Divorces contributing to global warming: Study

SYDNEY: Increasing number of divorces are contributing to global warming, says a new study that suggests people should save their marriages to save the environment.

After divorce a woman moves out and forms a new household. The study by researchers at the Michigan State University found that this leads to less efficient use of natural resources, more demand for land for housing, and higher expenditure on utilities, reported the online edition of News Australia.

Researchers surveyed 3,283 homes in the US between 2001 and 2005.

They found that households where couples divorced registered a 61 percent increase in the number of rooms per person, compared with a six percent increase in households where couples remained married.

Due to higher consumption per person, an individual in a divorced household might also generate more waste. These factors contribute to global environmental changes such as climate change and biodiversity loss, the study said.