Litter
Cigarette butts and cigarette packets cause litter. Smokers in
the U.K. throw away about 20 million cigarette packets and about 300
million butts every day (which is a huge amount!). Many of
these end up adding litter to the streets, dirtying floors and
damaging furniture.
Fire
Smoking is linked to accidental damage and loss of life through
fire. Tobacco contains additives to keep the cigarette alight
- this increases the risk of fire.
Some fires are started by small
children playing with matches or lighters which have been left
around by smokers.
Throwing away a lighted cigarette
or match near a forest can be very dangerous. A forest fire
destroys everything in its path. Because young trees are
destroyed along with older trees the damage is long-lasting and
expensive.
Farming Tobacco
Cigarettes are made from dried leaves of tobacco plants.
Tobacco is grown in many parts of the world, especially in the
poorer, developing countries - e.g. Brazil and India. Growing
tobacco is a way for these countries to make much needed money.
Many poorer countries use wood to
dry tobacco and have to cut down many trees to do this. In
countries where wood is used for cooking and heating then if it is
also used to dry tobacco, there is less for the people to use to
cook their food and heat their homes.
Tobacco companies encourage many
local farmers in the poorer countries to grow tobacco instead of
food even when there are food shortages. This can mean less
food available for the local community.
Tobacco plants take more nutrients
from the soil than many other crops and because of this the land is
made less fit for growing food.
Cutting down Forests
Cigarettes are wrapped in paper and are sold in packets.
They use large amounts of paper and therefore a lot of trees.
Cutting down trees is one of the
biggest threats to our environment. Tree roots bind the soil
together. The leaves draw moisture into the air. When
the trees are cut down, rainfall is reduced and erosion of the soil
is increased. This can leave a bare landscape where nothing
useful can be grown. Land which might have been used for food
crops may be useless.
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