On the Environmental Virtues of Cohabitation

Marital status is relevant because there is a huge gap between households where children are raised by 2 married parents compared with unmarried single parents. Children not raised by 2 married parents are at higher risk for drug addiction, alcohol abuse, gang involvement, out of wedlock births, abortions, school drop-out, criminal activities, etc. All such undesirable societal consequences create additional environmental drain via greater governmental program costs, use of police resources, greater energy/oil/gasoline usage, health care costs, higher risk of AIDS, etc.

How can one even begin to tabulate the numerious societal and environmental costs resulting from all types of deviant behaviors of children and adults who grew up in broken, dysfunctional families?

of NY @ Dec 09, 2007 02:16:45 AM

Cohabiting is not so great "from an environmental standpoint." Those who cohabitate prior to marriage have a greater chance to divorce than those who don't cohabitate. Unless one makes a non-stop career out of cohabitation, then it's more likely than not that one will be alone living eventually as a divorcee, creating further environmental drain.

It is also easy to blame babies as "the new SUVs." In reality, it is not the individual person per se that is to blame but rather the materialistic and consumeristic American lifestyle that is at fault. Do we really need 5 televisions, 2 cars, 4 cell phones, and 3 computers in an average household? The real "green" challenge is for Madision Avenue and Hollywood to instill a sense of consumeristic balance via their advertisements and movies. Yes, sometimes "less" is "more."

of NY @ Dec 09, 2007 02:04:06 AM