The health effects of smoking cigarettes are widely known. But walking around you still see many people smoking. What are the environmental impacts? I haven't really looked into it in great detail but I have some ideas.
An obvious one is packaging. Little bits of foil and plastic blow everywhere. Another one is the butts all over the place. Each one is loaded with chemicals after it is used and that stuff could leach into the water supply. The growth and processing of tobacco uses many resources and chemicals as well. The energy that goes into the harvesting, processing and retailing of tobacco has to be huge. Add to this the extra stuff people are exhaling and it adds up to a serious environmental impact. If you smoke a pack a day you're probably contributing a fair bit to environmental degradation.
This is why I feel the importance of trying to link our daily behavior and consumption patterns to the world around us. It is really tough and we'll all be guilty but we need to think about it and see where we can change.
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