How Smoking Affects our Environment
Posted on Wed Aug 29 2007
It is a common belief among cigarette smokers that they are only hurting themselves. In fact they are not only hurting themselves, but also the people who love them and the environment. As an ex-smoker I was curious about the environmental impact of smoking so I decided to investigate. These days everyone knows what smoking cigarettes does to our bodies, but the knowledge of what smoking does to the Earth is not as common. There are some things that every smoker who has any concern for environmental issues should know.
It is fairly obvious that smoking pollutes the air and quite often the ground. However, it is not always obvious how or how much smoking pollutes. Cigarettes contain over 4000 chemicals which are exhaled and released into the air and the atmosphere. Approximately 30% of North Americans are smokers, and the percentage goes much higher in developing countries, which means there is a massive amount of pollution being released into the air every day. Trees are often compared to the lungs in our bodies because they perform basically the same functions as our lungs do on a global scale. With all of the pollutants that the trees filter out for us already it seems almost crazy to add more to the air that doesn’t need to be added. We need to breathe, but no one needs to smoke.
The pollution caused by cigarettes does not stop in our bodies or the air; it also affects the land we live on and the water that we drink. Millions of cigarette butts are discarded onto the ground every day. 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. They end up in the rivers and lakes where fish and animals eat them by mistake and quite often die from it. The rest are left on the ground to decompose which will take an average of 25 years while all of the chemicals and additives leach into the ground and pollute the soil and the plants. If you are going to smoke please consider this information before your throw your cigarette butts on the ground. It looks unattractive, it is a major fire hazard in dry weather, and it is extremely harmful to the environment.
Probably the most impacting aspect of cigarettes is actually producing them. There is the land used to grow the crops all over the world that could be put to better use by planting more trees or food for starving children in third world countries. These crops are also often sprayed with a lot of harmful pesticides and chemicals because tobacco is a very fragile plant and is likely to pick up disease. It also takes a lot of trees to produce and package cigarettes. 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. Those trees could be filtering out the pollutants already in the air instead of being chopped down for the cause of adding new ones. There is still the energy and water wasted in manufacturing cigarettes that needs to be considered and with soil depletion and chemical wastage added on top of that it becomes clear that manufacturing cigarettes has an enormous strain on the environment.
The tobacco industry is quite unwilling to use better technology to reduce the impact they are having on the environment because it would take up too much of their billions of dollars in profit every year. They are often trying to have more trees planted, but since they use trees to dry the tobacco and for rolling and packaging it is probably not concern for the environment, but concern for losing their wood sources that encourage them to do this. They do not care about polluting our bodies so it seems unlikely that they would think twice about polluting our environment. The only way to stop them from harming the environment is to stop buying their products. Quitting smoking is hard, but it can be done and it’s not only about the harm smokers are doing to their own bodies, it’s also about the harm they are doing to the earth and the pain that they are causing their friends and families.
We found two help programs that might help you kick the habbit, there is a small investment but with it you'll be able to kick the habit and save lots of money each year. According to educationworld.com an average smoker spends over $700 a year on cigarettes... that's a vacation each year to somewhere warm during the winter :) Here are the two programs we found:
- Quit Smoking Today - The Quit Smoking Today program is without doubt the easiest way available to kick those evil cancer sticks out of your life for good. It eradicates the usual problems that are associated with quitting smoking such as cravings, short temper, hunger and weight gain. Quit Smoking Today is so successful because it overcomes your desire to light up.
- Easy Quit System - The EasyQuit System™ is probably the simplest method available to overcome all the problems normally associated with quitting smoking - cravings, weight gain, anxiety, short-temper, hunger and discomfort. The incredible success of the EasyQuit System™ is because it is so effective at overcoming your desire to smoke.
118 Comments so far!!
As much as I agree with you my MIL (a smoker) would ask for unbiased scientific proof that this is true and even after she had it she still wouldn't quit. I love her dearly and she's a very nice lady, but her smoking has put a dent in our relationship on more than one occasion. The only way to every get her to quit smoking is if it was outlawed....no that wouldn't work either. She would be willing to go to jail for a busmoke.
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Thanks for this great information!!! this really helped me on my asssighment. I just hate smokers, if they want to ruin their lives, GREAT! but why ruin ours with their's, by second-hand smoke.
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i reckon smoking is so bad that it should be banned for good because it cause deaths my grandma died from heart failure from smoking
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i understand you my dad is always smoking right now i bet u that hes smoking hi i'm ten years old and i always hide my dads pack of smokes so hegets mad
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have yo`u tryed it
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You can eat five portions of fruit and veg a day and exercise regularly, but healthy behaviour means little if you continue to smoke.
The message that 'smoking is bad for you' is an old one, so not everyone gives it their full attention. Below we list the health risks of smoking.
Why quit smoking?
Term watch
‘Cardiovascular’ means the heart and circulation.
Cardiovascular disease causes:
poor circulation
angina (chest pains)
heart attacks
stroke.
