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Cigarette butts are the single greatest source of ocean trash

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111–120 of 236 posts

Re: Cigarette butts are the single greatest source of ocean trash

#112
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I figure at least I annoyed them And this is why they continue to do it. You get a response of indignation when you order random strangers in a free society how to behave. You'll get better results if you use guilt instead of demands.

no it's not - they do it because nobody says anything. If you do nothing you're implicitly accepting their behavior

The way you say something is important though. Say something, but don't scold another adult like a child and tell them what to do. Your strategy is way less likely to be successful and may even instigate physical confrontation. Ask them how it's different from littering. It's probably an unconscious habit. Tell them it upsets you personally and that it's harmful to the environment.

Re: Cigarette butts are the single greatest source of ocean trash

#113
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry but are you five or something? There are very good reasons to treat smokers negatively and you, completely without shame, gave us another one.

Just out of curiosity, do you also think its totally fine to treat fat people negatively? Ugh. The amount of vitriol in this whole comment section towards smokers is disturbing. Almost every smoker I know picked up the habit in their early teens. A habit which is extremely addicting, and very hard to kick, more so the longer you've been doing it. Being shitty to them certainly wont help. At the macro level first they…

I'm neutral on smokers. I don't like fat people because they take up more than their fair share of space on public transit, airplanes, sidewalks, hospitals, etc.

Re: Cigarette butts are the single greatest source of ocean trash

#114
post #41

This reads as a good news somehow, because it sounds like a solvable problem.

I quit years ago, so not sure but, don't vaporizers are much more convenient and less harming (avoiding tar)? Guess price is worse or I don't understand why they haven't wiped out cigarrettes.

Less harmful yes, more convenient no. You can grab a pack of cigarettes at any gas station but vaping requires a little more planning in most cases. You have to find and go to a specialty shop (vape shop) or order online. This probably doesn't sound like a huge deal but if you've been smoking for a decade + and are used to a refill being as simple as dropping into any corner store you don't develop the habit of planning ahead.

Also while there was a brief moment in time where switching to vaping gave you the ability to go back inside, that was pretty much wiped out within 2 or so years of the devices gaining popularity as people treat vapers just as shitty as they treat smokers, perhaps even more so.

As to price, it can go either way depending on how you do it. If you are picking up eJuice by the bottle you can actually save quite a bit of money compared to traditional cigarettes. If you are using a pod system like JUUL you either break even or lose money in comparison. I kind of switch back and forth because while the juice option is cheaper its also messier and more inconvenient, where something like a JUUL is a lot closer to the experience of a regular cigarette. Tiny stick in your pocket with disposable pods vs giant eVapeDick that needs you to stop and disassemble it to fill it or change out the atomizer and blows giant unnecessary clouds.

Source: 25 year smoker, switched to vaping in 2010.

Re: Cigarette butts are the single greatest source of ocean trash

#115
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(I don't smoke and have never smoked) For some people it's as simple as not wanting to carry around some dirty stinking cigarette butts. Portable ashtrays are sometimes produced, but they never seem to catch on. And we shouldn't ignore the power of the really strong habit they've formed of flicking them away.

I smoke cigars occasionally and this is exactly why I don't carry remnants home; they smell bad for several hours after use and I don't want to stink up my clothes or apartment. I try my hardest to dispose of them in a socially conscious way (in designated cigarette disposal boxes or by immersing them in water to extinguish them and then putting them in trash cans) but sometimes the infrastructure is not there to sup…

Get an air purifier with that portable ashtray you need anyway...

Re: Cigarette butts are the single greatest source of ocean trash

#117
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> are there any smokers on HN who can explain the phenomenon? Smokers aren't exactly known for their good judgement, manners and consideration for others in the first place, are they?

Smoking is addiction that is demonstrably bad for your health and has no benefits. I grew up in an environment where smoking was encouraged and I can understand a person that conforms to their buddies. I have personally never tasted it but when I was teen virtually everybody smoked and it took a lot of willpower to withstand the pressure. I think these days, in western world, except for schools, low income neighborho…

Germany is definitely not western world then. 50% of adults can't say no to a cigarette.

Re: Cigarette butts are the single greatest source of ocean trash

#118

Won’t be surprised if plastic quickly surpasses cigarette butts. Literally everything is plastic, meanwhile the shift is away towards electronics like JUUL.

I naively thought vapes would at least leave cleaner streets than cigarettes. Lately I’ve been seeing plastic juul cartridges littering the sidewalks in nyc. There’s no winning.

Re: Cigarette butts are the single greatest source of ocean trash

#119

Only tangentially related, but I am continually astonished by the absence of any sort of social norms surrounding cigarette butt disposal. I have (otherwise environmentally conscious!) friends who smoke, and I've personally witnessed them flick their cigarettes into gutters and on streets. As a serious question, without judgment: are there any smokers on HN who can explain the phenomenon?

umm yes. no idea the butt was not bio-degradable. also i don't just toss the butt everywhere i can. i learned that many unexpected fires were due to ciggs.

Re: Cigarette butts are the single greatest source of ocean trash

#120
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A personal anecdote: when I was a student in CS, back in the early nineties, I was working in a gas station the WE. A fellow student, now leading IT department in a European airport, was visiting me and we were chatting outdoor, just nearby the little shop I was in to cash. And then he lights a cig. I asked him if he was ok doing that in a gas station, and he responds me something like well, we are far enough (and th…

(WE = weekend - I had to pause to parse that. Two letter abbreviations suck)

What do CS and IT stand for - joke ;)
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