I'm In the Wrong Business

With sage nodding of heads and somber stroking of beards, a new study out of Michigan State University has declared that: (drumroll, please) HOUSEHOLDS WITH MULTIPLE OCCUPANTS SHARING UTILITIES USE LESS WATER AND ENERGY THAN HOUSEHOLDS WITH SINGLE OCCUPANTS !!

Actually, the paper itself spoke of married households versus divorced households. In a five-year cross-cultural study of 12 countries around the globe, the authors found that married households are more efficient with water, energy and land use.

I believe the appropriate response here should be: duh !!

The Washington Post, ABC, The Sun (UK), Queensland Courier-Mail, Hindustan Times, and many others have breathless articles discussing the findings of Jiangua “Jack” Liu, senior author of the study, and his associate Eunice Yu. Even Citizen Link of Focus on the Family had an article on the subject, gleefully proclaiming that God's directives on marriage are now somehow vindicated by these study results.

What I wanna know is: why is my tax money helping to pay for this? The study was funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.

I mean, come on, people! What am I missing?? Was there a doubt that a married couple shared water and energy at a lesser rate than two individuals living separately?

Is this the best we can expect from our colleges, our government and the media?

Seriously. I'm in the wrong business, when there is money to be made producing "studies" such as this one.