Vaping vs Smoking: Which Is Easier On The Environment?
You may have wondered how much healthier vaping is for you than smoking, but have you considered how much healthier it may be for the environment? Take a look at the following ways that cigarettes harm our planet and how vaping is a better alternative.
Two words: cigarette butts
Cigarette butts are everywhere, and it’s only getting worse. That’s because used butts sit around for years – ten or 12 or more – before breaking down. That’s right – if you were to flick a cigarette butt out of your car window on your 20th birthday and then live through your entire 20s, the same cigarette butt could very well still be sitting right where it landed ten years later when you turned 30 – and beyond. Cigarette butts are virtually non-biodegradable, and with the average smoker discarding thousands of them every year, the total adds up exponentially. The good news is that with the rise in the popularity of vaping, the number of smokers is dropping, meaning fewer and fewer cigarette butts littering our streets.
Rampant deforestation
Did you know that 15 packs of cigarettes represent one entire tree? That means that, in a given year, even a relatively light smoker is singlehandedly responsible for the cutting down of six trees. By the way, trees produce oxygen, and smokers produce tons of carbon dioxide and methane, so it’s a twofold problem, and a serious one. Instead of continuing to smoke, you can do your part in a big way by making the switch to vaping. You’ll not only be burning and exhaling fewer pollutants into the air, but you’ll be saving a huge number of oxygen-producing trees over time.
Climate change, full speed ahead
There’s no question that the world needs to go on a CO2 diet. Smoking itself is low-hanging fruit when it comes to keeping all of that unwanted carbon dioxide out of our atmosphere. Tobacco companies produce trillions of cigarettes every year, and in the process, distribute millions of tons of CO2 directly into our vulnerable atmosphere. All the misinformation out there notwithstanding, global climate change has already produced observable effects in the form of shrinking glaciers, trees that flower earlier in the year, longer and more intense heatwaves, and more. Scientists know that human activity is the major cause of these changes, so switching from smoking to vaping is a significant step that you can take as an individual to make a difference.
Chemicals = pollution
One cigarette contains over 5,000 different chemicals that are released into the air when the cigarette burns. Cigarettes may seem like tobacco wrapped in paper, but in reality, they are more like chemical cocktails that create chemical-laden smoke and result in chemical-leaching butts that litter our roads, parks, gardens, and waterways. While some of these chemicals are naturally present in the tobacco plant, many others are added during the processing of the tobacco leaves or produced when the cigarette burns. Incidentally, roll-up tobacco cigarettes contain the same chemicals as manufactured smokes, so don’t make the mistake of believing that you can sidestep this kind of environmental harm by rolling your own. Why not buy a vape online today and avoid unleashing all these chemicals into our environment?
It’s easy to see that vaping is much less harmful to the environment than smoking – it’s just that simple. Whether you decide to try disposable cigalikes or a complex vape mod – or even something more novel such as an e-pipe or e-cigar – you’ll be doing your part to help save our planet.