Prepare yourself for a future helping us all get what we eat in a more environmentally sustainable way with an Online Graduate Certificate in Food Policy and Sustainability Leadership asuonline.asu.edu/online-degree-programs/certificates/sustainable-food/?ecd22=02&
What am I missing here? I can't post a link but a simple web search will reveal the root source of these snippets. What is cellulose acetate? Cellulose acetate is a biomass material produced by chemically modifying hydroxyl groups with acetic acids in cellulose materials derived from nonedible parts of plants, such as wood fibers and cotton. ... Cellulose acetate is highly biodegradable in soil and seawater.[1-4] Generally speaking, cellulose acetate is degraded into cellulose and acetic acid through hydrolysis with water and biodegradation by esterase. Subsequently, the main chain of cellulose is biodegraded (cleaved/decomposed) by cellulase and is eventually converted into water and carbon dioxide. Plants bearing wood and cotton produce cellulose with water and carbon dioxide, thus forming the life cycle of cellulose acetate. (Figure 2)
Non-Smoker here and I genuinely did not know those filters were plastic; I assumed they were paper, cotton or some other fiber. Learn a bonus new thing along with all the other cool stuff from this video. Thanks, SciShow.
It is actually quite common that people don't know this. I've known since the 80s but that was because I asked why they don't burn. I tried to set one on fire and eventually got it to melt, but not smolder. Plastic melts not burns. Conclusion, the butts are made from plastic.
The fuzz about plastic straws never made sense to me. Everything is packaged in plastic nowadays but this one small thing, the straw, which isn't even necessary to consume liquids get replaced with a different material
Thing with straws isn't the plastic itself, but the fact that they are long sticks that end up in sea and in a mouth of animals. It doesn't always come out like a filter. Same problem with plastic can pack holders. They get stuck around head. But yes, filters should be made out of something like paper.
@@ShadowManceriplastic straws are a complete non-issue compared to the real problem - fishing nets. Vast majority of plastic pollution of oceans is just fishing nets, it's what the Greta garbage patch is made up of, it's what kills vast majority of marine wildlife, it's the second highest source of microplastics after the car tires. All the buzz about plastic straws is just another campaign to shift the blame for destruction of our environment away from the corporations.
I lived in an apartment where the man across the parking lot would go outside to smoke and throw his but on the ground. The landlord make him clean it up.
Theres also fiberglass filters which essentially take forever to break down as well and they irritate and injure animals in their own ways (fiberglass is just nasty to be around), some brands have however moved to more sustainable paper filters. Granted that doeant mean smokers should feel better about tossing em all willy nilly, littering is still littering. As a smoker myself i cant stand the litter bug smokers, they make us all look like asses. Its my own nasty habit but i prefer not to burden others with secondhand smoke and litter, so ill happily go for a lil jaunt and find an ashtray/smokers pole or garbage can on my way back.
The butts are awful. When I was smoking, they were always a nuisance because I refuse to litter. Then you have to carry around a smelly cigarette butt until you can throw it away. The worst though is when you find one while hiking. You can be up in the most gorgeous area of nature, then look down and see an orange cigarette butt on the ground. It always made me so irritated. I pick up any of them that I encounter
butt litter doesn't matter to me really i had no problem getting rid of them anywhere outside but what did worry me a bit was starting a fire if i was in the wilderness so i made sure they were out. these days the best place to get rid of them outside is in the street (pavement) assuming no ashtray is around, since most modern city clean the street often in the morning with specialized trucks.
@@subspace666 smh! Can't believe you think that is all rational! This is why it's a criminal offence to drop butts in Australia during fire bans & heavy fines the rest of the time, that's in addition to cigarettes costing over $1 each & bins being located at regular intervals on streets, particularly near bus stops etc, with bins having a special section for butts in case they're not fully out (illegal to smoke at bus stops btw, bins are there to dispose of the butt on arrival, not to light up while waiting)
😭 thank you for telling me that they're plastic. Someone told me they're cotton or something. Going to be way more careful with my butts and be more diligent on stopping smoking
Why should what they are made of make you be more careful about things? If you had a half eaten sandwich would you just throw that on the ground because you're done with it? Even if cigarette butts are made of cotton you shouldn't throw your trash on the ground acting like everything from nature immediately degrades into the ground.