Most people know that smoking can cause lung cancer, but it can also cause many other cancers and illnesses.
Smoking kills around 114,000 people in the UK each year.
Of these deaths, about 42,800 are from smoking-related cancers, 30,600 from cardiovascular disease and 29,100 die slowly from emphysema and other chronic lung diseases.
How do cigarettes damage health?
Cigarettes contain more than 4000 chemical compounds and at least 400 toxic substances.
When you inhale, a cigarette burns at 700°C at the tip and around 60°C in the core. This heat breaks down the tobacco to produce various toxins.
As a cigarette burns, the residues are concentrated towards the butt.
The products that are most damaging are:
tar, a carcinogen (substance that causes cancer)
nicotine is addictive and increases cholesterol levels in your body
carbon monoxide reduces oxygen in the body
components of the gas and particulate phases cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD).
The damage caused by smoking is influenced by:
the number of cigarettes smoked
whether the cigarette has a filter
how the tobacco has been prepared.
Smoking affects how long you live
Research has shown that smoking reduces life expectancy by seven to eight years.
Did you know?
On average, each cigarette shortens a smoker's life by around 11 minutes.
Of the 300 people who die every day in the UK as a result of smoking, many are comparatively young smokers.
The number of people under the age of 70 who die from smoking-related diseases exceeds the total figure for deaths caused by breast cancer, AIDS, traffic accidents and drug addiction.
Non-smokers and ex-smokers can also look forward to a healthier old age than smokers.
Major diseases caused by smoking
Cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of death due to smoking.
Hardening of the arteries is a process that develops over years, when cholesterol and other fats deposit in the arteries, leaving them narrow, blocked or rigid. When the arteries narrow (atherosclerosis), blood clots are likely to form.
Smoking accelerates the hardening and narrowing process in your arteries: it starts earlier and blood clots are two to four times more likely.
Cardiovasular disease can take many forms depending on which blood vessels are involved, and all of them are more common in people who smoke.
A fatal disease
Blood clots in the heart and brain are the most common causes of sudden death.
Coronary thrombosis: a blood clot in the arteries supplying the heart, which can lead to a heart attack. Around 30 per cent are caused by smoking.
Cerebral thrombosis: the vessels to the brain can become blocked, which can lead to collapse, stroke and paralysis.
If the kidney arteries are affected, then high blood pressure or kidney failure results.
Blockage to the vascular supply to the legs may lead to gangrene and amputation.
Smokers tend to develop coronary thrombosis 10 years earlier than non-smokers, and make up 9 out of 10 heart bypass patients.
Cancer
Smokers are more likely to get cancer than non-smokers. This is particularly true of lung cancer, throat cancer and mouth cancer, which hardly ever affect non-smokers.
The link between smoking and lung cancer is clear.
Ninety percent of lung cancer cases are due to smoking.
If no-one smoked, lung cancer would be a rare diagnosis - only 0.5 per cent of people who've never touched a cigarette develop lung cancer.
One in ten moderate smokers and almost one in five heavy smokers (more than 15 cigarettes a day) will die of lung cancer.
The more cigarettes you smoke in a day, and the longer you've smoked, the higher your risk of lung cancer. Similarly, the risk rises the deeper you inhale and the earlier in life you started smoking.
For ex-smokers, it takes approximately 15 years before the risk of lung cancer drops to the same as that of a non-smoker.
If you smoke, the risk of contracting mouth cancer is four times higher than for a non-smoker. Cancer can start in many areas of the mouth, with the most common being on or underneath the tongue, or on the lips.
Other types of cancer that are more common in smokers are:
bladder cancer
cancer of the oesophagus
cancer of the kidneys
cancer of the pancreas
cervical cancer
COPD
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a collective term for a group of conditions that block airflow and make breathing more difficult, such as:
Term watch
Chronic means long term, not severe.
emphysema - breathlessness caused by damage to the air sacs (alveoli)
chronic bronchitis - coughing with a lot of mucus that continues for at least three months.
Smoking is the most common cause of COPD and is responsible for 80 per cent of cases.
It's estimated that 94 per cent of 20-a-day smokers have some emphysema when the lungs are examined after death, while more than 90 per cent of non-smokers have little or none.
COPD typically starts between the ages of 35 and 45 when lung function starts to decline anyway.
Quitting can help
Lung damage from COPD is permanent, but giving up smoking at any stage reduces the rate of decline in lung capacity.
In smokers, the rate of decline in lung function can be three times the usual rate. As lung function declines, breathlessness begins.
As the condition progresses, severe breathing problems can require hospital care. The final stage is death from slow and progressive breathlessness.
Other risks caused by smoking
Did you know?
A single cigarette can reduce the blood supply to your skin for over an hour.
Smoking raises blood pressure, which can cause hypertension (high blood pressure) - a risk factor for heart attacks and stroke.
Couples who smoke are more likely to have fertility problems than couples who are non-smokers.
Smoking worsens asthma and counteracts asthma medication by worsening the inflammation of the airways that the medicine tries to ease.
