Sierra Club (Environmental Justice in Tobacco Control Project)

The growing, curing, manufacturing, and use of cigarettes, electronic nicotine devices,

and other forms of tobacco cause environmental destruction through the loss of billions of

trees each year, soil erosion and desertification, and unjust conditions for farmworkers

including child labor and developmental disorders from nicotine and pesticide exposure,

all leading to a single-use plastic product that is ubiquitous in the world’s waterways and

contributes to five percent of the earth’s total greenhouse gas emissions. To make matters

worse, commercial tobacco products offers zero socially-redeeming benefits, but instead

are the leading cause of death and disease in the United States. The tobacco industry is a

common enemy among public health and conservation groups. Tobacco industry

regulation offers an ideal project for which to unite resources and energy. The Sierra

Club’s Environmental Justice in Tobacco Control Project seeks to reduce or end the

presence of tobacco product waste in local communities across the state, with an

emphasis on the intersection of tobacco pollution and environmental justice.