The other day when I was studying on a study room floor in the colonial quad tower, I took a moment to stretch and look out the window outside. It was early in the morning, and when I looked down into the courtyard, I noticed a whole bunch of white specks all over the grass, something I never normally noticed when walking across the courtyard. From my bird’s eye view perspective however I realized that these white specks I saw where hundreds of cigarette butts all over the ground. I became very repulsed as it became clear to me just how dirty and disrespectful people are to Earth, not to mention doing a great job of making our home away from home while we are in school look like #$%*. Seeing the amazing amount of cigarette butts lying in the landscape, it got me thinking just how many other places are trashed with the finished cigarette butts of smokers, and the negative effects cigarettes must have on the environment.
Most smokers are ignorant to the fact that by smoking they are damaging the lives of others too, not just their own health. They are affecting those that are close to them by second-hand smoking, as well as the environment, which ultimately affects everyone. Many are aware of the health risks involved with smoking; however the risks involving the Earth’s health is much less focused upon. “Cigarettes contain over 4000 chemicals which are exhaled and released into the air and the atmosphere, and approximately 30% of North Americans are smokers and the percentage goes much higher in developing countries” (Taylor-Cassan) One can only imagine then how much pollution is being released into the environment’s air every day just by cigarette use. According Giovanni Invernizzi from the Tobacco Control Unit of Italy's National Cancer Institute in Milan who led a small study comparing air pollution cigarettes emit to the exhaust of diesel cars, he found that “The air pollution emitted by cigarettes is 10 times greater than diesel car exhaust” (Vince). In his article, Vince also mentions how chemicals within cigarettes such as, “Aldehydes damage plants and peoples' eyes and respiratory tract, and Nitric oxide, also produced by cigarettes, is the culprit in photochemical smog and drives ozone formation in cities” Thus, with new laws making smoking illegal indoors in public places, negative environmental effects of cigarettes are bound to rise.
However there is more; millions of cigarette butts are thrown away on the ground every day as well, which means all of the harmful chemicals within them are leaching into the ground polluting the soil and plants, and water we drink. “Every year in California the state has a statewide cleanup and cigarette butts account for almost half of the waste that is collected. These are only the ones that are picked up in one state and millions more are never picked up” (Taylor-Cassan). Those that are never cleaned up will take at least 25 years to decompose! Anything that takes 25 years to decompose is clearly very unnatural for our environment, and personally I think you would have to be crazy to inhale them into your lungs!
The manufacturing of cigarettes also has an enormous strain on the environment. Large plots of land are used all over the world to grow tobacco, the cash crops used for cigarettes, where farmers douse the plants with all kinds of dangerous pesticides and chemicals. Wasting mass amounts of water and oil in farming them, also contributes to unnecessary CO2 emissions and the lands soil depletion. According to Taylor-Cassan, producing cigarettes also take an enormous toll on trees, needed to for paper to roll and package them in. She states, “Cigarette manufacturing uses four miles of paper an hour just for rolling and packaging cigarettes. One tree is wasted for every three hundred cigarettes produced” (Taylor-Casasan). Cigarette manufacturers are thus subsequently a major contributor to forest degradation and forcing species out of their homes and into extinction.
If tobacco companies don’t care about your health what makes you think that they would think twice about the environment. Perhaps stressing the negative effects cigarettes have on Earth’s health, perhaps people would think twice about smoking more seriously, realizing that they are killing their only home every time they light up. In order to stop these malicious and greedy tobacco companies from harming the environment is to stop buying their products. People need to quit smoking as hard as it may be. It is for a greater good. Not just about themselves, not just about their own health and money they will save by quitting. Think about what better uses the masses of land used for growing tobacco could be used for. We’ve taken enough from the Earth, it’s time to give back. People need to lose their egocentric attitudes and realize that it’s also about the harm they are doing to the Earth and the harm they are causing unwittingly causing their friends and families. Every time they light up, their kid’s and family’s future become more and more gloomy.
Resources
Taylor-Cassan, Jessica . "How Smoking Affects our Environment." About My Planet Amp Blogs Network, 29 Aug. 2007. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. <http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/environment/smoking-affects/>.
Gaia, Vince. "Cigarettes more polluting than diesel exhaust ." NewScientist Reed Business Information Ltd., 24 Aug. 2004. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. <http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6312-cigarettes-more-polluting-than-diesel-exhaust.html>.