The blood vessels in the eye are sensitive and can be easily damaged by smoke, causing a bloodshot appearance and itchiness.
Heavy smokers are twice as likely to get macular degeneration, resulting in the gradual loss of eyesight.
Smokers run an increased risk of cataracts.
Smokers take 25 per cent more sick days year than non-smokers.
Smoking stains your teeth and gums.
Smoking increases your risk of periodontal disease, which causes swollen gums, bad breath and teeth to fall out.
Smoking causes an acid taste in the mouth and contributes to the development of ulcers.
Smoking also affects your looks: smokers have paler skin and more wrinkles. This is because smoking reduces the blood supply to the skin and lowers levels of vitamin A.
Smoking and impotence
For men in their 30s and 40s, smoking increases the risk of erectile dysfunction (ED) by about 50 per cent.
Did you know?
The British Medical Association estimates that up to 120,000 men have ED because of smoking.
Erection can't occur unless blood can flow freely into the penis, so these blood vessels have to be in good condition.
Smoking can damage the blood vessels and cause them to degenerate: nicotine narrows the arteries that lead to the penis, reducing blood flow and the pressure of blood in the penis.
This narrowing effect increases over time, so if you haven't got problems now, things could change later.
Erection problems in smokers may be an early warning signal that cigarettes are already damaging other areas of the body - such as the blood vessels that supply the heart.
Smoking and others
There are many health-related reasons to give up cigarettes - not just for smokers, but to protect those around you.
Babies born to mothers who smoke during pregnancy are twice as likely to be born prematurely and with a low birth weight.
Passive smoking
The 'side-stream' smoke that comes off a cigarette between puffs carries a higher risk than directly inhaled smoke.
Children who grow up in a home where one or both of their parents smoke have twice the risk of getting asthma and asthmatic bronchitis. They also have a higher risk of developing allergies.
Infants under two years old are more prone to severe respiratory infections and cot death.
For adults, passive smoking seems to increase the risk of lung cancer, but the evidence for an increased risk of heart disease is not yet conclusive.
Thinking about quitting?
As well as reducing your risk of getting a smoking-related illness, there are other benefits to quitting smoking.
General health improves - tiredness and headaches can be linked to smoking.
Your sense of taste and smell improve.
Your heart will be less strained and work more efficiently.
Stopping smoking is the single biggest thing you can do to improve your health, but it's a difficult task.
Smokers who are trying to kick their habit may be disappointed to find there's no single quit method that guarantees success.
The weight of evidence suggests that smokers should set a date to stop, and do their best to quit completely from this point.
On average it takes four to five attempts to give up, and there are a number of things that can help willpower:
nicotine replacement treatment (NRT) in the form of gum, skin patches or nasal spray
Zyban (bupropion) is a medicine that's licensed to help smoking cessation
behaviour modification programmes
alternative therapies such as acupuncture and hypnosis.
Based on a text by Dr Carl J Brandt
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hey nthat is really good information i got an a on my project thankls so much ps i hate smokers
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ok one of the things you should know is that these days the chemicals you inhale from a cigarette are actualy better for you than the chemicals you breath in lets say newyork from the polution... most of us smokers actualy walk more places than non smokers... it is not so that we can save the earth or ne thing but we dont have the money for gas...but you release so much more with your cars than we do with out five inch death sticks
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wow you have more info then the actual site itself. (check your sources not all your facts are true)
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I heartily agree with what you have out up. It contains the truth, to me. Bravo!
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Where did you find your information, I would like the websites for a paper I need to write.
Audrey Stump
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I have a project coming up and this information helps me alot. I got an A+. Thank you! =]
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this is a great website but it needs a bit more information. i am doing an assignement using this information but i deffinatly don't think its enough. there should be alot more to what smoking does to our invironment than this. sorry, its just not enough!
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You can't even spell, stop criticizing.
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well, you know, sometimes, when people cant find enough information on one site... i know its gonna sound CRAZY... but, they go and look for information on another site!!!! just an idea.
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Oh come on!! you just expect someone who put out every bit of information on web just to wait for your up coming assignments?! Do your own research! just a reminder, "research" does NOT equal "copy and paste"...
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pretty good i guess
could of been a bit more spicific but it was good
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there is no good reason to smokke. i am giving a speach and used some info thanks a bunch for this info
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After reading this I realized Obama is a tree-killer, he reportedly consumes two packs of ciggarettes a day. So, If you do the math he basically kills 54 trees a year. Not including all of the other side effects that has on our environment. Yet, he has a green plan! lol yeah that's ironic!!! Wow, why cant people see through him! We needed Hillary!
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he doesnt smoke
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Have you heard? That Obama is quiting. He knows what to do. So he is quitting so back off.
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I THOUGHT WHAT U SAID WAS VERY INTERESTING, I HAVE NEVER HEARD THAT SIDE OF THE STORY BEFORE!!!
THANKX FOR PUTTING YOUR SELF OUT THERE,I COMMEND YOU!!!
