A new report paints a damning picture of the environmental impacts of tobacco farming. In a single year, the industry is responsible for the deforestation of over 600 million trees, the use of 22 billion tons of water and the emission of a whopping 84 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It is the time the heaviest hitters in this industry -- who have spent decades ravishing the health of the planet and people's bodies -- take responsibility for the devastation they've produced.
Sign now to demand Big Tobacco companies pledge to cover the costs of pollution and invest in methods to offset emissions!
The report, which was released by the World Health Organization, shows that tobacco doesn't just hurt individual people's bodies, but the entire planet as well. Yet the impacts of tobacco don't just come from production. The products produced by the industry are the most littered items on the planet, containing thousands of toxic chemicals which quickly leech into local environments when thrown out onto parks or roadways.
Ironically, the tactics of climate denialism have come directly from Big Tobacco's playbook. For decades, tobacco corporations lied to governments and misled the public about the potentially fatal impacts of smoking. Energy companies then used the exact same strategies to muddy the science on global warming, even though climatologists have been certain that the planet is heating up and humanity has played a role in this heat by emitting greenhouse gasses for nearly half a century. Now, this climate denialism is working to the advantage of Big Tobacco, who is partially responsible for climate chaos.
Clearly tobacco production is destroying both people's bodies and the planet. What makes all of these impacts so much worse is that tobacco is typically grown in low-income countries, taking up vital land where food could be grown for local people. It is time the major tobacco corporations -- China National Tobacco Company, British American Tobacco, Philip Morris International, Imperial Brands, Altria Group, and Japan Tobacco International -- pledge to offset emissions and pay for the damaging costs of pollution. We must put pressure on the industry to make up for the devastation they've caused! Sign the petition now if you agree!
