Time to Stop Smoking

[pfister1]

Not only is smoking bad for you.....but it makes a mess of the environment.

I was picking up litter in my neighborhood on my cool down following my daily run and couldn't believe how many cigarette butts I picked up..

​

Facts about Cigarette Butts and Smoke​

In addition to the harms of using tobacco, cigarette waste creates a hazard and expense. Know these facts:

1. Most cigarette filters, the part that looks like white cotton, are actually made of plastic fibers (cellulose acetate) which can take up to 10 years to decompose!
2. Toxic compounds in cigarette butts can include formaldehyde, nicotine, arsenic, lead, copper, chromium, cadmium, and a variety of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
3. Butt waste is everywhere: 99% of the 360 billion cigarettes sold have cellulose acetate (plastic) filters; at least one-third of those – 120 billion – are discarded into the environment. Washed into rivers, lakes and the ocean, and eaten by birds, animals and fish, they are the most littered item in the U.S. and the world.
4. Butt waste is not biodegradable: Filters are non-biodegradable, and while ultraviolet rays from the sun will eventually break them into smaller pieces, the toxic material never disappears.
5. Smoking-related debris is 1/3 or more of all debris items found on U.S. beaches and in rivers and streams.
6. Cigarette butts leach organic chemicals and heavy metals into the environment that are toxic to fresh and salt-water fish.
7. Cigarette butts make up 34 percent of the total litter collected in California.
8. Cigarette waste is a significant contributor to storm drain trash.
9. Discarded cigarette butts have been linked to wildfires, which result in the destruction of wildlife, vegetation and structures.
10. California public agencies spend in excess of $41 million annually on litter clean up.

Facts about Cigarettes and Smoke Courtesy of UC Berkley

 

[CuseTroop]

I smoked for 10 years, quit about 5 years ago. My favorite hobby before moving from Alaska was guilt tripping people for tossing their butts on the ground.

I’d walk up right behind strangers or tourists “That sh!tt might fly in the lower 48, but you’re in Alaska now. Pick that shiitt up” Maaan folks would hustle quick to pick it up.
I like to think at least a few of them learned a lesson.

 

[BillSU]

I smoked for 10 years, quit about 5 years ago. My favorite hobby before moving from Alaska was guilt tripping people for tossing their butts on the ground.

I’d walk up right behind strangers or tourists “That sh!tt might fly in the lower 48, but you’re in Alaska now. Pick that shiitt up” Maaan folks would hustle quick to pick it up.
I like to think at least a few of them learned a lesson.

Here are more lovely things that go into your lungs when you are a smoker:
Tobacco smoke is made up of thousands of chemicals, including at least 70 known to cause cancer.

These cancer-causing chemicals are referred to as carcinogens. Some of the chemicals found in tobacco smoke include:

• Nicotine (the addictive drug that produces the effects in the brain that people are looking for)
• Hydrogen cyanide
• Formaldehyde
• Lead
• Arsenic
• Ammonia
• Radioactive elements, such as polonium-210 (see below)
• Benzene
• Carbon monoxide
• Tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs)
• Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

Many of these substances cause cancer. Some can cause heart disease, lung disease, or other serious health problems, too. Most of the substances come from the burning tobacco leaves themselves, not from additives included in cigarettes (or other tobacco products).

 

[Roger N]

I smoked for 10 years, quit about 5 years ago. My favorite hobby before moving from Alaska was guilt tripping people for tossing their butts on the ground.

I’d walk up right behind strangers or tourists “That sh!tt might fly in the lower 48, but you’re in Alaska now. Pick that shiitt up” Maaan folks would hustle quick to pick it up.
I like to think at least a few of them learned a lesson.

So glad you gave it up. I smoked for almost 40 years and quit cold turkey 24 years ago. Got lung cancer in 2018 and cured it in stage one.

I picked up my butts the last 20 years of my smoking. I can’t imagine why people smoke today

 

[gmoney44]

I’ve never been a smoker but when I was a private in the Army I was always picking up cigarette butts. It drove me nuts because at that time there were places to put your cigarette butts everywhere you looked. As I added more chevrons to my collar I would light up every smoker I saw throwing their butts on the ground.

