Today's WaPost reports on a Michigan State study showing that divorced couples, because they no longer share the same home, suck up significantly more resources than married or cohabitating couples.
This sort of research perplexes me. For starters, don't the findings seem obvious? Of course two people's decision to live apart--for whatever reason--consumes more energy and water than two people who share space. And while I suppose there's a value in trying to quantify this cost, what then are we supposed to do with this information? I mean, how many of us are going to look across the dinner table at a spouse whose very face we've come to despise and think: "But if I kick the bastard out, just think how disappointed Al Gore will be?" Or how's this for a defense strategy the next time some guy offs his wife for sleeping around: "I had to kill her, your honor. It was the green alternative."
Then again, I'd pay good money to see a pro-marriage, pro-enviro ad jointly sponsored by Earth First! and the Family Research Council.
--Michelle Cottle