The Tobacco Action Group (TAG), UW American Lung Association (ALA), and Students Expressing Environmental Dedication (SEED) are hosting Huskies Kick Butts, a campus-wide cigarette butt cleanup that will raise awareness of the tobacco industry's impact on climate change and the need for UW to adopt a tobacco-free campus policy. At last year's event, 50 participants collected approximately 8,000 cigarette butts. Participants for this year's event are encouraged to form teams, and should individually register here.
This year's event will be on Earth Day, Friday, April 22, from 12-4pm. On the afternoon of the event, participants should meet at the Kick Butts table on the HUB patio at, or soon after, the beginning of their cleanup shift(s) to receive gloves and collection bags, a map with smoking "hot spots" on campus, and other information about tobacco and the environment. Free nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) will also be available to people who would like to stop using tobacco. There are two clean-up shifts, one starting at 12pm and the other at 2pm, but feel free to join any time.
Why pick up cigarette butts on Earth Day?
Tobacco destroys life on earth, and earth itself. For over 50 years, we’ve known that smoking causes cancer, but we now know that tobacco farming and cigarette production are cancers of the earth.
The tobacco industry capitalized on addiction and the environment - increasingly on that of marginalized populations and low and middle-income countries – and, in turn, contributes generously to global mortality and climate change.
For the sake of our public’s health and the future of our world, we must combat big tobacco by helping our family, friends, and fellow community members reject tobacco products.
Registration: http://bit.ly/1RAsn03
Read about last year's event here, and watch a wrap-up video of the event here.