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[...] read more about how cigarettes are basically the anti-green, visit AboutMyPlanet.com! No [...]
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this helped my girl with her geography project.
thx
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smoking kills!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Jamie is right that there aren't a lot of details and criticizing his/her spelling really doesn't help your case.
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Do you really believe everything you read. The opposing sides put out faulty information on fellow runners. They do that so simple minded people will vote for them..
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I used to smoke and can vouch for the bad things it can do to your body. As to the what it does to the environment as dangerous as these chemicals in nicotine are I don't doubt for a moment that they have an impact on others and the environment.
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This info is great, i got a school (science fair) and i'm sure i'm going to get and A with all that.
Thanks so much!!!
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I really hate junk science. Which is all 99% of the claptrap on smoking really is. The only actually medical studies on the effects of smoking were either thrown out of court because of faulty research or, upon actually reading the study, didn't validate the headline "Smoking causes cancer". The study was not conclusive and needed further research. For example, 2 pack a day smokers who are also vegetarians have almost no cancer risk. Of any kind. So if smoking, by itself, causes cancer, diet shouldn't have that big of an impact. More actual scientific research needs to be done.
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Well, honestly, I think that we need to take care of the environment...its gonna blow up in like, 20 years. And well, when the astronauts go up into space and see that the earth is turning into a tingy red, then we're all in big, big trouble.
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So I read the article at the top of the page, very informative. I was looking for more information, but I know I won't stop here. I am currently a smoker *gasp* (oh save your breathe). I know the affects on my health it has, honestly I could give 2 craps less. I am more concerned about the environment and the affects my bad habit is taking on the world. I was going to pass up the opportunity to say something but I felt the need considering I do smoke and have for some time. I am not the only person I know who smokes either - majority of my friends and some family of mine smoke as well. And yeah, it's a nasty habit and bad for your body, blah blah blah I've heard it all. But my single most point is that I give a crap about the earth and I am looking for the information that is really going to help me stay smoke free. I've tried quitting before and it is really not an easy thing, especially for me but I would honestly like to put one last cig out and say I'm doing this for good for the better of the world. And I hope that I can only help to make a difference with everyone else I know by standing up and doing this.
Honestly, enlighten me with any more information someone may have about numbers and exact affects on the world. I know the article above helped me a bit, but I definitely want to learn more. I'm open to hearing more information about this matter - the affects on my health, save it b/c I already know and don't care.
Thanks ppl :)
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Ms.Evil is attempting another one of her evil little plans and trying to make everyone give so we all die!!! thats cute. rofl
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hi my dad still hasnt stop smoking plz tell me wat 2 do plz im beggin u email me at gmail.com
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This helped me alot. I had no clue what it did to the environment. I'm not a smoker myself but after reading this I'll never be a smoker.
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How can you justify smoking as a environmental human impact when their is nuclear power plants a deforestation going on around the world. Surely these are the main problem. Yes i understand that every does there own little bit and on a global scale this would be great. Don't use think the Government should lead by example? Until then i continue to smoke, i enjoy casually smoking, its social & skag trendy
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"How can you justify smoking as a environmental human impact when their is nuclear power plants a deforestation going on around the world."
Honestly, there are millions upon millions of smokers out there, and America isn't the worst of them too (which is a suprise). But if there were a whole crap ton of people that quit smoking for the shear fact of the environment that alone would have a huge impact on global warming! I'm doing research on this cause and affect myself because like I stated before I give a crap about the world. I have been a regular smoker for about 8ish years, and up until recently never really thought it had that much of an impact on the world. I'm not the typical smoker that throws their butts anywhere either, I haven't thrown a cigarette butt on the ground for quite some time now. But I do hope that the word about this would get out to people. Hey maybe those Truth commericals should have environmental impact messages on them instead of how many people die a year or whatever else info they have. Honestly I know about all that - and so does everyone that smokes, we're not stupid...
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I can justify it as an environmental impact because it is an environmental impact as are nuclear enery plants and deforestation. However Those are more complicated subjects given our need for alternative energy sources and our dependance on wood for a large portion of our home building materials. I'm not saying that I support nuclear energy and deforestation, but they at least do more good for the world than being "trendy and social". And by the way anyone who still thinks smoking is trendy should go to the cancer ward in a hospital or talk to someone with a larengectomy to get a glimpse into the future. How can you justify harming your body and the environment just to be trendy?
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re: Jessica Taylor-Cassan ::
If you REALLY think people smoke because of it's shear "trendiness" you have a lot more problems than just the environment. They do have things in them which make them extremely addictive.
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i also agree have u ever had a dad that is always smoking well my dad is always smoking anyways hi im ten years old and i can never get him 2 stop smoking no madder Wat i do he keeps on smoking do u think u can give me any advice y 2 stop him
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Dear Ms. Evil.
No one can enlighten you - only you can do that.
Help yourself by browsing around the web and you'll find lots of info and statistics about the impact of smoking on the environment - butt litter, smoke, the industry and it's attitude towards it all etc. etc.