@@Mike__B throwing a sandwich on the ground is literally what many people do, on purpose, to feed city birds. Where do you live for that to be frowned upon?
That’s also not smoke on our filters. That’s a chemical reaction like an apple browning to make smokers feel like the filters are effective. Not all that much
Maybe it's because I live in Cali, but a year or two ago, videos I watched on TH-cam were inundated with ads from a non-profit seeking to raise awareness on the issue (we Californians aren't known for smoking addiction, but I promise you: every beach I've ever been to is chock-full evidence that people use the whole beach as their ashtray) I also had a bunch of friends in college who were heavy smokers - though I, myself, never smoked - so I had frequent opportunity to examine the anatomy of a cigarette and notice that those fibers were indeed plastic of some kind, because I'm a weirdo like that.
Just to clarify, it's made *with* plastic, not *of* plastic. The outer layer is just paper (I think). It's only a part in the filter that's made of a cotten-esque mess of plastic fibers.
I remember when I was a teen we used to feed our farm cats raw ground beef balls with a little pipe tobacco stuffed in the center. It seemed to do a good job of treating them for worms. It is was an age old practice we learned from the local generational farms around the area.
Garlic is also good for this. I remember reading about a guy stuck in the wilderness somewhere who got a bad case of worms. He cured himself by eating a quantity of raw garlic.
At the company where i work, the birds don't bother bringing the sigatettes to the nest, they just built their nest inside the metal ashtray that is attached to the building 😂
@@tomlxyz the is a note now that there are birds inside , but that wasn't the case 2 years ago. A collegue put a cigarette inside the ash recipient and a few minutes later she saw a bird flying out. She was a bit chocked by this but the bird and her babies seem to be fine. Since then we placed a note there warning people about the birds.
@@anajeckel well, nobody tells us that the nicotine can get rid of ticks and stuff, and literally nobody in the comments knew that cigarettes were made of plastic, so we’re told how bad they are for our health but not how they can be awful for the environment 🤷♀️
I mean they probably should spread awareness that its a common plastic pollutant, but I don't think the insectocidal properties of nicotine are that important for public health awareness.
@@aoifedeborha2420 anecdotally, smokers get ill less but worse when they do. Bro science led me to this conclusion.. because like killing cancer, poison in the right amount keeps out the weaker entities..
@@aoifedeborha2420 yea we seem to get fixated only to the negative stuff and seems birds see benefits as well. most smokers know its bad for the environment to some degree but what are we to do other then maybe quit. for non smokers it doesn't really matter for them to know or not if its bad since they are not the ones littering them and you can't force people to be environment friendly, well you shouldn't be able to force them in a free world anyway. in practice smokers will pollute less then non smokers in their lifetime since they die early often by more then a decade and butts are a tiny culprit compared to our other destructive habits, living an extra day to drive your semi truck probably pollutes more then 500 butts maybe even by factors.
I found out that my yard is the hotspot for birds. Did you know birds eat & feed their babies kitten chow? I get doorbell alerts all day because the birds empty my cats bowl everyday & take the food back to their nests in my trees.
