Save the Environment by Vaping - Don't Devastate It by Smoking
We live in a world where millions of cars pour carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere on a daily basis. Therefore, you wouldn't think that smoking herb would have a negative impact on the environment.
But smoking pipes and joints do have serious consequences on the climate. And environmentally conscious herb lovers should definitely choose vaping.
Let's discuss why smoking is so harmful to the environment, and why vaping is the superior choice.
We'll also cover the following topics:
- Stats/studies showing that smoking herb harms the environment.
- Why smoking herb & CO2 destroy our atmosphere.
- The environmental benefit of vaping.
- Why the devastating impact of smoking herb should alarm you.
- Limited Time Deal on all Hippie Herbal Vaporizers!
Smoking Pot Sends Crazy CO2 Emissions into the Environment
Evan Mills, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, led a 2011 study on marijuana's environmental impact (1). One of Mills' key findings is that smoking a single marijuana joint releases 2 pounds worth of harmful carbon dioxide emissions.
Marijuana's CO2 emissions don't seem so bad when compared to automobiles. After all, cars release approximately 24 pounds of CO2 for every gallon of gas (2).
But then again, the average marijuana user consumes far more than a single joint each year. According to the Colorado Futures Center, the average pot smoker buys/consumes 3.53 oz. annually, or 100 grams (3).
So how does this relate to the 2 pounds of CO2 released by a single joint?
Research from Drug and Alcohol Dependence estimates that 0.66 grams of marijuana are in each joint (4).
Let's take this figure and calculate how many CO2 pounds the average marijuana smoker puts into the atmosphere:
- 1 joint = 0.66 grams of marijuana.
- The average pot user consumes 100 grams annually.
- This means they smoke 151.5 joints per year (100/0.66).
- We multiply 151.5 joints x 2 pounds (CO2 per joint).
- The average pot smoker puts 303 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere annually.
Again, cars are harder on the environment in the long run. But 303 pounds of carbon dioxide is akin to using 12.6 gallons of gas (303/24).
Every bit of CO2 counts with regard to harming the atmosphere. And smoking marijuana - rather than vaping it - releases a significant amount.
How Much Pot-Related CO2 is Emitted Each Year?
As covered above, the average marijuana user floats 303 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air. So how many pounds are released altogether each year?
The United Nations reports that 158.8 million people worldwide use marijuana regularly - or 2.1% of the global population (5).
Thanks to vaping, not all of these people smoke weed through blunts, joints, and glass pipes. Unfortunately, we can't find statistics on how many people vape pot versus smoking it.
Therefore, we'll use stats on American tobacco smoking habits, which show that 10% of tobacco users vape versus 15% who smoke (6).
In other words, 60% more people are smoking than vaping [15 / (10 + 15)].
Now, let's plug these numbers in to see how much pot-related CO2 is emitted every year:
- 158.8 million people use marijuana around the world.
- 95.28 million people are smoking marijuana (158.8 x 0.60).
- We multiply 95,280,000 people x 303 pounds (CO2 per year).
- 28,869,840,000 pounds of CO2 are released into the atmosphere every year from marijuana.
Again, this is a rough number that we calculated based on the percentage of tobacco users who smoke versus vaping.
But if the CO2 amount released via marijuana smoke is even close to 28.87 billion pounds, that's shocking!
Also, consider that this only accounts for smoking cannabis. People enjoy smoking other herbs that also release carbon dioxide into the environment.
So we can only assume that the amount of herb-created CO2 is much greater than the 28.87 billion pounds of marijuana alone.
What does Carbon Dioxide Do to the Atmosphere?
We've covered how extra CO2 in the atmosphere isn't good. But what exactly does carbon dioxide do to the environment?
Here are some key problems caused by excessive CO2:
- Greenhouse Effect - Carbon dioxide is a natural greenhouse gas. Others include methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor. Greenhouse gases absorb the sun's energy and redirect it towards the Earth's surface to keep our planet warm (7). This is a great service in moderate amounts. But an abundance of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses will trap excessive heat in our atmosphere.
- Global Warming - A byproduct of the first point is global warming. As the Earth warms, ice caps melt, ocean levels rise, and flooding occurs. The rising water levels also submerge coastal areas (8).
- Less Cooling from Trees and Plants - Trees and plants take in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. Their pores also release water into the air (a.k.a. evapotranspiration), which cools the atmosphere. But if there's too much CO2 floating around, tree and plant pores shrink and don't release as much water (9).
- Animal Habitats Destroyed - Some animal species find it more difficult to survive in their current habitats as a result of global warming. According to National Geographic, Adelie penguins have seen their breeding pairs reduced from 32,000 to 11,000 in the last three decades (10). Butterflies and foxes have to travel further north to higher areas where it's cooler. Polar bears have less ice to live and fish on, causing their numbers to slowly diminish.
- Widespread Diseases - The National Geographic report also notes that global warming will cause certain diseases to become more widespread. This includes mosquito-borne malaria and the 2016 resurgence of the Zika virus (11).
- Stronger Storms - Hurricanes and other storms will become more frequent and cause additional damage as the climate warms.
Why is Vaping Much Better for the Environment?
If marijuana, tobacco, and other herb smokers switched to vaping, it would save the Earth 85,000 tons of air pollution (12). That's equal to half of the air pollution caused by the 263.6 million vehicles in the United States.
Of course, with over 1 billion people who smoke tobacco and other herbs (13), it's impossible to get everybody to stop smoking.
But if marijuana smokers alone switched to vaping, that'd be roughly 95 million people who are no longer emitting harmful weed-related CO2 into the air.
