Smoking in public :(

Hello!
Today's post is basically going to be a rant- prepare yourself for this.
Oh yes, I hate smoking in public. I hate it so much. It's SELFISH,IGNORANT AND JUST IMPOLITE.

Credit to Google Images.

Now, let me tell you why I hate smoking in public that much. Enough to make an entire post about it. 

If it wasn't for 5-a-day week next week, I would have been posting about my love of fruit, really.

Why I hate smoking in public places

It's bad for the environment- Oh yes. It is. You see, when a smoker lights up that sinister combination of tobacco and paper, the fumes emitted are the real hazard. Not only to humans, but  to the environment. Do you really want to leave the earth as a horrible,polluted place to future generations? If yes, quit reading my blog- I beg you. Now, you may be wondering HOW exactly  smoking is bad for the environment. The fumes emitted by the cigarette escape into the air, and there's nothing good in that smoke. Nope, definitely not. If smoking wasn't bad for you, cigarette packets would have no warning labels on them. It's about time I show you a picture of what is IN cigarette smoke... 

Scientists have identified a LONG list of thousands of chemicals found in cigarette smoke. Amongst those, there are over 70 carcinogens (cancer-causing chemicals)

Credit to Google Images

If you would like to learn more about chemicals found in cigarette smoke, click here,here,here,here and here. Please note that ALL LINKS in this post are not owned by me and credit goes to the original creators respectively. Now, back to the point...

A lot of those chemicals can potentially damage the environment. The environment is not only damaged by the smoke- think of how economically unfriendly it is to manufacture so many cigarettes. The government puts warning labels on, sure, but they cannot stop the production of cigarettes. Why? Cigarette companies- they make money out of this. If they can no longer produce cigarettes, what happens?THEY GO BANKRUPT. Just like that.

The governments of the world may have the POWER to stop it, but if they do, they may just as well be spammed with all sorts of complaints, rants and petitions.

Since I am getting off-topic, let's just get to how cigarettes damage our environment. Approximately 600 million trees are cut down annually to provide trees to dry tobacco! (Source)Trees play a HUGE role in our environment, which covers things such as helping reduce global warming, providing us with oxygen and resources. Plus, trees are important to maintain many forms of life. Wait, there's more. What do you do with a cigarette once you finish with it? Yes, you discard it. How many times did you see a pavement full of cigarette butts? There are plenty of bins to discard them, but no- people still do not dispose of them properly. Personally, I believe action could be taken. There are already fines in my area for dropping cigarette butts- but people still ignore it. Disposing of cigarette butts properly should be strongly encouraged and it should be much easier to spot offenders. This is important, because dropped cigarette butts account for a lot of damage. Who would know that such small pieces of rubbish could do so much? First of all, bush and forest fires CAN be started by cigarette butts being discarded while they are still alight. This is damaging to the environment and the habitat of many animals.Bush fires can also KILL. Not only that, but it looks extremely unpleasant. What else can those butts do? They can be swallowed by innocent animals- and since cigarette butts STILL have chemicals and tobacco in them, it damages their health too. In fact, they have been found in stomachs of numerous animals including birds. How could a bird know the difference between edible food and carcinogenic litter? Finally, cigarette butts can even progress to the ocean and rivers. How? By falling and being washed down gutters. They make their way into the oceans, polluting them, which in turn affects marine life AND our water supply. How selfish can that be? I could say more, but I do not want to make a post too long. However, learn more about environmental damage from cigarettes by clicking one or more of the following 5 helpful links, and do some more research if you are very curious.

Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4, Source 5

Note I only used Source 1 for this article.ALL links in this post open up in a new window.

I trust all sources and believe they are of good quality.

Also, did you know that smoking could contribute to global warming? This may be because of chemicals such as carbon monoxide and methane, and the impact cigarettes have on trees. Learn more here! However, the effect smoking has on global warming is small, compared to other causes. If you wish to read more, there are many sources on the internet available.

On to health. Smoking doesn't just harm the smoker's health- it also harms whoever inhales the smoke.

Credit to Google Images.

While there are so many sources online , I will outline the main offenders as this post is starting to get very long, and it's Summer.

Anyway, here are the main health risks posed by inhaling cigarette smoke;-

-Increased risk of many cancers due to the carcinogens found in the smoke.

-Possible brain damage if exposure is severe due to chemicals such as lead and toluene.

-Smoke includes nicotine which can reach the brain in 30 seconds, is harmful, and also addictive.

Cigarette smoke can wreck your health, especially if you smoke yourself or are around smokers VERY often. If you would like to learn more, here are 5 sources; here, here , here, here and here.

Pregnant women should not smoke because it can seriously damage the developing foetus. I find that smoking in public is very selfish, as it harms other people who did absolutely nothing. There are COUNTLESS of harmful effects of smoking, to both the smoker and anyone breathing in the smoke.

There is a lot more I could say, and you can let me know if you need me to expand on anything because I'm quite sure I can. I avoid cigarette smoke as much as I can, which is really difficult and irritating. I need to watch for smokers and hold my breath- if I have any more to say, that will be another post.

Again, thank you so much for reading this post. Please click here :)

-Queen Pickle