Environmental impacts of divorce.
1Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823-5243.
Summary
Divorce leads to smaller, less efficient households, increasing resource consumption per person. Mitigating these impacts is key for global environmental sustainability and household savings.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Sociology
- Economics
Background:
- Divorce rates are rising globally, with significant socioeconomic impacts studied extensively.
- However, the environmental consequences of divorce remain under-researched.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the environmental footprint of divorced households compared to married households.
- To assess the potential resource savings achievable by improving the efficiency of divorced households.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of household size and resource consumption (rooms, electricity, water) in divorced versus married households across 12 countries.
- Examination of U.S. data from 2005 to detail per-person resource expenditure differences.
Main Results:
- Divorced households were 27-41% smaller, with 33-95% more rooms per person than married households.
- In the U.S., divorced households used 46-56% more electricity and water per person.
- Resource use per person increased 42-61% in U.S. households post-divorce.
Conclusions:
- Divorce significantly increases household resource inefficiency and environmental impact.
- Remarriage can restore household size and resource efficiency to levels comparable to married households.
- Addressing divorce-related resource inefficiency is crucial for global environmental sustainability and economic savings.
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