Different smokes.Photo: maaco A small but growing number of tobacco farmers are going organic, says The Daily Green, giving smokers everywhere a potential out from New Year’s resolutions. (They’re healthy, y’alls! Great with a vodka-and-Drano! Well, OK, they have fewer chemicals and slightly less nicotine, but they’re still just “the ecologically responsible way to kill yourself and your loved ones,” to quote Flickr user ATIS547.) The makers of American Spirit’s “natural” smokes saw sales increase 10 percent a year for the last decade. Damn hipsters.
Organic cigarettes may not be much easier on your body, but they’re easier on farmers and the earth. As Umbra says, conventional tobacco farming is really pesticide intensive: “Picture endless tobacco fields with planes flying overhead spraying herbicide on underpaid, overworked laborers.”
But even organic tobacco won’t solve the problem of gross cigarette butts covering the pavement. For that, you need Greenbutts, biodegradable cigarettes with flower seeds in the filter. That’s nice in theory … but unlikely to solve the problem of cigarette butts as the world’s No. 1 type of litter.
Now here’s a wacky idea: Instead of organic cigs, kick the habit altogether. (Hey, if Obama can do it … )