I wish you good luck and strength. You an do it.
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The planet isn't going to blow up from humans being environmentally careless. We are not going to destroy this planet. No, not even by smoking. The worst we are going to do it render it uninhabitable by humans. It will shake us off like a bad cold and move on.
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we will also render it uninhabitable for the other beings who inhabit it!!
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Probsbly so Accer, but for some reason i'd quite like to stick around...
People who smoke are addicts, and smoking is a prop for some perceived failure... to get people to stop, you have to find the root of the addiction, just like any other lethal drug... and it is lethal... it may take a bit longer than shooting heroin into your veins but it does the same job eventually...
Give people help, not lectures, and you might start to get somewhere.
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i hate smoking it is a desease
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Thx alot i needed this 4 my science project :-D
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where is the authors info?
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thx 2 this articl i quit smoking i really care about the enviorment
(\_/)
(O.O)
(>O
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I would like to meet a smoker here who care for the environment. Will you give up smoking after you read this post? You don't even care for your body and I believe you would have less care for mother nature.
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Wha i am finding quite interesting is that there are two opposing views quite clear on here... those who think smoking hasan effect onthe environment (non or ex smokers) and those who insist it does not (smokers). Well there's a surprise LOL..
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"The planet isn't going to blow up from humans being environmentally careless. We are not going to destroy this planet. No, not even by smoking."
That is seriously the most ignorant thing I've heard in a while. You should really consider what you wrote and think about it a little. In about 50 years we're not going to have most of the animals we have now because of global warming. Mainly because we took what we have for granted. I am definitely one of those people but I'm changing my life and what I do because I know it has an affect on the environment.
"I would like to meet a smoker here who care for the environment. Will you give up smoking after you read this post? You don't even care for your body and I believe you would have less care for mother nature."
I find this a bit amusing considering there are smokers on here that came here to find out more information about smoking and the affects it has on the environment (like myself). I give more a crap about the world I live in than myself and that will always be true. Just because we are slowly destroying ourselves doesn't mean we don't care about anything else.
Either way, I'm proud to say that I have lite my last cig today and I hope I can stick with it. I only hope that anyone else visiting this site that is a smoker will consider the world they live in more than their bad habit. I've been smoking for about 8 years and I'm glad to say I'm giving it up for the environment.
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i agree
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Ms Evil, well done on taking the plunge and making the attempt to give up. All anyone can do, is make an attempt to do their little bit to help, and all those little bits will add up to a huge difference. Good luck with it!
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Thank you very much. I couldn't agree more with you which is why I decided to do it. It's tough but if I get in a jam I'll just remind myself why I quit. Thanks for the support :)
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im so mad itired ov my daddy smokin he keeps on sayin thatv hes gonna qwit but next thing u no he smokin again
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thank you alot for this im doing a project and this info helped alot!!
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way to go ms evil!! good luck on quiting!
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very good article.
learned a lot i didnt know before
thank you!
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That was a reply to the person who said they smoke because it is "social and trendy". I realise they are addictive. I used to be a smoker.
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This article is very well detailed. thank you for posting it.
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i am doing my school speech on why smoking should be band!,...this article was very helpful to me and really made my speech a little let stressful for that time. thanks!
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lolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
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"One tree is wasted for every three hundred cigarettes produced" ...balderdash.
Methinks you have error by at least a few orders of magnitude.
Care to explain the basis of this unsubstantiated claim? Provide the data to back that up?
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i hate smoking its disgusting i wont ma friends and family to give up i absolutly hate it !!!!
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If you'd like a list of the sources that I used I would be more than happy to e-mail one to you.
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I'd be interested in that list of sources (specifically the one that makes the outlandish 300 sticks one tree claim) Since I'm sure others would be interested too, post the list somewhere on the web.
Total resource consumption calculations can be tricky. Unfortunately many widely circulated figures are grossly in error. Here is a very quick first approximation tool when attempting such a comparison: Use the current market values. How much does a tree log cost? (1log(tree 14"dia, 12' long)->50USD lumber & wood products at mill) How much does 300 sticks cost? (less excise tax, MSA
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(continuation)
....(less excise tax, MSA 300 sticks, less than 15USD). So, the 300 sticks equals one tree is off by _at_least_ a factor of three. Be very, very skeptical of energy/environment equivalence claims especially when used to promote a position or cause.
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Hey, I am working on a term paper, and I would really like the links to the resources if you could email me at
nouryounis at rogers dot blackberry dot net
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re:: sophie. n that's understandable but the people you love that smoke need to be ready to give it up. I've been smoke free now since nov. 25 and the only reason I gave it up was to live in a better world. If for anything else I honestly wouldn't have done it. But I just got done with the nicotine patch - which I hate those things but they really helped out, I only hope I can do this on my own now! My trick is reminding myself why I quit in the first place... that usually helps. Besides that I can smell it on people now, and some people are discusting. I know I was never that bad though b/c my non-smoking b/f would have told me how stinky I was. LOL But in all seriousness - if you know they care about the environment - show them this and do research to show them the big picture!