I like leaving bits of fabric out to see if animals will take them for their nests. Stick with natural fibers. I noticed birds are attracted to cigarette smoke. You can see them around smokers preening. I thought it was for water repallancy but im realizing it could be that and to reduce parasites. Something to look out for.
they should consider testing predators (cats, hawks, etc). if mercury concentrates as it goes up the food chain as predators consume infected prey, perhaps the same thing happens here. sure, the bird might not live long enough to worry overly about cancer, but what about animals that eat the birds?
not that i’m aware of. it certainly seems possible based on studies we already know; there appears to be a predictable (?) similarity. though i would prefer to discover than assume 👍
If you own a cat, you can help the birds with building materials. Every time you groom your cat, collect the fur. Once you have a golfball sized amount, go to a park or a back garden and place it on a twig in a tree. The birds will soon gather to take away bits of the fur to aid in insulating their nests. I regularly leave my cats fur in our garden for all the birds to freely use.
so instead of singling out every smoker (includes me) maybe just say something along the lines of "do the people that trash the world care now". Because I promise you that i am very aware of how damaging my vice is and i am sure not to affect anyone or in this case anything with it. just trying to help expand your mind. Not everyone that smokes is evil lol
@@natepellegrino7974 As someone who used to smoke, I have to agree with you. I knew the butts were plastic and always disposed of them properly. Even sorting them with other plastics, so the garbage plant wouldn't have any trouble with them. No need to shame every smoker for the actions of some.
@@natepellegrino7974 It's not just about cigarette butts and the smoke, or the obvious things anyone can see. It is about the entire industry, all of the chemicals put into the manufacturing process to make cigarettes palatable and stop the cigarette from burning up completely when lit. It is about the vast amount of land that is cleared to have farms for tobacco and the people in different parts of the world, (usually poor) who farm it with poor pay and no benefits, the amount of paper used in cigarettes and their cartons. It is also about how the smoking industry in the past bought off scientists to claim that smoking is good for people, it is about how the smoking industry used pop culture to get people into smoking (movies, advertisements, etc.). The amount of corruption that stems from the cigarette industry is staggering. It is funny to me that the oil industry also uses many of the advertising and information falsifying concepts that the smoking industry previously used.
Genetic traits like picking up cigarette butts for nest making is sad when you realize that such traits don't happen over night but over generations. They never stood a chance at the height of big tobacco companies when smoking was all the rage and doctors would peddle cigarettes to patients.
Actually I dont think it takes millions of years of evolution for them to get these ideas. My impression is that they have a limitited number of responses trained by millions of years and that there is something about the properties of the buts that they identify as something usful and instinct does the rest.
Tobacco is not bad for people (besides being addictive). The harmful part is the smoking / vaping. There are not significant health risks for nicotine gum or patches.
Not to defend the whole littering and getting addicted thing, but I do get how it is really difficult to stop once one's addicted. Still though, the littering is very ignorant as well as smoking next to others
bro i wont even smoke one cig if im around people who dont smoke. and i pick up all butts. people ive know for years didnt even know i smoked a cig now and a again :P
i smoke, not cigarettes, but i have a lot of friends that do, and i have terminated friendships over littering cigarette butts (id like to add that the littering was just the tips of the iceberg with these people. when someone doesn’t have the basic respect to throw trash in a can that’s literally right there, you can be sure they won’t show you any respect either)
2:13 ticks are arachnids. Also, @SciShow I’m a huge fan of your channel! Y’all helped a lot when I was researching for my invertebrate zoology project! 🎉
By now there should be laws enforcing paper derived cigarette filters. It is ridiculous. And while at it, ban single use "disposable" e-cigarettes/vapes
Cellulose Acetate is a paper adjacent product, it is made from plant fibre, it's the same bio plastic Coke uses to green wash disanni water bottles. And no, not all cigarette manufactures use it. Some use cotton, some use fibreglass (those are worse.) Of course those kinds of mitigating facts don't suit the "here's another reason smoking is bad.." narrative Scishow is supporting.
this takes at face value that the filters are doing any filtering, but the brown color on them is largely a chemical reaction in the material itself, only a nominal amount of tar is caught by the filter. "The tobacco industry determined that the illusion of filtration was more important than filtration itself. The pH of the cellulose acetate used is modified, so that its colour becomes darker when exposed to smoke (this was invented in 1953 by Claude Teague, working for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company)." I smoke, but this wasn't a defense of smoking. It's incredibly dangerous, and it's gross and destructive to yourself and your surroundings, and butt littering is a serious serious issue, but it's serious because of the microplastics and wildfires, let's not get it too twisted. It's not the plant that's evil, but the companies and industry that have sprung up to maximize profit around it. Sounds like a familiar issue.
