A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences presents a compelling case that divorce has an extremely negative impact on the environment.

The toll divorce takes on the environment begins with the splitting of a larger household into separate, smaller households. Despite being smaller in size, this study showed that divorced households consumed more water, land and energy per person than than they did as a married household. In 2005, the authors estimated that divorced American households consumed 42 to 61 percent more resources per person than before they separated.

The authors, Eunice Yu and Jianguo Liu, warn that divorce is playing an increasingly significant role in escalating consumption of limited resources. They analyzed data from 12 countries to reach their conclusion. They suggest governments should publicize these environmental costs to assure that couples make the most informed choice possible. On the positive side resource consumption appears to shrink to what it had been originally when divorced couples remarry.

Perhaps the best argument stemming from these data is not that people should live together in bad marriages to preserve the environment but that they should marry someone with whom they will be deliriously happy. And yes this is a blatant plug for eHarmony.