Going Green
American Spirit cigarette magazine ad
For the second year, I have made CHS’s eco-week a reality. We now have a recycling trailer at school, recycling bins in every classroom, and Student Government has spread environmental awareness about the dangers our earth is facing. More importantly, though, we’ve offered solutions (i.e. Recycle the piles of landfill, also known as paper products, out of your backpack instead of dumping them in a trash can on the last day of school.).
Toilet Paper made of 100% recycled office paper and its biodegradable
Getting down to earth is more popular than ever… Natural, organic, eco-friendly, and green are popping up on advertisements everywhere. For Pete’s sake, there’s recycled toilet paper (made from recycled paper, not used toilet paper)! American Spirit (above) is embracing the green attitude.
Envirosax Robot Reusable bag
Yet there’s a definite difference in cool robot reusable bags or “freshly picked gum” (whatever that means…) and “natural” tobacco. The thing is, tobacco is never going to be doing wonders for the environment. To really know what Big Tobacco’s game plan is, we need to know the facts and stats.
The United States is the fourth leading producer of tobacco worldwide.[1] This means that we are actually growing the addictive products we manufacture. And we grow a lot. Some may argue that farmers need to grow tobacco; their livelihood depends on this crop. Though this is a somewhat reasonable statement, corn is a very popular vegetable consumed and liked by almost every kid I know. For the record, spinach is used increasingly in salads and is a key factor in Amma’s (my grandmother’s) spinach and mashed potatoes, hence the name spinach and mashed potatoes. Also, rice may be a consideration since it can be used to feed starving kids in Africa (Go to freerice.com to feed people rice in third-world countries.). There are many ways to do good deeds in the farming industry besides growing tobacco.
[1] http://www.who.int/tobacco/en/atlas16.pdf
Great white stalking a kayak
To grow tobacco, a plant prone to many diseases, one must use numerous pesticides.[2] If you are unfamiliar with pesticides, they are chemicals that kill bugs dead. Although some bugs are pests and can destroy crops, pesticides are still chemicals. Chemicals are not entirely soaked up by the tobacco plant. Instead, they seep into soil which gets into ground water (yes, that is where tap water comes from.), lakes, ponds, and streams. Those pesticides can be harmful to the fish, microorganisms, and pet sharks that may be swimming in those water areas. Tobacco may be able to grow without the pesticides that annihilate wildlife and pet sharks, but most is grown the cheap and easy way.
[2] http://www.toxicfreenc.org/informed/pdfs/Tobacco_chems.pdf
As you are most probably aware, grass has a wet substance on it every morning. The dew makes the grass slippery, moist, and annoyingly wet as you walk trough it in flip-flops. Tobacco growers face risk of illness from dew! Isn’t it crazy that Dewmonotheria is running rampant among tobacco growers? Just kidding! As of present, there is no Dewmonotheria. However, tobacco growers face a “green” risk. When the tobacco leaves are wet, natural nicotine (There is some in tobacco already and then Big Tobacco adds more.) seeps into harvesters skin, giving them Green Tobacco Sickness (GTS). [3]
Tobacco is grown in many countries besides the U.S., so don’t feel too special. In underdeveloped countries, tobacco farming leads to deforestation![4] As these countries are in a demand for curing barns and a substance to fuel the tobacco epidemic, they cut down valuable trees. If we break “deforestation” down, it means the DEstruction of FORESTS! As our worldwide population continues to increase, trees are being cut down right and left. We need these trees because they provide habitats for animals. I don’t mean to sound like a hippie, but forests are home to some darn right adorable creatures and it’s important that they stay there forever. What would a world be without chipmunks, squirrels, birds, and butterflies?
[3] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1497768/
[4] http://www.who.int/tobacco/en/atlas16.pdf
Without forests, a species may become extinct, which would help other animals to become endangered and extinct. Once you take Bio, you’ll learn that everything, and I do mean everything is inter-connected.
Growing process aside, tobacco will continue to harm the environment. When scientists tested the Water Flea (a microscopic fleck of plankton), they found that the chemicals in tobacco are extremely toxic. This is almost a “duh” moment. Well, duh they’re toxic to flecks of plankton. If they cause cancer in humans, an organism that is practically invisible will probably also be affected.
Not to be forgotten, cigarette litter is prominent. In Britain, butts were found in 77% of locations all across the country. And these aren’t booties we’re talking about either. It’s butts.
Go to Wal-Mart and by a bag of kitty litter and dump it on the beach. People would go crazy if they saw how you were inhibiting their nice day of building sand castles. Cigarette litter makes an uglier site than kitty litter and is toxic to the environment. Way to go Big Tobacco. It may be the people’s fault for putting their butts on the ground, but, hey, you’re the ones making your products so addictive.
Cigarette litter on the beach
The Earth is NOT an ashtray. It deserves to be protected. After all, we’re the ones that have to be here. We don’t have a plan, or a planet, B. There is no back-up plan. It’s time Big Tobacco learned who’s boss. We have environmentalists on our side!
Love, love, love a gagillion million robot reusable bags,
AP
PS: If you’re interested in stopping tobacco litter on your parks and beaches, pass an ordinance that keeps those places free of tobacco use for the Earth’s sake. Remember, if it can hurt a human, which it does 88 times a day in Florida, it can hurt someone’s pet shark. And chipmunks. And orca whales.
This will be me one day!