Cigarette filters are primarily made of cellulose acetate, a plant-based plastic, which makes up around 95% of all filters. The remaining 5% are made from paper and rayon. Cellulose acetate fibers are white, thin, and tightly packed together to create the filter, and can look like cotton. Cellulose acetate is an eco-friendly material made from cellulose obtained from wood produced in sustainably managed forests or cotton linters (the hairy fibers that cling to cotton seeds after harvesting) combined with acetic acid, the main constituent of vinegar.
So if it does end up being bad for the birds, I know a sure fire way to ban cigarettes fast. I'll just say that I would never anger anyone who's associated with the Migratory Bird Act.
it probably isn't bad for them since they are still around to use them so i would assume its a fair trade off and worth it unless we could find a better alternative for them that serves the same function. i wanna give credit to the birds that they might know what they are doing even though we have prejudice against tobacco and plastics.
I have witnessed my local (NSW Australia) Corvids tearing up cigarette butts by first rubbing them against rough concrete footpaths until the open up and then holding it to the ground with a claw and tearing the fibre out until it gets fluffy before flying away with the fluff. It is amazing how they have figured out how how to make use of them
I knew plastic straws were nearly a non-issue, but I'm surprised that the cigarette filters outpace plastic bags. I don't smoke cigarettes, so I'm already not contributing to that issue. So should I take up smoking to help the birds? Or is it enough to leave other people's cigarette butts for the birds instead of throwing them in the trash? I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I'm not going to take up smoking.
So, rather than putting the ad at the beginning of the video, where it can be easily skipped, or the end of it, where it can be ignored, youve put in the middle, where ive had to put the effort to look where it ends... good job. =.=
Fun fact: before plastic became so common, cigarettes were made with biodegradable cork, this is what inspired the pattern on the filter. The filling is also designed to turn brown, to give the illusion it’s filtering more than it is.
If someone tosses one out of the car window that's moving at 45 mph, you probably wouldn't even see it happen. Unfortunately I've been a passenger when a driver has done this, and I was left wondering what happened to the cigarette.
@@rebeccastolberg2148 Wild! I could send you pictures at turn arounds on some gravel roads or in like bar parking lots here in CNY and the only debris you’ll see is little white tubes in the gravel all over from the thousands of filters that have been tossed. 😵💫
I have not watched the video yet, but I am making a prediction: nicotine is an ingredient in some pesticide sprays, I am guessing the cigarettes help keep the nest free of flies and other parasitic or otherwise aggravating insects.
i don’t smoke anymore, but when i found out they weren’t compostable, i stopped tossing them. i used to keep a can in my car, and if walking, butt them on the ground, poor liquid on it, and throw in nearest trash can/in my purse.
I hate those and some studies say the filter they do is negligent compared to the damage a regular cigar does, is like pretence to make cigarettes look "not as bad".
In the concrete maze where shadows drift, City birds find strange gifts, Amid the bustle, dust, and grit, They've learned a secret, a clever fit. House finches chirp in dawn's first light, House sparrows flit in urban flight, In alleys where the day turns night, They seek the remnants of human blight. Discarded on the pavement's edge, Beneath the bench, beside the hedge, A cigarette, a small, charred pledge, Becomes their shield, their fortress ledge. For in those fibers, poisons dwell, A scent repels the pests so well, A tiny, nicotine-laced shell, Protects their nests where hatchlings dwell. In chimneys high and eaves so low, In nests where tender fledglings grow, The toxic thread they weave and stow, A barrier against their foe. Yet, in this tale of urban lore, A paradox lies at the core, For what repels may harm them more, A double-edged tool they implore. City birds, with wisdom keen, Adapt to life in gray unseen, In cigarettes, a cure they glean, From human habits, crude and mean. So as we watch them from afar, These urban warriors, small and marred, Consider how our actions scar, The world they navigate, so hard. In every puff and ash that's cast, A legacy from present to past, City birds have found, steadfast, A way to make our trash their mast.
