Saving our bodies first... then the environment

Tonight at the Atlantis Project discussion with Sarah we spoke about the different projects around the island to promote green living and being environmentally friendly through reusable energy and initiatives on the Azores islands. Something that I noticed during the discussion was the amount of people smoking cigarettes. How can environmental engineers and/or environmentalist in the Azores ask the islanders to be environmentally friendly when they themselves can not or will not take care of their own bodies?

From my time in the Azores I can honestly say that 85% of the population smoke cigarettes. Smoking like pollution does irreversible damage to our bodies and affects us on a personal and direct level whereas pollution in the environment may take decades to show lasting effects. It is silly in my opinion for people to promote saving the environment when they themselves are polluting their bodies. I believe it is hypocritical and that the environmentalist who smoke should first consider the similarities between smoking and polluting the environment.

I am all up for saving the environment... but I believe we should first save our own bodies. Yes this is a rant but I believe smoking is a type of pollution not only for the environment but also for our bodies.