Sunday, August 30, 2009

POLLUTION: Cigarette Smoking and the Planet

By Lisa A Mason

It's a known fact that smoking is bad for your health and the environment but how does it affect the planet overall. 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 that you breathe in everyday. There are many other problems caused by smoking as well.

How cigarette smoking affects the planet and its inhabitants:

  • Did you know that cigarettes contain over four thousand chemicals, all of which are released into the air you breathe each time a smoker exhales?

  • What happens to the cigarette butts that get throw in the garbage or on the ground? They account for roughly 1.7 billion pounds of the non-biodegradable trash found on the planet today. Many of them end up in the lakes and rivers that supply drinking water for the community.

  • Studies have shown that cigarette butts that end up in the water supply are toxic to the fish, causing them to die.

  • Growing tobacco requires the use of more pesticides per acre than any other crop grown, which greatly adds to the poor air quality the world faces each day.

  • Did you know that it can take a cigarette butt approximately twenty-five years to decompose? During which time all the chemicals found in cigarettes are slowly polluting the soil and plants in the surrounding area.

  • Trees are cut down and used as fuel to dry out the tobacco so it can be prepared to be used in cigarettes and for packaging purposes. It's estimated that 600 million trees are destroyed each year for this purpose.

  • Consider for one moment the amount of energy and water used to manufacturer cigarettes.

  • Cigarette smoking has even been linked to many wild fires that have destroyed homes and property throughout the years. When people throw their butts out the window of their vehicle or on the grown during dry seasons, this can start up a fire very quickly.

A smoke free environment has many advantages that reach far above the ones you'll notice personally. It will greatly improve the air quality inside your home and out but it will also help to improve the planet in many other ways.

Lisa Mason is a freelance writer with a specialty in Internet content and SEO articles and the author of How to Earn a Living Writing for the Internet. She has written thousands of articles, hundreds of ebooks and thousands of website pages and related content.

Lisa Mason, Professional wordsmith for hire: gamer, wife, mother, entrepreneur, published poet, co-owner of game guides company (http://www.liti4.com), public speaker and Internet business consultant. You can learn more or follow Lisa's blog from her website: http://www.freelancewriter4hire.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lisa_A_Mason
http://EzineArticles.com/?Cigarette-Smoking-and-the-Planet&id=2681501

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