Smoking and the Environment
If you have not quit smoking today, then perhaps now is a good as time as any. Not only does a smokers filthy containments poison himself and others, but it hurts our planet as well. As bad as a ten-ton diesel trucks fumes and a miniature ozone-layer destroying device all rolled into one, this is the cigarette. For fairness, let’s take an unbiased gander into the world of cigarette smoke: The first one is obvious; everyone knows that smoke from cigarettes heavily pollute the air, as well as the ground (cigarette butts being stomped into the pavements).
There are literally 4000 known chemicals that are both exhaled and then blown out into the air. Roughly twenty percent of the world is made up of cigarette smoking individuals – this can be likened to a carpet of smoke that is clouding up or atmosphere on a daily basis. This amount of pollutants makes it almost impossible for the trees to catch up on their job of filtration.
Let’s navigate back to the cigarette butts. These tiny, dirty, yellow nubs end up in your rivers, your oceans; your streets, garden and in many more public places you are likely to frequent. The chemicals that they filter out are now all around you and waiting to infect our planet with their poison. Once they hit the ground, cigarette butts take up to 25 years to decompose – this is on par with plastic bags. In drier climates, they also become a massive fire hazard. This should be a decent enough reason to stop smoking cigarettes.
As with many products, one of the most polluting aspects is the actual production of cigarettes. Large amounts of land must be used in order to grow crops for the tobacco – this could rather be used on fruit, vegetables or any other sustainable resource. Harmful chemicals are also used to spray the crops for protection. For every three hundred cigarettes produced, exactly one tree needs to be destroyed, yet another tree that could be filtering out our harmful smoke. Combine this with the energy and soil needs for each crop plus actual production and it becomes a literal environmental nightmare. Quit smoking and aid the fight against cigarettes.
I am 73 years old and have been smoking since I was 19.
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