Smoke Free Frenzy

By: Sierra Coffers

ENC 1102 CRN# 10861

4/8/2013

• How can Florida Gulf Coast University become a tobacco free campus without making smokers feel unwelcome?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESo8sAt8A_A

Although students on university campuses have a right to smoke, Florida Gulf Coast

University should consider banning all smoking on campus.

Smoking is dangerous and causes many health problems as well as environmental setbacks

• According to the CDC, 19.0% of all adults smoke cigarettes

• This number is very high and needs to be brought down significantly

Opposing Viewpoints

Since so many people smoke, it shouldn’t be completely banned from campuses

• It’s common for college students to smoke cigarettes and banning them forces students to quit the habit

Opposing Viewpoints

It is a common habit of many people including some FGCU staff, and they need to be able to

have a cigarette throughout the day

• Staff members spend long hours working and shouldn’t have to leave campus in order to smoke a cigarette

Personal Viewpoints

Second hand smoke is just as dangerous as smoking itself and making the campus tobacco free will encourage better habits of

FGCU affiliates

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that, “Secondhand smoke costs greater than $10 billion (i.e., health care expenditures, morbidity, and mortality).”

• In the United States, smoking is responsible for one in five deaths annually. 49,000 of these deaths are the result of secondhand smoke exposure alone.

Personal Viewpoints

Smoking places an immediate threat to the environment and in time becomes toxic to the earth

• Throwing away cigarettes has been linked to a high amount of very large forest fires, killing off wildlife and vegetation.

• The toxic chemicals in cigarette butts are a threat to our aquatic ecosystems and sea life.

• According to Tobacco Free California, “the production of cigarettes is very damaging to the environment. It is estimated that one tree is consumed for every 300 cigarettes produced (that's one tree for every one and a half cartons).”

Personal Viewpoints

Smoking cigarettes is linked to academic failure and lack of achievement in students

• According to the CDC, “31% of students with mostly A’s ever smoked cigarettes and 74% of students with mostly D’s or F’s ever smoked cigarettes.”

• Also, only two percent of students that smoked cigarettes on school properties received the passing grade of a A.

Smoking has great downfalls and causes more harm than good. Banning Cigarette use on campus would increase FGCU’s environment as well as the health and wellness of the school’s population.

Want More Information?

• Smoking and the environment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozqIfh3Pztg

• Secondhand Smoke

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxjHlbq-3vE

Can We Agree on Something?

• It would make for a positive step in FGCU’s plan to, “go green.”

• It would help promote people to kick the habit

• It would greatly decrease the amount of cigarettes a smoker has daily

• It would provide FGCU with a cleaner and less hazardous campus

Conclusion

To help make FGCU a tobacco free campus without singling out smokers, FGCU can better

promote the use of electric smoking devices

Electric smoking devices are odorless, flameless, and less harmful than regular cigarettes. FGCU can encourage students to purchase these devices or even supply them at the school convenience store. The use of the electric cigarettes lets smokers fulfill their habit and helps FGCU become closer to achieving a tobacco free campus.

Works Cited

Barnes, Elvert. "01.SmokeFreeCampus.FRB.NW.WDC.10March201 3." Flickr. Yahoo, 10 Mar. 2013. Web. 6 Apr. 2013.

Touzet, Nadine. "Modern Life." Flickr. Yahoo, 12 july 2008. Web. 6 Apr. 2013.

I s m a e l. "SMOKE." Flickr. Yahoo, 11 Mar. 2009. Web. 6 Apr. 2013.

MONeill311. "Designated Smoking Area- FGCU." Flickr. Yahoo, 19 Mar. 2012. Web. 6 Apr. 2013.

Garg, Kshitij. "Wanna Smoke?" Flickr. Yahoo, 22 march 2009. Web. 6 Apr. 2013.

Sukle Advertising. "Wyoming Dept of Health Secondhand Smoke." Flickr. Yahoo, 29 Dec. 2008. Web. 6 Apr. 2013.

Redbrickpaper. "Struggling Student." Flickr. Yahoo, 31 Oct. 2009. Web. 6 Apr. 2013.

Works Cited Cont.

Elycefeliz. "Dirty Snow and Cigarette Butts." Flickr. Yahoo, 28 Feb. 2010. Web. 6 Apr. 2013.

Bisht, Tilak. "Go Green." Flickr. Yahoo, 7 Aug. 2010. Web. 6 Apr. 2013.

Germanss475. "A Healthy Alternative to Tobacco." Flickr. Yahoo, 1 Oct. 2012. Web. 6 Apr. 2013.

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. "Fast Facts." CDC 24/7: Saving Lives. Protecting People. Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention, 18 Dec. 2012. Web. 6 Apr. 2013.

California Department of Public Health. "Cigarette Butts Are Toxic Waste." Tobacco Free CA. Tobacco Free CA, 2013. Web. 6 Apr. 2013.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "Tobacco Use and Academic Achievement." CDC. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

2013. Web. 6 Apr. 2013.