Just this morning we cut the grass. We keep the cuttings and mix them with leaves kept from last autumn to make mulch for our gardens. While mixing the mulch a found an old cigarette butt. We don’t smoke and the guy who owned the house before us didn’t smoke either.
Everywhere. Lots of people smoke a few puffs and throw the remnants on the ground. Especially around public transportation where they can't take they're newly it cigarette with them
When will they get that if an ad is at the end, I'll let it run while I read the comments, but if it's in the middle I am skipping past that thing with no regrets
In Hawaii the common myna is known as "the arson bird" because they pick up cigarettes (sometimes lit) and build their nests in roof eaves. In the lower 48 starlings probably do the same.
Do the birds get addicted to them too? There was an very old orangutan named Amanda at the zoo I worked at that was addicted to cigarettes. She would beg people for them by holding out her hands (it was an open pit kind of exhibit, so people would throw them in for her). Smoking was banned on grounds a long time ago but if she spots a rule breaker she would still beg for them. Old habits are hard to break! She has since passed (though not from lung cancer, just normal old age).
i remember taking a trip to the uk and ireland about 7 years ago and i have never seen more cigarette butts on the ground of a city than in london and edinburgh it was like it had rained butts
Speaking about behavior change: When the ads were at the end of the video I usually watched them, being to lazy to skip (especially when eating while watching). But now in the middle they annoy the hell out of me and destroys the focus on the content. So I started skipping them.
Interesting and thanks. While i hate seeing cigarette butts everywhere, it's actually good that they are not made of fiberglass because they would take even longer to break down. As anyone who has left a screwdriver handle in a humid place has noticed, cellulose acetate is actually made from chemically processed plant fibers. I also know that the Hudson's Bay company used to roll furs up with tobbaco to keep demested beatles from eating the fur. Deapite nicotine being used as an insecticide in the past most of the effect would be because of the smokey creosote like tar. Not only does it cause cancer but is just as repulsive to insects as non smokers
Ash wards off parasite, as well. Burnt wood was used as a natural dewormer…watched both cows & goats gnawing on it. They’ve, also, learned that lying in the center of the burnt pile will keep biting insects at bay.
This year I found some bird nests that were made of the fibres of most average tarps. I’m guessing an old sunbleached worn out tarp fraying in the wind.
I just remember going to paris a decade ago. The whole street was “Cigarette sidewalk”. Everywhere you step. There would be a littered cigarette. Not thrown away. Just the new cement. Now not all streets in the city were like this. Although almost everywhere I went. Tourist areas. It was horrible
Prepare yourself for a future helping us all get what we eat in a more environmentally sustainable way with an Online Graduate Certificate in Food Policy and Sustainability Leadership asuonline.asu.edu/online-degree-programs/certificates/sustainable-food/?ecd22=02&
What am I missing here? I can't post a link but a simple web search will reveal the root source of these snippets.
What is cellulose acetate? Cellulose acetate is a biomass material produced by chemically modifying hydroxyl groups with acetic acids in cellulose materials derived from nonedible parts of plants, such as wood fibers and cotton.
...
Cellulose acetate is highly biodegradable in soil and seawater.[1-4] Generally speaking, cellulose acetate is degraded into cellulose and acetic acid through hydrolysis with water and biodegradation by esterase. Subsequently, the main chain of cellulose is biodegraded (cleaved/decomposed) by cellulase and is eventually converted into water and carbon dioxide. Plants bearing wood and cotton produce cellulose with water and carbon dioxide, thus forming the life cycle of cellulose acetate. (Figure 2)
never toss your butts on the ground folks!
