Weekly Focus: Emission Reduction Starts with Small Acts
There is an emission reduction method that only requires a trivial handy effort. May 31 is the 28th World No Tobacco Day launched by the World Health Organization (WHO). It is reported that smoke generated by burning tobacco is a complex mixture made up of over 7,000 chemical compounds, 95 percent of which are gaseous substances such as carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide and volatile nitrosamines, while the remaining 5 percent are particulate matters including semi-volatile and non-volatile substances like tar and nicotine. The vast majority of these compounds are harmful to human bodies and also exert adverse impacts on the environment.
For this reason, countries around the world are fully committed to tobacco control and smoking bans. Singapore is striving to become the world’s first smoke-free nation. The country has carried out tobacco control campaigns for more than 20 years, and its smoking population has dropped to 15 percent, making it one of the countries with the lowest smoking rates globally. The Portuguese Parliament has passed a decree banning smoking in public areas and set up a committee for the prevention of tobacco poisoning. In Hungary, smokers are required to pay a special tobacco tax, and all revenue collected from the tax is allocated to fire protection services. The government of Saudi Arabia has established an anti-smoking committee, stipulating that any cigarettes containing more than one milligram of nicotine shall be prohibited from import...
Starting from today, China will implement the strictest tobacco control measures in its history. Taking Beijing as an example, a widely accepted summary states that smoking will be completely banned in all indoor venues with roofs and enclosures. To effectively curb smoking, China has continuously adjusted tobacco consumption taxes, and the tax burden on cigarettes in China has now approached the average level of middle- and high-income countries.
Smoking is not only detrimental to personal health; tobacco production also consumes massive energy. Cutting down one cigarette per day can save around 0.14 kilograms of standard coal per person annually, accompanied by a corresponding carbon dioxide emission reduction of 0.37 kilograms. If all 350 million smokers across China cut one cigarette each per day, approximately 50,000 tons of standard coal can be conserved each year, with a carbon dioxide reduction of 130,000 tons.
Carbon monoxide contained in cigarette smoke has more than 300 times the heat-trapping effect of carbon dioxide. China has 350 million smokers. If each smoker consumes one pack of cigarettes per day, the carbon monoxide produced within three days will equal the total automobile exhaust emissions of ten Guangzhou cities in one year. Figuratively speaking, if all this carbon monoxide were converted into carbon dioxide, it would form a one-meter-thick enveloping gas film high above the Earth!
Health concerns every family, and emission reduction concerns all humankind. Let us bid farewell to cigarettes.