To this day every time I see a smoker flick a butt out of their car I want to light them up like back in the day.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I’ve never been a smoker but when I was a private in the Army I was always picking up cigarette butts. It drove me nuts because at that time there were places to put your cigarette butts everywhere you looked. As I added more chevrons to my collar I would light up every smoker I saw throwing their butts on the ground.

To this day every time I see a smoker flick a butt out of their car I want to light them up like back in the day.

Thank you for your service to the country and the planet. Seriously.

 

[UpstateSM]

The most badass thing my lifelong-smoker father does is rip the filters off his cigs before he smokes. My friends love it. Lol. He will usually put the filter in his pocket when he is driving to he doesn't litter. Not badass that it is a when, not an if, cigarettes will kill him but consequences of your actions and all that and he has cut way back in the last few years.

My gf is about a month into quitting right now (going better than expected) but what bothered me the most was the pile of butts on the ground by our porch. I had no real problem with her smoking but that bothered me sooooooo much. They were always picked up and thrown out but it made me feel like white trash walking past the pile to get into my house.

It is nice to have two cautionary tales because I will rip darts when I am partying if I feel like it but I don't smoke sober because I have no desire to develop an addiction that I will have to kick at some point.

 

[donniesyracuse]

Not only is smoking bad for you...but it makes a mess of the environment.

I was picking up litter in my neighborhood on my cool down following my daily run and couldn't believe how many cigarette butts I picked up..

​

Facts about Cigarette Butts and Smoke​

In addition to the harms of using tobacco, cigarette waste creates a hazard and expense. Know these facts:

1. Most cigarette filters, the part that looks like white cotton, are actually made of plastic fibers (cellulose acetate) which can take up to 10 years to decompose!
2. Toxic compounds in cigarette butts can include formaldehyde, nicotine, arsenic, lead, copper, chromium, cadmium, and a variety of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
3. Butt waste is everywhere: 99% of the 360 billion cigarettes sold have cellulose acetate (plastic) filters; at least one-third of those – 120 billion – are discarded into the environment. Washed into rivers, lakes and the ocean, and eaten by birds, animals and fish, they are the most littered item in the U.S. and the world.
4. Butt waste is not biodegradable: Filters are non-biodegradable, and while ultraviolet rays from the sun will eventually break them into smaller pieces, the toxic material never disappears.
5. Smoking-related debris is 1/3 or more of all debris items found on U.S. beaches and in rivers and streams.
6. Cigarette butts leach organic chemicals and heavy metals into the environment that are toxic to fresh and salt-water fish.
7. Cigarette butts make up 34 percent of the total litter collected in California.
8. Cigarette waste is a significant contributor to storm drain trash.
9. Discarded cigarette butts have been linked to wildfires, which result in the destruction of wildlife, vegetation and structures.
10. California public agencies spend in excess of $41 million annually on litter clean up.

Facts about Cigarettes and Smoke Courtesy of UC Berkley

Just more woke propaganda trying to cancel the American tobacco farmer.

 

[CuseBlood44]

Zyn is the way to go for anyone trying to quit. Come and take it cryin chuck

 

[tbonezone]

he said BUTT WASTE !!!

 

[CarolinaCuse]

Not a PSA or a lecture, but a life story. My mom smoked for 22 years. She gave it up in the early 80s. She was diagnosed in December with stage 4 lung cancer that had metastasized to a few different parts of her body. She passed away in late February. She never had any health issues prior to her diagnosis. She lived a good and full life into her 80s, but I wish she hadn’t smoked, and I wish I hadn’t seen what the cancer could do someone. F*** cancer.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Not a PSA or a lecture, but a life story. My mom smoked for 22 years. She gave it up in the early 80s. She was diagnosed in December with stage 4 lung cancer that had metastasized to a few different parts of her body. She passed away in late February. She never had any health issues prior to her diagnosis. She lived a good and full life into her 80s, but I wish she hadn’t smoked, and I wish I hadn’t seen what the cancer could do someone. F*** cancer.

Sorry for your loss.