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