Cigarette Smoking and Global Warming

GORE: CIGARETTE SMOKING 'SIGNIFICANT' CONTRIBUTOR TO GLOBAL WARMING
Fri Sep 29 2006 09:04:05 ET

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore warned hundreds of U.N. diplomats and staff on Thursday evening about the perils of climate change, claiming: Cigarette smoking is a "significant contributor to global warming!"

Gore, who was introduced by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said the world faces a "full-scale climate emergency that threatens the future of civilization on earth."

Developing...

This is the kind of unsubstantiated, whacko, alarmist, scare tactic crap that causes those of us who are unconvinced regarding the degree of human impact on climate change, to be skeptical.


Mod edit: Shortened quote. Don't quote full articles! Here's a link: www.drudgereport.com...

[edit on 2006/9/29 by Hellmutt]

Not so fast.

How do you know what he said? The context?

I've looked for sources on this claim. Have you? Notice anything odd about them?

Let's wait and see what he or others assert he actually said. Right now, this looks like another spin job against Gore, not by him.

Point taken. I'll follow this for a few days. If nothing develops, I'll eat my crow right here in this forum.

But......Knowing some of the other things Mr. Gore has said in the past it's not hard to believe he said these things.

Also - The source is Drudge, and remember, he was right about the blue dress!

I've been waiting all day for Drudge to "develop" this story..
Can't seem to find anything..

BUT, I thought about it.

Tobacco requires farming, farming requires the clearing of acreage.
Lots of that acreage is in the southeast US..a lot if it used to be forested.

I know this for sure..I lived on a former tobacco farm.

Tobacco also requires lots of TLC..including planting seeds, pulling the seedlings, then replanting them elsewhere..Lots of "tractor action".

So technically, it could be true.

But so could Tomato eating..Tomato eating causes global warming..

[edit on 29-9-2006 by spacedoubt]

Ok, well regardless if he said it or not, I'm very sure that smoking
has very little effect on the climate, I mean it's not like a majority
of the populace smokes.

I'm almost positive that one substantial forest fire in the woods of Canada or the upper northwest puts off more material in one burn than all smokers combined ever have.

As far as the industrial side, the emissions from tractors and so on, that's a viable argument. But just as spacedoubt said earlier on this thread, using that logic, tomatoes cause global warming also...

Going one step farther, yahoos who jet around the world to investigate global warming cause global warming. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

BTW, I'm just a filthy, biased smoker - so my objectivity can be easily called into question.

Originally posted by spacedoubt
BUT, I thought about it.

Tobacco requires farming, farming requires the clearing of acreage.
Lots of that acreage is in the southeast US..a lot if it used to be forested.

I know this for sure..I lived on a former tobacco farm.

Tobacco also requires lots of TLC..including planting seeds, pulling the seedlings, then replanting them elsewhere..Lots of "tractor action".

So technically, it could be true.

But so could Tomato eating..Tomato eating causes global warming..

I suspected this as well...

I also find it curious that the actual word "cigarette" is not part of the quote...and that there are no real sources for it yet.

If you buy into the global warming doomsday scenario at all, it would seem to me that you would have to consider all the factors. A cigarette seems like a small thing, but multiplied by the number of smokers that's a lot of gasses being released into the atmosphere and there have to be consequences.

And even if cigarette smoking is a small contribution to the problem, if indeed one exists, it is an unnecessary one. Cigarette smoking benefits no one, except those who make money from them in one manner or another.

I don't often agree with Gore, but if his environmental warnings have any credence at all, then his warnings about cigarettes fit firmly in his model.


[edit on 2006/9/29 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
BTW, I'm just a filthy, biased smoker - so my objectivity can be easily called into question.

*loam judges you -with burning cigarette in hand- for your inability to match his superior objectivity and skill.*

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
I'm almost positive that one substantial forest fire in the woods of Canada or the upper northwest puts off more material in one burn than all smokers combined ever have.

I think you are right on that...or at least it wouldn't be many more to match the amount.

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
As far as the industrial side, the emissions from tractors and so on, that's a viable argument. But just as spacedoubt said earlier on this thread, using that logic, tomatoes cause global warming also...

Yes, but we still aren't certain what he actually said or its context.

