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Sadly, we haven’t been outside much lately, but, when we were, litter was everywhere. Especially cigarette butts! How does stepping on ammonia, butane, arsenic and stearic acid sound? It sounds gross, right? When you accidentally step on a littered cigarette butt, those are just some of the chemicals that are under your foot leaching into the environment.
Those JUUL pods and other vape products are not innocent either. The plastic pods contain many of the same chemicals as cigarettes, and others that are dangerous too. As someone who enjoys the outdoors it really frustrates me to see these tobacco products not only causing harm to humans, but to the environment and animals. Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world!
My FACT group had planned to participate in an Earth Day at the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee last weekend, but like many other things we enjoy, it was cancelled. We’re hoping it will take place later, but I’m also hoping that since things have been less busy, our environment has had time to heal. I used Earth Day as an opportunity to talk about the damage commercial tobacco has had on our environment via social media!
As a Messmer student and member of FACT, Wisconsin’s youth tobacco prevention program, I am determined to make a positive change through spreading the truth about tobacco including vapes in my community on Earth Day on social media. For more information on FACT, visit FACTmovement.org.
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