Not a fan of putting the ad in the middle of the video instead of the end. I'm sure you have your reasons, but please reconsider.
The ad was way too large a part of the video
I've seen a nest made from a purple cardigan
Non-Smoker here and I genuinely did not know those filters were plastic; I assumed they were paper, cotton or some other fiber. Learn a bonus new thing along with all the other cool stuff from this video. Thanks, SciShow.
You *can* still buy cotton filters to roll your own...
It is actually quite common that people don't know this. I've known since the 80s but that was because I asked why they don't burn. I tried to set one on fire and eventually got it to melt, but not smolder. Plastic melts not burns. Conclusion, the butts are made from plastic.
@@lashadi1445okay...
I also have bad news about teabags...
@@anneboyd7811 the pyramid ones, not the ordinary ones that compost just fine. Well, in Europe they do, I don’t know about American ones.
It's crazy that we had to change plastic straws and all... but cig butts are a greater problem and people dont even REALISE its plastic.
The fuzz about plastic straws never made sense to me. Everything is packaged in plastic nowadays but this one small thing, the straw, which isn't even necessary to consume liquids get replaced with a different material
Thing with straws isn't the plastic itself, but the fact that they are long sticks that end up in sea and in a mouth of animals. It doesn't always come out like a filter. Same problem with plastic can pack holders. They get stuck around head. But yes, filters should be made out of something like paper.
@@ShadowManceriplastic straws are a complete non-issue compared to the real problem - fishing nets. Vast majority of plastic pollution of oceans is just fishing nets, it's what the Greta garbage patch is made up of, it's what kills vast majority of marine wildlife, it's the second highest source of microplastics after the car tires. All the buzz about plastic straws is just another campaign to shift the blame for destruction of our environment away from the corporations.
@@ShadowMancerithat’s why you gotta eat the straws to save the turtles. Macroplasticmaxxing
Meanwhile the private jet above you:
The title and thumbnail made me think birds just started smoking unfinished cigarettes on the ground
City life's stressful
No, that’s the next step in the situational evolution.
I've seen a smoker pigeon.
That was a male sparrow he called Mama
I thought they made it to attract mates... "chicks." 😂
I never liked when people threw cigarette butts on the ground. Knowing they're made of plastic makes it so much worse.
A smoker told me, way back in 1980, that it would take over 100 years for a cigarette filter to decompose.
I lived in an apartment where the man across the parking lot would go outside to smoke and throw his but on the ground. The landlord make him clean it up.
@@sunshine3914 Plastic doesn't decompose. It just breaks into smaller bits of plastic. This is not decomposition.
Where I want them to put it? I. Their pockets?
Theres also fiberglass filters which essentially take forever to break down as well and they irritate and injure animals in their own ways (fiberglass is just nasty to be around), some brands have however moved to more sustainable paper filters.
Granted that doeant mean smokers should feel better about tossing em all willy nilly, littering is still littering.
As a smoker myself i cant stand the litter bug smokers, they make us all look like asses. Its my own nasty habit but i prefer not to burden others with secondhand smoke and litter, so ill happily go for a lil jaunt and find an ashtray/smokers pole or garbage can on my way back.
The butts are awful. When I was smoking, they were always a nuisance because I refuse to litter. Then you have to carry around a smelly cigarette butt until you can throw it away. The worst though is when you find one while hiking. You can be up in the most gorgeous area of nature, then look down and see an orange cigarette butt on the ground. It always made me so irritated. I pick up any of them that I encounter
Thanks!
And I toss litter everywhere hoping people like you pick it up and feel better about yourselfers.
I always carry a portable ashtray as, like you, don't want to litter. It can cause microplastic to go into the drain and back into the tap water.
butt litter doesn't matter to me really i had no problem getting rid of them anywhere outside but what did worry me a bit was starting a fire if i was in the wilderness so i made sure they were out. these days the best place to get rid of them outside is in the street (pavement) assuming no ashtray is around, since most modern city clean the street often in the morning with specialized trucks.
