't think people are selfless enough to give up their own happiness to save the world. But even so, marriage alone cannot and will not save the Earth. Whether they're divorced or married, people will continue to use whatever resources are available for them. This problem can be simply solved if more college students share rooms with each other, don't you think? lol
I can see his point about shared resources, but the suggested solution is oversimplified.
He could have suggested that all living generations stay together in the same home as is done in Asian countries. And as for divorce, he could just suggest that divorcees line up new roommates or boarders before splitting up. That would accomplish the same thing.
He could also suggest that families share smaller homes or share their homes with others. That would accomplish even more for sharing resources. And if more couples would refrain from having kids and we could gradually reduce the population to sustainable levels, then we could really start talking about sustainable solutions to scarce resources.
The environmental movement and the far left are closely aligned. There are several instances where the environmental movement seems willing to sacrifice the environment for the advancement of the leftest cause. Failure to protect the border is an example. National Parks are getting trashed down there with garbage, car tracks and trails everywhere. But that's Ok because we need all those new socialist voters no matter how much harm it does to the environment.
When I heard this on the news yesterday I assumed that it was ljust environmentalists laying the basis for communist style collectives.
Divorce was very rare when people were too poor to separate. Affluence creates better morals in some areas like property crime, but when everyone has enough wealth to go their own way they often do.
The extended family living in one house was very ecco-friendly, because if you have few resources you have to conserve them. So while this guy has a valid point the more universal way to say the same thing is:
Being poor is good for the planet.
Now everyone send all that nasty money to me to help save the planet ;-)