The negative impact of tobacco on the environment is little known but very real.

When we talk about the tobacco and cigarette industry, we often talk about health impacts. Lung cancer, throat cancer, disturbed pregnancies, but also lung infections, asthma... the consequences of smoking on health are very numerous. But this is not the only serious consequence of this industry. Indeed, if smoking kills, it also kills our environment and our planet. And we are not just talking about the cigarette butts that are thrown into the environment and take decades or even centuries to degrade. What if we told you that your cigarette rhymes with deforestation, pesticides, pollution and climate change? 

Yet the smoke from all cigarettes accounts for 0.2% of global greenhouse gas emissions. That's almost as much as a country like Israel! Cigarette butts: 845,000 tons of waste are produced every year, the equivalent of the weight of 3,755 Statues of Liberty. In terms of production, we know that tobacco growing is responsible for 5% of global deforestation. Trees are cut down to grow tobacco plants, but also as fuel. 11.4 million tons of wood are needed each year just to dry the tobacco leaves. This time it is 50,666 times the weight of the Statue of Liberty... Then wood has to be cut again to make paper and packages: 15 cigarette packages is one tree cut. 

The amount of water needed to grow tobacco is also problematic. A tobacco plant needs 10 times more water than a potato plant. And smoking 20 cigarettes a day for 50 years depletes 1.4 million litres of water. 

Every year, 6,000 billion cigarettes are manufactured. 90% of this production is concentrated in developing countries. In Malawi, for example, 80,000 miners are said to be working in the tobacco fields today. They are exposed to dangerous pesticides, such as DDT, which is banned in most developed countries because of its high environmental and health impact. These pesticides can cause birth defects, tumours or neurological disorders.

 In Kenya, 26 per cent of tobacco workers are reported to show symptoms of pesticide poisoning. The tobacco industry as a whole consumes as much energy each year as the construction of 2 million cars. In 2015, it would have emitted the equivalent of about 8.76 million tonnes of CO2, or 3 million transatlantic flights. 

So save the planet and yourself and STOP SMOKING!

sources:https://truthinitiative.org/research-resources/harmful-effects-tobacco/tobacco-and-environment

https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/serious-effects-cigarette-smoking-environment-and-human-health.php