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re:: Jessica taylor-cassan.
Within the sources diid they help people stop or just cut down
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Re::ms.Evil.
I hate the fact that it harms my family nd i want them to be there when im older x
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Ms. Evil,
Are you aware that global warming is normal? It's part of the natural cycle to this planet. It's actually COLDER now than it was in the 1300's. And of course it's warmer....we are coming out of a mini ice age for heavens sake.
My problem with all of this is that feelings and opinions are being treated as fact and being acted upon as if it were real hard science. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Go back and look at the article. Then read the lengthy rants. Look for verifiable data. Look for provable facts. There is only one single source listed and THAT source is to how much the average smoker pays a year for cigarettes. Not an environmental impact study, not a health study. It's an editorial, meaning it's opinion. Quit treating opinions as fact. You have a brain, use it.
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Ms Evil.. really pleased you have managed to stay off them, well done you! I know it's hard but you'll feel better in yourself eventually, and you shuld be very proud of your effort.
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Re: Ursa1 :: I honestly could care less of your opinion of me. My decision was to quit to better the environment around me - not because of this article! I'm not that stupid I think I deserve more credit than that thank you. I quit b/c I knew how bad it was for everything around me and I knew it takes energy (and I'm sure a lot of it) to create ciggarettes and for that I don't feel right smoking anymore. Either way, my reasons are my own and for you to tell me that I'm not using my brain is just non-sense. Thanks for your concern but unlike what you sound like I love my planet and will put it before me. If you're so concerned about people reading this article and taking it the wrong way - why don't you create your own article with hard facts then?
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P.S. Re: Ursa1 -- I also think it's extremely crummy of you to have this kind of opinion of me without even knowing me first off. And secondly I think it's crummy that you're basically telling me to start smoking again (without so many words). At least this is what I gathered. Honestly a person can quit smoking for their own reasons regardless of what anyone else thinks and you shouldn't put them down just b/c they quit. If you're a smoker maybe you need to take a look in the mirror and see if it's really worth it.
Re: Stavy -- thank you so much for your support.
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So much for using your brain. I believe Ms. Evil that you stated in your writing that you have quit smoking to help the environment. Yup, that's what you wrote. Several times in fact. So it's pretty easy to gather the kind of person you are based on what you wrote. Based on faulty science, you quit smoking. You didn't do it for health reasons (which would have actually been valid for the one smoking) but for silly self-righteous "I'm saving the world" reasons. Have you given up meat as well?
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I'm sorry Sophie I meant sources where I got the information used in this article. There are a few websites to help people quit but they have to want to on their own aand for their own reasons.
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Jessica,
Are you by chance also a Vegan?
Ms. Evil,
Are you aware that millions of species of plants and animals have become extinct over the history of this planet? You might want to try a little actual scientific study reading. In 50 years it's most likely, according to real research and actual scientists, to be much COLDER than it is today. The sun is calming down again. In fact, and this is a FACT, the Russian Academy has actually issued an alert for global cooling. There are around 20,000 American scientists that have signed a petition calling global warming a non-issue. Congrats on quitting smoking, whatever your reasons. It's my opinion that your health is more important than any damage you personally were doing to the environment, but that is of course your call.
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:o thanks I'm using this for my essay
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Me. Evil,
I applaud you for your reasons to quit smoking for Whatever reason, as a smoker trying to quit for my own reasons...yes the environment being one of the main issues, My health being another. The cost...my family and yes my cat's health to...This thread has made me think a few things over and I think given me even more reason to quit so thank you.
I don't think there is any one right place to start concerning your self with the environment, as long as you do. If this is one way for you to do more of a part to help the environment I say good for you. If reading this article gave you more of an insight and started you thinking about some of the ramifications(Like it did for me) Then I say great, If stopping helps saves your health(supposing the damage if there is reversible) Then that's just a big bonus.
As for the article, Well It seems very logical that the information is very valid, Are the numbers and stats traceable,The Author seems to think so. And she is ready to email them if you ask nicely..or so she stated earlier,
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Thank you Greentechdog. As of yet none of the people questioning whether or not I made these things up have asked for the information. Good luck with quitting. It gets easier as time goes on.
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Regarding the mention of "global cooling", that's another example of hearing the exact opposite of a theory in the media, if you just wait long enough. I'd encourage anyone trying to quit smoking. It's interesting how some people just give it up immediately.
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Some of you posters really need to pull your head out of your butt. The reasons I quit are mine and mine alone - I don't have to answer to you twerps especially b/c you are putting me down like crazy. We all have opinions just like @$$holes and to each our own. So give up the arguing and go living your life.
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really if your trying to say your trying to quit then shut the heck up
and stop trying to give other reasons not to and how its not bad
you know it is we all do
so why dont you just do it and stop giving a car about how everyone is saying its bad because you know it is
"So give up the arguing and go living your life."
why dont you do that yourself
(:
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(continuation)
....(less excise tax, MSA 300 sticks, less than 15USD). So, the 300 sticks equals one tree is off by _at_least_ a factor of three. Be very, very skeptical of energy/environment equivalence claims especially when used to promote a position or cause.
