It is a known fact that smoking is bad for your health and the environment, but how does it affect the planet in general? Smoking cigarettes does more than fill your lungs with harmful toxins that are dangerous to your health. This smoke, which has been linked to certain types of cancers and many respiratory problems, also pollutes the air you breathe every day. There are also many other problems caused by smoking.
How smoking affects the planet and its inhabitants:
- Did you know that cigarettes contain more than four thousand chemicals, all of which are released into the air you breathe each time a smoker exhales?
- What about cigarette butts that are thrown in the trash or on the ground? They represent approximately 1.7 billion pounds of non-biodegradable garbage found on the planet today. Many of them end up in the lakes and rivers that supply drinking water to the community.
- Studies have shown that cigarette butts that end up in the water supply are toxic to fish and cause death.
- Growing tobacco requires the use of more pesticides per acre than any other crop, greatly adding to the poor air quality the world faces every day.
- Did you know that a cigarette butt can take approximately 25 years to decompose? During that time, all the chemicals found in cigarettes are slowly contaminating the surrounding soil and plants.
- The trees are cut down and used as fuel to dry tobacco and prepare it for use in cigarettes and for packaging. An estimated 600 million trees are destroyed for this purpose each year.
- Consider for a moment the amount of energy and water used to make cigarettes.
- Smoking has even been linked to many wildfires that have destroyed homes and property over the years. When people throw their cigarette butts out of their vehicle window or into the crop during dry seasons, this can start a fire very quickly.
A smoke-free environment has many benefits that go far beyond what you will personally notice. It will greatly improve the air quality inside and outside your home, but it will also help improve the planet in many other ways.