Publications
Q: Is smoking connected to global warming at all?
A: No, there's no evidence that cigarette smoke contributes to climate change in any significant way.
However, one can certainly argue that tobacco plantations require clearing of natural vegetation, and manufacturing of cigarettes requires use of resources and spews out pollution -- all these aspects add more carbon into the atmosphere, thus contributing to climate change.
The manufacture of products generally requires resources and generates waste, so cutting back on products we don't need (Reducing) is one of the key ways to fight climate change and other forms of environmental degradation. Cigarettes, which cause potential harm at any level of use to the consumer and those in the immediate vicinity, and lead to a huge burden on health systems worldwide, are one product the planet and the human race could definitely do without.
- Olivia Rose-Innes, EnviroHealth Editor, Health24, December 2012
Post a question on the EnviroHealth Forum