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you're only factoring in the cost of the paper not the costs of packaging and drying. Do you know how they dry tobacco? also a lot of tobacco companies harvest and re-plant their own wood on their own land so market value really has nothing to do with it especially since according to the gnp there is no value for a tree that is still in the ground and for those that aren't the prices change all the time especially when the states buys most of their lumber from Canada. I also said approximately 300. I will email it to you if you are really that interested. I will not post it on the internet becuase that is not what a works cited page is for and a lot of the information I got was on the internet in the first place.
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I'm doing a debate on smoking. This helped out a bit thanks.
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This is good information to know. I am doing a report on how smoking affects your body and other stuff. This will help a lot. Thanks!
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you can't spel what?You should be happy that there is a website for kids/adults to learn how deadly smoking is to our enviroment as well as to our bodys-
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so my parents smoke and i can't get them to quit, i've told them billions of times how it harms them and others and me...their own daughter...but it still hasn't worked. anyway, this year i've become very environmentally conscience...so i started thinking how smoking puts out all that smoke into the air...it must have several negative impacts on the environment, so i decided to do some research! this actually has lots of good info...maybe if i tell this to my parents they'll quit...I hope! Thanks!!!!
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i would rather eat a box of pencils then smoke!
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Please can anyone help me? My next door neighbour is a very heavy smoker and opens his windows to let out the stench. Unfortunatly if I have my windows open the upper floor of my house smells like a tap room!! I have a young daughter and I am worried what breathing in this toxic second-hand smoke will do to our health. Who can I contact about it???
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this isnt a website to criticize people about what cant spellll, nor why someone stoped smoking. who carez if it was for the enviroment or for yourselves. this infurmation is great use. i am doimng a debate on it. save yourself, the enviroment, and your money. there are different reasons to quit smoking. my spellling errors are done on perpouse,it doesnt make me less of a person that i do so. i know it looks stupid, but grow up! argue about somthing else.
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claire iz so correct nd yes ppl do write like that on purpose nd this article does help...it really helped me nd i believe that ppl who smoke r retarded because why waste your time nd life on that. rite now our earth, our home, our planet iz dying because of causes like that...nd ppl now nd days dnt really have money bt they still go out nd buy smokes!!!nd now they r building stores that r dedicated to smokes!!!really do we need that???no we dnt... so really think about what u r doin before u go out nd smoke think bout what is happening, who u will affect, nd how it will affect u...
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THIS IS HORRIBLEEE !!!
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Yung Gottii-right here
go on youtube
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i never realized how bad smoking was for the enviroment thx :)
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Don't hate the smoker! Hate the ADDICTION! We SMOKERS may have started smoking, but I was 9 when my sister forced this nasty habit on me. DO YOU THINK I WANTED TO? No way! I am 27 years old and have asthma! I WANT TO QUIT, HAVE TRIED MORE THAN ENOUGH TIMES! It is hard. I know the effects on myself and others....it isn't that I don't care! Smoking is one of the HARDEST things I have ever tried to quit doing in my life! Before you are so JUDGMENTAL, tell me you haven't ever done anything harmful to the environment before! Don't throw stones if you can have them thrown back at you!
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Well I don't hate you for things that I don't agree with about what you do on a daily basis. I do think hate is a harsh word. I am looking this up to stop smoking and to see what effects I am having on the earth and people like you that don't express their opinion in a nice way is ridiculous. Maybe trying to help people and to inform them would be nice instead of being nasty.
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actually, theres no information. the only actual information is that roughly 30% of americans smoke and that roughly there are 4000 chemicals in cigarettes. honestly if there were 0 chemicals in cigarrettes they wouldn't be a material item. I wonder how many chemicals are in a tree? retard. thanks for enlightening me, I now know that cigarettes make smoke and people throw butts on the ground. Great Research!
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As an ex smoker I understand the hate for non smokers howeer people go on and on about smoking..why dont they use all their energy to focus on binge drinking, drug misuse, crime etc etc!! i could go on... so people smoke they have apportunites to quit it is very very difficult however it does cause bad health but so does mosth things in life...eating does aswel but there are mass amounts of overweight and obese people. so dont HATE people who fall in the catagory of smoking..i would not quit smoking at first because of people like you, because there was no support just complete arrogance!
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Thank You, your comment is waiting to be approved.
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hahahahahahaha JK
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Thanks for this info!! it really helped me on my persuasive essay! blahh!
i do agree with everything that she said!! it kills the person smoking and ALL the people around us!!! if you smoke, think of you F-ing children!! your killing them by the second EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU SMOKE!!!!!! IF YOU WANT TO DIE THEN GO AHEAD, BUT DONT TAKE YOUR KIDS WITH YOU!!!!!!
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Thank you SOOOO much for this info! It will really help for my school project/letter I'm sending to Taylor Lautner!
