Here are a few facts that college students must know about smoking and drinking: Around 600 million trees are cut each year to provide fuel for cigarette production, making a huge contribution to the rapid deforestation of jungles worldwide.
Most cigarette butts are non-biodegradable, and burning these cigarette filters helps develop greenhouse gases that enhance global warming.
Worse, tobacco contains other toxic chemicals aside from nicotine; these affect not only the health of humans but also that of animals and other plants.
Alcoholic beverages, on the other hand, have subtler but no less negative effects on the environment.
For instance, alcohol consumption can rapidly change one's body temperature, which can lead to overly anxious behavior during hot summer days.
Alcoholic beverages are also a kind of solvent: studies show that alcohol, when absorbed by insects or animals, may hinder their ability to reproduce and impair the development of their offspring.
Meanwhile, beer cans and bottles, unless taken to junk shops or recycled, are difficult to dispose of because they, too, are non-biodegradable like cigarette filters.
Most students appear to not know or notice that their vices have an impact on the environment.
But there are educational institutions, such as Maine's Bowdoin College, that have already taken the initiative of making their campuses alcohol and smoke-free, and consequently, more environmentally sound.
However, how effective these school programs are remains to be seen.
For their part, college students can participate in activities that promote the environment.
This way, they can turn away from vices that damage both their physical and financial health, and help save the environment at the same time.
Adopting a healthier and more environment-friendly lifestyle inside the campus can just be a start.