Are Electronic Cigarettes Better for the Environment Than Real Cigarettes?
- Written by News Feature Team
Most people are at least somewhat aware of the health and financial benefits associated with switching from real cigarettes to electronic cigarettes, but many people are less aware of the environmental advantages. You might think the small amount of smoke you exhale from a cigarette is insignificant, but smokers collectively account for the same amount of carbon dioxide emissions as half the world's vehicles every year.
Electronic cigarettes, on the other hand, only emit water vapour, so you can imagine how much the world would benefit if everybody were to give up real cigarettes for the more modern counterpart. In addition to reducing carbon emissions, electronic cigarettes help minimise the number of cigarette butts that get thrown onto the streets, and they help prevent the spread of deforestation that's caused by an increasing demand for tobacco fields.
The Bigger Picture
Everybody who's attempted to quit smoking knows how challenging it is to overcome addiction, but with electronic cigarette starter kits, you can take the first step towards putting down the cigarettes for good and still get your nicotine fix. Plus, by switching to e-cigs, you can help reduce the adverse effects that smoking has on the environment.
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Fewer Littered Butts
It's easy to think that throwing something as small a cigarette butt on the floor or down the drain is harmless, but that's far from the truth. In reality, cigarette butts account for the majority of littered items, and an estimated 1.6 billion pounds of them end up as toxic waste each year. Cigarette butts can harm animals and damage waterways, and contrary to popular belief, they are non-biodegradable. -
Deforestation
Most of us don't think about how cigarettes are made when we're getting our nicotine fix, but the manufacturing process is the opposite of environmentally friendly. In undeveloped nations, as many as 600 million trees are cleared annually to cure tobacco leaves and make way for new fields, and it takes four miles of paper every hour to wrap cigarettes during the manufacturing process. -
Pollution
It's true that the amount of carbon dioxide you exhale when smoking is virtually insignificant. However, when you take all the smokers in the world into account, the carbon dioxide emissions are equal to about 2.6 billion kilogrammes annually. It turns out that the chemicals found in cigarettes are just as harmful to the environment as your body.
Getting Nicotine the Green Way
Because electronic cigarettes are still relatively new, we're yet to discover the true extent of their effects on the environment, but most scientists agree that cigarettes are significantly more harmful. Add the environmental benefits to the advantages associated with health, and you can see why vaping is only increasing in popularity as time goes on.
By switching to electronic cigarettes, you'll help slow down deforestation, minimise the number of butts on our streets, and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that gets released into our atmosphere. Plus, you'll likely add years onto your life and be able to enjoy various flavours of e-liquid in the process.