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
Going one step farther, yahoos who jet around the world to investigate global warming cause global warming. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Of course there is also the possibility that Gore merely tied the anti-smoking issue to GW to highlight the anti-smoking message and not that of global warming...

It will be interesting to see what he actually said.


[edit on 29-9-2006 by loam]

Others are reporting the same information. I'll let you look into the details.

news.google.com

Grady

Cigarette smoking benefits no one, except those who make money from them in one manner or another.

:shk:

I beg to differ. If smoking didn't benefit me, I wouldn't be a smoker. Rather than hijack this thread to preach the health benefits of nicotine, I'll just encourage you to do some research on the benefits of smoking. What you don't know can definitely hurt you.

loam
We're a dying breed my friend.

Literally!

Fear not. When Yellowstone blows its top, all the little Pink-Lungs will be writhing on the ground in agony, while our biggest problem will be finding a clear spot of ground on which to expectorate.

Either that, or that wretched holier-than-thou attitude they all seem to share will drift away on the wings of Alzheimers, and we'll have a few moments of peace...

Regarding the health benefits of smoking, about the only thing I can find is possible therapeutic benefits from small doses of nicotine. As a former smoker, I can say for sure that if there are truly beneficial effects of nicotine, there are far better delivery systems than cigarettes.

There is a closed thread on this subject with quite a few comments.

GORE: Cigarrette Smoking 'SIGNIFICANT' Ccontributor To GLOBAL WARMING

If you need to quote on of them you can do so on this thread.

I am pretty sure if it was said the man was making a joke. The best way to warm up an audience is to make a joke. Tongue and cheek people.

Oh God, next it will be proclaimed that human flatulence is a "significant contributor" to Global Warming....:shk:

Consider this: How many people smoke in this world as compared to how many people pass gas in this world?
Again, consider the below quoted mention:

Symptom-free individuals have recorded approximately 14 passages of gas per 24 hours.

www.google.com...

*smacks forehead*

[edit on 30-9-2006 by Seekerof]

I went digging around on Google news to find a reputable source for this information. All I could find were blogs and websites that are opponents to the Democratic Party. (ex RushLimbaugh.com, newsmax)

Originally posted by Umbrax
I went digging around on Google news to find a reputable source for this information. All I could find were blogs and websites that are opponents to the Democratic Party. (ex RushLimbaugh.com, newsmax)

Precisely.

I also find it amusing that Seekerof who constantly berates the "sources" of material when it suits him, jumped off this ledge to.

"Jumped off this ledge"?
I suppose sarcasm eludes and eluded you, loam? Please......

First, just for the record, I quit smoking cigarettes almost three weeks ago. No Ifs ands or Butts. I quit smoking. There is no way that I'm going to get pinned with the downfall of civilization because of cigarette smoke. Well, at least I'm not going to get "pinned" with the entire thing. Maybe I'll be granted some leniency when the "Global Warming Trials" begin?

Seriously, to place even partial blame for global warming on cigarettes is absolutely ludicrous. What about the emissions from cooking fires, fireplaces, wood stoves, candles? I think that Gore is a "born-again non-smoker". You know the type. Every so often you meet someone who quits smoking who has become a rabid advocate of non-smoking. I've quit smoking myself but I would never condemn or push non-smoking on anyone. It's a decision that every person has to make for themselves.

As for cigarette smoking being a major contributor to global warming? Well, I'm not a scientist but my own logic tells me that it would seem highly unlikely that cigarette smoke could possibly equal the polluting qualities of all the cooking fires that are used throughout the world. And, if anything, cigarette smoking has been on a steady decline over the past two decades. Surely this would mean that cigarette smoking is not something that we should be worried about. If tobacco consumption was truly a factor, at least it is one that is one that is on a steady decline.

If we need to blame anyone, lets blame senior citizens! Yep, senior citizens. Just think of the implication that all of those birthday candles have on the environment?

[edit on 9/30/2006 by benevolent tyrant]

Originally posted by Seekerof
"Jumped off this ledge"?
I suppose sarcasm eludes and eluded you, loam? Please......

Putting lipstick on that pig wont change its nature.

Nowhere in that post is there the implication that you believed untrue the quote attributed to Gore.

Don't like it when the medicine is dished out in the other direction, do you, huh?


[edit on 30-9-2006 by loam]