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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Loving Environment"
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AS DIVORCE RATES RISE, WHO GETS CUSTODY OF THE ENVIRONMENT? THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. THE IMPACT OF DIVORCE CAN BE FAR-REACHING--BUT WHO COULD HAVE IMAGINED ITS EFFECT ON ECOLOGY? WHO? .JACK LIU AND EUNICE YU; THEY'RE RESEARCHERS AT MICHIGAN STATE WITH SOME FINDINGS THAT INDICATE THAT EVEN FRIENDLY SPLITS ARE NOT VERY ECO-FRIENDLY. THEIR STUDY WAS BASED ON THE OBVIOUS: TWO PEOPLE, OR A FAMILY--COHABITING--USE LESS RESOURCES AND SPACE THAN PEOPLE LIVING APART. IN DIVORCE, WHEN ONE GETS THE HOUSE, THE OTHER MUST TAKE UP SPACE ELSEWHERE: IT'S TWO REFRIGERATORS, VERSUS ONE; TWO WASHERS; TWO DRYERS; AND SO ON. THEY CALCULATED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT BEFORE AND AFTER DIVORCE, WITH DIVORCE-RATE STATISTICS--AND SERVED US THE PAPERS: IN 2005, HAD THERE, BY SOME MIRACLE, BEEN NO DIVORCE, WE, AS AMERICANS, WOULD HAVE SAVED 73-BILLION KILOWATT-HOURS OF ELECTRICITY, 627-BILLION GALLONS OF WATER, AND SPACE EQUIVALENT TO 38-MILLION EXTRA ROOMS. THE STUDY ALSO LOOKED AT COUPLES WHO DIVORCED AND RE-MARRIED--AND THE IMPACT WAS REVERSED. NOW, THE RESEARCHERS ARE NOT ADVOCATING THAT PEOPLE STAY TOGETHER IN ORDER TO SAVE THE PLANET--BUT, RATHER, THAT WE SEEK CREATIVE SOLUTIONS. AS A GROWING NUMBER OF COUPLES TAKE THEIR SEPARATE PATHS, IT WILL LEAVE A BIGGER ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