Picture
Husk, Corn. "Addiction." Now Public Crowd Powered Media N.p., 11 Feb. 2009. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. <http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://media.nowpublic.net/images//67/a/67a07a73404f88cc145e2b1941a23eb7.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nowpublic.com/environment/addiction-photo-02&usg=__i1M_LN_kekg2k8zUkipAGeKBu0E=&h=476&w=635&sz=262&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=qUjuMhH9xFaT0M:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcigarettes%2Bon%2Bground%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1>.
Most smokers are ignorant to the fact that by smoking they are damaging the lives of others too, not just their own health. They are affecting those that are close to them by second-hand smoking, as well as the environment, which ultimately affects everyone. Many are aware of the health risks involved with smoking; however the risks involving the Earth’s health is much less focused upon. “Cigarettes contain over 4000 chemicals which are exhaled and released into the air and the atmosphere, and approximately 30% of North Americans are smokers and the percentage goes much higher in developing countries” (Taylor-Cassan) One can only imagine then how much pollution is being released into the environment’s air every day just by cigarette use. According Giovanni Invernizzi from the Tobacco Control Unit of Italy's National Cancer Institute in Milan who led a small study comparing air pollution cigarettes emit to the exhaust of diesel cars, he found that “The air pollution emitted by cigarettes is 10 times greater than diesel car exhaust” (Vince). In his article, Vince also mentions how chemicals within cigarettes such as, “Aldehydes damage plants and peoples' eyes and respiratory tract, and Nitric oxide, also produced by cigarettes, is the culprit in photochemical smog and drives ozone formation in cities” Thus, with new laws making smoking illegal indoors in public places, negative environmental effects of cigarettes are bound to rise.
However there is more; millions of cigarette butts are thrown away on the ground every day as well, which means all of the harmful chemicals within them are leaching into the ground polluting the soil and plants, and water we drink. “Every year in California the state has a statewide cleanup and cigarette butts account for almost half of the waste that is collected. These are only the ones that are picked up in one state and millions more are never picked up” (Taylor-Cassan). Those that are never cleaned up will take at least 25 years to decompose! Anything that takes 25 years to decompose is clearly very unnatural for our environment, and personally I think you would have to be crazy to inhale them into your lungs!
The manufacturing of cigarettes also has an enormous strain on the environment. Large plots of land are used all over the world to grow tobacco, the cash crops used for cigarettes, where farmers douse the plants with all kinds of dangerous pesticides and chemicals. Wasting mass amounts of water and oil in farming them, also contributes to unnecessary CO2 emissions and the lands soil depletion. According to Taylor-Cassan, producing cigarettes also take an enormous toll on trees, needed to for paper to roll and package them in. She states, “Cigarette manufacturing uses four miles of paper an hour just for rolling and packaging cigarettes. One tree is wasted for every three hundred cigarettes produced” (Taylor-Casasan). Cigarette manufacturers are thus subsequently a major contributor to forest degradation and forcing species out of their homes and into extinction.
If tobacco companies don’t care about your health what makes you think that they would think twice about the environment. Perhaps stressing the negative effects cigarettes have on Earth’s health, perhaps people would think twice about smoking more seriously, realizing that they are killing their only home every time they light up. In order to stop these malicious and greedy tobacco companies from harming the environment is to stop buying their products. People need to quit smoking as hard as it may be. It is for a greater good. Not just about themselves, not just about their own health and money they will save by quitting. Think about what better uses the masses of land used for growing tobacco could be used for. We’ve taken enough from the Earth, it’s time to give back. People need to lose their egocentric attitudes and realize that it’s also about the harm they are doing to the Earth and the harm they are causing unwittingly causing their friends and families. Every time they light up, their kid’s and family’s future become more and more gloomy.
Resources
Taylor-Cassan, Jessica . "How Smoking Affects our Environment." About My Planet Amp Blogs Network, 29 Aug. 2007. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. <http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/environment/smoking-affects/>
Gaia, Vince. "Cigarettes more polluting than diesel exhaust ." NewScientist Reed Business Information Ltd., 24 Aug. 2004. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. <http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6312-cigarettes-more-polluting-than-diesel-exhaust.html>
Picture
Husk, Corn. "Addiction." Now Public Crowd Powered Media N.p., 11 Feb. 2009. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. <http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://media.nowpublic.net/images//67/a/67a07a73404f88cc145e2b1941a23eb7.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nowpublic.com/environment/addiction-photo-02&usg=__i1M_LN_kekg2k8zUkipAGeKBu0E=&h=476&w=635&sz=262&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=qUjuMhH9xFaT0M:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcigarettes%2Bon%2Bground%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1>.
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