cigarette butts......

I spend a lot of time thinking about cigarette butts. Recently I learned cigarette filters are not biodegradable. They look like cotton, but in fact are a plastic fiber that traps toxins and poisons that leach into the ground water with rain. These butts last forever and are litter.

In addition, they are ugly. That is why I spend so much time thinking about them. When I walk with Ron as he plays golf two or three times a week, I am unable to ignore the cigarette butts and cigarette paraphernalia that litters the tees and greens. I don’t understand how people who try so hard to get little white balls into little holes seem incapable of hitting a big trash can with a cigarette butt.

Knowing that they are not biodegradable, I thought something should be done about this litter on our beautiful golf course. After several years of wondering how to do it, I decided to use rubber gloves to collect the butts. Last night I was walking along carrying my plastic bag with the butts when someone who lives on the golf course walked by and asked what I was picking up. I replied “cigarette butts”, and he said “that is a nasty job”! That is why I wear rubber gloves. Cigarette butts are the definition of nasty. Knowing that they are not biodegradable makes them even nastier. They smell terrible, they look terrible, they’ve been in someone else’s mouth, they contain chemicals, and they won’t go away.

I’m sure each person who throws a butt on the green or the tee thinks it is so small no one will notice. But it is impossible to collect all the butts on the golf course because there are so many. I just pick up the ones I see and I know I miss a lot. You would be surprised how many butts are thrown within a radius of three feet of a trash can or sand bucket designed for butts. Litter experts say cigarettes are by far the most tossed object, outpacing fast-food wrappers, cups and lids, and soda containers, which come in a distant 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, respectively. During land and underwater cleanups in 2003, cigarette butts and filters accounted for 34 percent of debris collected, according to Keep America Beautiful. Food wrappers and containers represented 10 percent of trash.

So I think about butts out on the golf course, which amounts to 2-3 hours per week. I’m glad pocket ashtrays have been invented and I am in the process of trying to track some down to give away on the golf course. For as hard as people work to put little white balls into little holes on the golf course, I suggest that golf courses make the holes on their trash cans much smaller to encourage people to practice putting things in small holes. Maybe that would take care of the plastic wrappers, beer tabs and plastic cups and lids that I also pick up on the course.

With all the news these days of light cigarettes not really being “light”, I wonder if filters really do what they suggest. Maybe we should work to make cigarette filters illegal and have smokers go back to the original cigarette without a filter. Then again for as expensive as cigarettes are, I wonder why people don’t suck on the filters to get to every last bit of nicotine. And for as unhealthy as our diets are in this area, I’m sure the filters would make great roughage in our diets…….smokers should suck and chew the filters.

Cigarette butts are nasty and are unhealthy. But I can’t ignore the fact that I have my own unhealthy habits. They may not be the definition of nasty, and they may not be littered around the golf course for everyone to see, but I do not stand on higher ground. My own care for my health leaves much to be desired. Not smoking is a good thing, but as I thought about and picked up butts last night on the golf course, I realized I have my own nasty habits. I am guilty of not eating properly, of too many nasty habits like butter and mayonnaise and cream. I am guilty of not being disciplined in my exercise, or increasing my heart rate and strengthening my muscles and bones. (Although I will admit that stretching and bending to pick up the butts on the golf course does increase my level of exercise!) These may not be as destructive as smoking, but they are destructive nonetheless.

I complain about smokers because their litter messes up my world. But I understand how difficult it is to make good choices and to rid my life of things that could destroy and lessen my quality of life. Maybe the act of picking up butts will remind me that I need discipline as much as anyone to do what is good for me and good for our earth.