To Have, to Hold, For a While

W. BRADFORD WILCOX Brad Wilcox will be one of the faculty at the Ruth Institute Conference in San Diego, CA, August 6-9, 2009.

Amid divorce, remarriage and co-habitation, children do not do well.

Last week, Vermont became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage, setting off yet another round of celebration and hand-wringing in different quarters of American life. The debate over same-sex marriage -- showing so much intensity on both sides -- is but one sign that Americans take marriage very seriously indeed. From television specials featuring over-the-top Bridezilla weddings to the federal Healthy Marriage Initiative, which spends $150 million annually on marriage-related programs, no other Western nation devotes as much cultural energy, public policy or religious attention to matrimony as the U.S. And with approximately 90% of Americans marrying over the course of their lifetimes, the U.S. has the highest marriage rate of any Western country.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123958524728412435.html

The carbon footprint of divorce

Carolyn Moynihan

He is not the first one to say it, but Australian senator Steve Fielding has made international headlines by pointing out that divorce increases the carbon footprint of a family because at least one member moves out and has to find new accommodation and new utility services. “We understand there is a social problem (with divorce), but now we’re seeing there is also an environmental impact as well,” he said in a speech on the government’s stimulus package. “Mitigating the effects of resource-inefficient lifestyles such as divorce helps to achieve global environmental sustainability and saves money,” he added.

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/the_carbon_footprint_of_divorce/