In this episode, we are joined by Efraim Lopez,  Project Director for the Environmental Justice and Tobacco Control Project at the Sierra Club in Sacramento, CA, and Tara Leonard, Health Educator with the Santa Cruz County Department of Public Health. Efraim and Tara explain how the environmental perspective calling for commercial tobacco control policy goes beyond tobacco product waste. They also describe effective and engaging ways to get the general public thinking about tobacco's adverse effect on the environment whether it be pollution, waste management, or conservation.

To learn more about the Sierra Club's Tobacco Control Progam, click here.

To learn more about the documentary mentioned in this episode, click here.

About ASH
ASH has been fighting tobacco since 1967. Our longevity is not necessarily something to celebrate – “mission accomplished” would mean going out of business, joyfully. Like most tobacco control organizations, ASH’s vision is a world free from tobacco-caused death and disease. But also like most tobacco control organizations, our campaigns sought to mitigate the epidemic, not end it. For ASH, that changed about five years ago.

The catalyst for the change at ASH was the adoption of a human rights-based approach to the tobacco epidemic. Analyzing the commercialization of tobacco products through that lens leads to an obvious conclusion: this stuff must be removed from the market.

The idea got a huge boost when the State of California decided to put its weight behind a true tobacco endgame campaign. This represents a paradigm shift in public health. California and its allies are no longer interested in just “controlling” tobacco. They’re in it to end it.

Learn more about ASH CA at endtobaccoca.ash.org

The music in this episode is provided by Free Sound FX.
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