This brings us to a big question: why is vaping so much better for atmosphere?
The reason is that vaping doesn't release harmful gasses and chemicals into the air. Instead, vaporizers release water and propylene glycol.
Vaporized water doesn't hurt the environment. And propylene glycol's vapors are "completely harmless" in the atmosphere (14).
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Why Should You Care about Vaping and the Atmosphere?
We've established that vaping herb doesn't pollute the air like smoking. But why should the average person care?
Earlier, we covered problems caused by smoking, including greenhouse emissions, global warming, habitat devastation, vicious storms, and spreading diseases.
Many are particularly worried about stronger storms and the spread of disease.
The reason why global warming causes devastating storms is because the hotter atmosphere collects and drops more water (15). The result is increasingly volatile weather like hurricanes, flash floods, droughts, and wildfires.
Warmer weather leads to more diseases because there's increased immature mosquito development and bite rates (16). This means extra cases of malaria, West Nile virus, and Zika virus across the globe.
"The direct effects of temperature increase are an increase in immature mosquito development, virus development and mosquito biting rates, which increase contact rates (biting) with humans," said Maria Diuk-Wasser of the Yale School of Public Health.
Here are other problems to worry about as the climate heats up:
- More Deaths and Illnesses - Hotter temperatures are harder on the elderly, children, and low-income communities without air conditioning. Health problems caused by hot weather include heat exhaustion, heatstrokes, and cardiovascular complications. According to the CDC, extreme heat kills more people than floods, hurricanes, lightning, and tornadoes combined (17).
- Dirtier Air - Many of the same chemicals and gases that increase temperatures also pollute the air. And when the air becomes dirtier, asthma-related deaths and hospital admission rates from cardiac and pulmonary disease increase.
- Extinct Wildlife - Earlier, we touched on how certain wildlife species are relocating due to higher temperatures. But some animal species simply won't make it if the climate continues warming. 2015 research shows that animals with backbones (a.k.a. vertebrate), like amphibians, bird, fish, and mammals, are disappearing 114 times faster than expected (18). Some of this is due to deforestation and construction, but it's also due to global warming and air pollution.
- Oceans Becoming Acidic - Oceans are more acidic and toxic because they're absorbing excess gasses and pollutants. This is seriously impacting ocean life with calcium carbonate shells, such as crabs, corals, and mollusks. Not only is this bad for aquatic life, but it means less food for people and worse revenue for fishing companies.
Final Thoughts on Vaping and the Environment
Global warming won't stop simply because people switch from smoking to vaping. But it will certainly make an impact because vaporizers don't release harmful gasses and pollutants into the environment.
Let's recap some of the findings we covered:
- The average marijuana smoker releases 303 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere each year.
- Worldwide pot smokers (95.3m) release 28,869,840,000 pounds of CO2 into the air every year.
- Total herb smoking no doubt causes, even more, carbon dioxide emissions.
- Over 1 billion smokers release 85,000,000 tons of pollutants into the air.
- Global warming causes a wide range of problems, including habitat destruction, heat-related deaths, more disease, stronger storms, and wildlife extinction.
These stats and problems are alarming, no matter if you care deeply about the environment or not. And switching from smoking to vaping is one way to help this problem.
Aside from being environmentally friendly, other reasons why you should consider vaping include better health and saving money.
As I've covered before, vaping delivers 46% of THC, marijuana's active ingredient (19). Contrast this to smoking weed, which only delivers 25% of THC while wasting the rest.
Vaping saves you hundreds of dollars every year because you use less herb to get the same high.
Regarding health, vaping ensures that you get an herb's benefits without also inhaling harmful compounds (20).
If you're interested in vaping, visit The Hippie to check out our herbal vaporizers.
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Follow these steps to take 30% off your vaporizer purchase today
- Go to www.HippieVaporizer.com
- Choose the Best Herbal Vaporizer that fits your herbal needs and add it to your cart.
- Proceed to checkout and use promo code: SAVEEARTH
- 30% will be taken off the price of any Herbal Vaporizer you choose.
- As always all orders come with FREE Shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guarantee
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If you have any questions or concerns whatsoever about any of The Hippie's Vaporizers, or about our newest vaporizer, The Hippie Rebel in particular‚ please do not hesitate to call me personally at (863) 216-5767, or you can reach me by email at support@hippievaporizer.com.
Help save the Earth‚
Roly Szegi
www.HippieVaporizer.com
References
- http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/08/pictures/110829-carbon-footprint-of-illegal-drugs
- http://www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/car-emissions-and-global-warming#.WXDMboTyupo
- http://business.time.com/2013/05/20/how-much-will-a-legal-marijuana-habit-cost-you
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3025094
- http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/marijuana/international-statistics.html
- http://dailycaller.com/2016/05/25/latest-surveys-show-smoking-rate-in-free-fall-as-vaping-stays-strong
- http://sciencing.com/carbon-dioxide-affect-environment-8583965.html
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/science/environment_earth_universe/changes_in_environment/revision/6
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100503161435.htm
- http://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/global-warming-effects
- https://www.cdc.gov/zika/geo/index.html
- http://climatehustler.org/environmental-impact-of-e-cigarettes-and-vaping
- http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs339/en
- http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/91/1/52
- https://www.nrdc.org/stories/are-effects-global-warming-really-bad
- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mosquito-borne-diseases-on-the-uptick-thanks-to-global-warming
- http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Alerts/2013/20130607_New_CDC_Report.htm
- http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/5/e1400253.full
- https://hippievaporizer.com/blogs/blog/conserve-your-herbs
- https://hippievaporizer.com/blogs/blog/vaping-versus-smoking