@@subspace666 smh! Can't believe you think that is all rational! This is why it's a criminal offence to drop butts in Australia during fire bans & heavy fines the rest of the time, that's in addition to cigarettes costing over $1 each & bins being located at regular intervals on streets, particularly near bus stops etc, with bins having a special section for butts in case they're not fully out (illegal to smoke at bus stops btw, bins are there to dispose of the butt on arrival, not to light up while waiting)
😭 thank you for telling me that they're plastic. Someone told me they're cotton or something. Going to be way more careful with my butts and be more diligent on stopping smoking
Why should what they are made of make you be more careful about things? If you had a half eaten sandwich would you just throw that on the ground because you're done with it? Even if cigarette butts are made of cotton you shouldn't throw your trash on the ground acting like everything from nature immediately degrades into the ground.
@@Mike__B throwing a sandwich on the ground is literally what many people do, on purpose, to feed city birds. Where do you live for that to be frowned upon?
Roll and Roach your own all the way
That’s also not smoke on our filters. That’s a chemical reaction like an apple browning to make smokers feel like the filters are effective. Not all that much
Camel uses cotton. Several others do too
My grandparents used to feed tobacco leaves to their goats, sheep, horses and cattle for parasites.
Am I the only one who didn't know cigarette butts were made of plastic?
Check your litter laws too.
Maybe it's because I live in Cali, but a year or two ago, videos I watched on TH-cam were inundated with ads from a non-profit seeking to raise awareness on the issue (we Californians aren't known for smoking addiction, but I promise you: every beach I've ever been to is chock-full evidence that people use the whole beach as their ashtray)
I also had a bunch of friends in college who were heavy smokers - though I, myself, never smoked - so I had frequent opportunity to examine the anatomy of a cigarette and notice that those fibers were indeed plastic of some kind, because I'm a weirdo like that.
Just to clarify, it's made *with* plastic, not *of* plastic. The outer layer is just paper (I think). It's only a part in the filter that's made of a cotten-esque mess of plastic fibers.
@@jeffbenton6183 I mean we humans have been using plasitic fibres for decades
I believe it was “True” brand that was completely plastic, in sorta the shape of a peace ☮️ sign
It's astonishing how urban wildlife is adapting to human-related pollution, even capitalizing on its harmful aspects for survival.
HELL YESSSS
Did anyone else think that they were a paper product?
They feel like compressed cotton so that’s what I thought they were.
Cuz Marketing strategies to hide how horrible smoking really is.
No.
@@dragonsdynamite6403 Thanks for polling everyone else for me. That's networking I don't have access to.
yeahup. I assumed either paper or cotton fiber. I was wrong.
I remember when I was a teen we used to feed our farm cats raw ground beef balls with a little pipe tobacco stuffed in the center. It seemed to do a good job of treating them for worms. It is was an age old practice we learned from the local generational farms around the area.
I remember reading an old army (?) manual suggesting eating the contents of a couple of cigarettes to get rid of intestinal parasites.
@@DarwinpastaDo not eat tobacco unless you want to have a trip to the hospital, it is toxic when digested.
Maybe a nibble. But eating the amount of nicotine and tobacco in 2 cigarettes could be enough to be poisonous
Garlic is also good for this. I remember reading about a guy stuck in the wilderness somewhere who got a bad case of worms. He cured himself by eating a quantity of raw garlic.
@@commanderjameson2708 Wouldn't use that for a cat though, as garlic is quite toxic to them.
I can picture a bird coming up to you and saying "Hey man. You got a smoke?"
I live in London and I was walking along one of the canal paths one day and saw a rather large nest made substantially with McDonalds straws...
At the company where i work, the birds don't bother bringing the sigatettes to the nest, they just built their nest inside the metal ashtray that is attached to the building 😂
What happens when a smoker comes around?