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Thankyou so much! This is just what I need for my english project, but i find this side of the stuff real interesting! :D
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When was this information last uptdated? (modification date)
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This info is all i need,may i use this for my project?Please.
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The future is not completely beyond our control. It is the work of our own hands.
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Wow! I Have a thought. If all of you turn off your computers how much electricity would we save? I'm sure most of you drive cars, and your not as green as you think you are. Here is a fact. Ridiculing others makes you feel better about your self .
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Please can one of the above bloggers direct me to one or more pubished scientific studies on the cost of smoking on the enivronment
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Smoking sources. Not all are scientific studies, but a lot of the info comes from scientific sources. This is just a start.
http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_determinants/life_style/Tobacco/Documents/eb582_smoking_env_en.pdf
http://www.whoschoosing.org.uk/smoking/environment.htm
http://www.sikhwomen.com/health/prevention/hazardsofsmoking.htm
http://www.chantixhome.com/passive_smoking_effects.html
http://www.smokefreekids.info/01env_main.htm
http://www.nswcc.org.au/editorial.asp?pageid=385
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/06/16/2276063.htm
http://www.region.durham.on.ca/departments/health/youthaction/smokingEnviro.htm
http://unionsafe.labor.net.au/hazards/105771149422246.html
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=943#toc
A smoking gun- how the American tobacco industry gets away with murder- Elizabeth M. Whelan
Earth in the Balance- Al Gore
Truth commercials on tv--- http://www.thetruth.com/
Assessing the effects of environmental tobacco smoke: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Regulation of the Committee on Environment - May 11, 1994
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I think your right I dont want the environment to be full of smokes and think about the animals what we eat if smokes get to the sea and kill all the fish well then thats our fault!!!
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yess u are really right i wanna help babies who are harmed by smokes when i grow up!!!!
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According to "The Green Book" if all the cigarettes smoked in the world every year were lit with cardboard matches instead of wood matches 5.5 million trees a year could be saved. I think that's assuming everyone who smokes would use matches instead of lighters.
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im very happy that i no that someone is actually doing something about the environment
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i wish we could ghave a better future with out that discusting smoke in the air!!!!!:)
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Thank You, your comment is waiting to be approved.
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You are so right!!!!!!!!
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oh!very interesting
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OMG i didnt kno all these info.. when i read it i was impressed and shoked but i dont SMOKE and never will
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wow cigarettes are really bad for you and the enivornment good job jessica :)
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Smoking is really bad, never try it!!!!!!!!!!!
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thanks you are really right
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Sorry about your grandma. Mine does to but I started hiding the packs and throwing them away and sometimes when she is half asleep i grab 'em and throw 'em out.
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well, if she was a grandma, she was not that young so, sorry, but cigarette was not that bad then.
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omg i have a HUGE project and this website helps sooooo much! thank you times a million:) now i know im gonna get an A!*********** thanks again
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Wow... I know smoking is bad for me, but the amount of energy this message took to circulate to the masses, I imagine It has done more harm than my cigarette(s) Thanks for trying, though..
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Okay... really? Individual smoking does contribute to "global warming" , yes. Keep in mind, though, that every time you start a car, turn on a light, take a crap, and even (gasp) exhale, you are contributing to "global warming". Even if every smoker on the planet quit, "global warming" would still occur, at pretty much the same rate.
People saying other people need to quit smoking because of the environment seriously need to just be quiet. You sound stupid. Seriously. The environment has been here for millions of years (THAT is a scientific FACT), and recent studies say that "global warming" will take many million more years to make the earth uninhabitable to humans (THAT is also a scientific FACT). "Global warming" is a non-issue.Everyone is freaking out about some ice melting, some polar bears dying. That's moronic.
If you think negatively of cigarettes, here is a news flash..... You - the individual - have the choice to.......NOT SMOKE. It's that simple. Don't try to be a treehugging hippie liberal and tell smokers to stop, because chances are, they're smarter than you. (I can already see someone saying "Well, he/she smokes and I don't. That makes me smarter than them." Save it. No one cares.)
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That's not helping anything. In reality, all that does is piss granny off.
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smoking really is bad
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omg this helped alot for an assingment in english!* thanks
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your welcome im glad i could help
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oh my gosh. that was great information. i had to do a reaserch project on this and i think i only need this info and i am pretty much done! thanks
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i need more information about tobacco and trees
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i agree with this because there is alot of smoking going on and not only with cigarets but with weed. People need to STOP cause they also cause second hand smoking
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make a slide show that will work
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I bet you are like 12 acting like your 45. So what? I bet you have cut and pasted before
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FISH LOVE TO SMOKE WEED
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thanks alot this helped alot with my homework
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r u black???
cause the way you type it seems it(:
im kinda racist so yea
Thanks
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dude, thank you SO much. your information was so helpful for our environmental science project. we couldnt have done it without you! :)
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this a an intresting dinomical intresting web.it is fablagasting through whole information.its a great website.
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watch me o okto
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yea yea i smoke
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kukubird
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