Smoking products destroy forests worldwide.

They try and make it seem like smoking is a part of the great outdoors. But in reality… Their products destroy forests worldwide. See, in the process of making cigarettes, the tobacco leaves needs to be dried.

Often, this is done by burning wood for as long as seven days. That’s a whole week of burning wood. It can take up to five point seven pounds of wood just to make enough tobacco for one pack of cigarettes.

ONE PACK. And that’s not even including the paper on the cigarettes or the packaging. How many packs of cigarettes do you see behind the counter at the convenience store? Think about it.

That’s a lot of tobacco products AND lot of trees that are being cut down to make them. In fact, the entire process destroys four hundred and ninety-four THOUSAND acres of forest every year. That’s eleven times the size of Washington D.C. EVERY YEAR just to make cigarettes.

Some people say that tobacco-related deforestation isn’t that big of a deal when compared to other reasons trees are cut down. But 35 countries are facing some really serious environmental consequences because of this process.

In South Africa, tobacco accounts for 12% of all deforestation. In some Asian countries, it is even worse. Korea, for example, blames 45% of its deforestation on tobacco production.

Plus, on top of all the trees that are being cut down, you have the tons of CO₂ being put into the atmosphere because of this constant wood burning. And it’s all just to make cigarettes. We have to use trees to make a lot of things, I know that. But are cigarettes really worth all this?

So you wanna know why I’m tobacco free? Cause I care about the environment.

That’s Y.

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