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Is Smoking Killing the Earth One Stick at a Time?
Used under license from Shutterstock.com
“Smoking can kill you,” said then-16-year-old model/actress Brooke Shields in a 1981 US Congressional hearing, “and if you’ve been killed, you’ve lost a very important part of your life.”
Everybody knows that smoking is bad for you, even young Ms. Shields whose vacuous words have been circulating the Internet for years. Smoking can cause heart attacks, lung diseases and all kinds of cancers. Yes, smoking is harmful to your health, yet people continue to smoke. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 15 billion cigarettes are consumed each day. Smokers insist that they are not harming anyone else, except themselves with their habit. Hmm…that’s kind of like letting a pyromaniac set a house on fire with only him inside; but, live and let live, right? Though in this case, idioms about life are probably inappropriate.
But could this really be true? Are smokers only harming themselves? Secondhand smoking aside, can cigarettes contribute to carbon dioxide productions linked to global warming and climate change?
First, let’s examine the act of smoking itself. Smoking tobacco does produce carbon dioxide, but according to most experts, the amounts are miniscule, especially compared to the act of breathing by the world’s population. In fact, some scientists believe that the white smoke produced by cigarette smoking may even help counteract the greenhouse effect, even if by a small amount. However, researchers at the Florida State University Research Foundation have estimated that “Smoking worldwide releases about 2.6 billion kilograms of carbon dioxide in the air every year. It also releases about 5.2 billion kilograms of methane every year.” With WHO predicting a large increase in smokers every year, especially in developing countries where anti-smoking legislation is virtually non-existent, it’s not difficult to see that in a few decades the problem could get worse. Hopefully, with people worldwide becoming more knowledgeable and anti-smoking laws imposed, this will not happen.
So if the actual act of smoking isn’t a problem, what is? Upon closer examination, it is actually the before and after that causes the most harm. Production of cigarettes can be intensive – tobacco is a potassium greedy plant, often sucking up 6x the amount of the nutrient from the soil. Most tobacco producers let the plants siphon all the available nutrients in the soil until the land becomes unusable. Then they clear forests of trees to make way for more tobacco, and an annual 600 million trees cut down annually, depriving the earth of the ability to absorb over 22 million net tons of carbon dioxide. The leaves themselves must be dried, sometimes by exposing them to heat in wood burning furnaces, which further aggravates the greenhouse effect.
Used under license from Shutterstock.com
Then, there’s the problem with cigarette butts. Over half of the world’s trash is composed of cigarette butts. Though it may look ultra-cool and very James Dean-like, snuffing out your cigarette and tossing it on the floor is a big no-no! Cigarette butts are ubiquitous – people from Kansas to Kathmandu are picking them up on roads, parks, oceans, and streams – everywhere! Each year, 4.3 trillion cigarette butts are thrown away. These butts are usually made of non-biodegradable materials and release about 600 kinds of chemicals into the ground, water and atmosphere.
There are plenty of reasons to quit smoking, now so more than ever. Support anti-smoking campaigns and legislation. Let your leaders know that you are against smoking and inform them of the harm it does, not only to people’s health, but to the environment as well. If you have a friend or family member who smokes, encourage them to quit. And if you smoke, do yourself and the rest of the world a favor – quit! Do it now. No ifs, ands, or but(t)s.
By Maria Belgado
Additional resources:
Popular Science article “Does Smoking Contribute to Global Warming
The Truth – An anti-smoking organization dedicated to letting teens know the truth about smoking
The European Public Health Alliance’s page on smoking and tobacco
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) page on smoking and tobacco use
Tags: carbon dioxide, cigarettes, climate change, global warming, smoking, tobacco
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