@@tomlxyz the is a note now that there are birds inside , but that wasn't the case 2 years ago. A collegue put a cigarette inside the ash recipient and a few minutes later she saw a bird flying out. She was a bit chocked by this but the bird and her babies seem to be fine. Since then we placed a note there warning people about the birds.
City birds are so cool though, you gotta admit.
even cooler now
Pigeons are life
All the cool birds are doing it.
@@FusionC6 nothing cooler than a pigeon or raven huffing down a delicious, satisfying Marlboro Red.
They just need sunglasses and little bird-shaped leather jackets
Few weeks ago a crow crossed my path with a packet and still some in it. I was baffled.
Was he holding the pack in their beak?
@@lashadi1445 or in his hands?
Some people train crows to gather coins, maybe some smoker lets it gather cigs XD
@@dinoflame9696 Crows don't have hands. The packet was in his breast pocket.
The fact that most of us only knew the cancerous properties of smoking says quite a bit about the advertising of tobacco 😂
@@anajeckel well, nobody tells us that the nicotine can get rid of ticks and stuff, and literally nobody in the comments knew that cigarettes were made of plastic, so we’re told how bad they are for our health but not how they can be awful for the environment 🤷♀️
I mean they probably should spread awareness that its a common plastic pollutant, but I don't think the insectocidal properties of nicotine are that important for public health awareness.
@@aoifedeborha2420 anecdotally, smokers get ill less but worse when they do. Bro science led me to this conclusion.. because like killing cancer, poison in the right amount keeps out the weaker entities..
@@aoifedeborha2420 yea we seem to get fixated only to the negative stuff and seems birds see benefits as well. most smokers know its bad for the environment to some degree but what are we to do other then maybe quit. for non smokers it doesn't really matter for them to know or not if its bad since they are not the ones littering them and you can't force people to be environment friendly, well you shouldn't be able to force them in a free world anyway. in practice smokers will pollute less then non smokers in their lifetime since they die early often by more then a decade and butts are a tiny culprit compared to our other destructive habits, living an extra day to drive your semi truck probably pollutes more then 500 butts maybe even by factors.
And even that bit of information took some major court battles and massive information campaigns to become common knowledge
The seagull who lives on my roof came in through the window and stole the sponge out of my sink!
😂
I found out that my yard is the hotspot for birds. Did you know birds eat & feed their babies kitten chow? I get doorbell alerts all day because the birds empty my cats bowl everyday & take the food back to their nests in my trees.
So you’re turning kitten chow into cat chow, very slowly.
I guess not surprising. I didn't know cuz my car's not allowed outside
@@cassieoz1702 nice to see a responsible cat owner for once :)
Thus SciShow continues its long obsession with butts.
Butt is legs
I'm now picturing songbirds that sound more like Rod Stewart.
The first drag is the deepest, oh baby I know that the first drag is the deepest.
You can get filter tips made out of biodegradable material with a little seed inside, unfortunately their like $15 for 30 which you'll fly through.
For the chicks.
😂😂😂😂
hell ya brother!
Birds are just built different
agreed
i mean... hollow bones for one
Well, they are not real to begin with 🫤
@@pabailon8799 look up shoebill stork
@@pabailon8799 to begin with they were, only in more recent times were they swapped out for mechanical spy drones
I like leaving bits of fabric out to see if animals will take them for their nests. Stick with natural fibers.
I noticed birds are attracted to cigarette smoke. You can see them around smokers preening.
I thought it was for water repallancy but im realizing it could be that and to reduce parasites.
Something to look out for.
Cigarette butts are the most littered object in the world
It's just one tiny little butt...
Until there's 10 trillion of them
alternative title Why City Dinosaurs Love Cigarettes
Or: Why city dinosaurs raise their offspring with cigarettes
they should consider testing predators (cats, hawks, etc). if mercury concentrates as it goes up the food chain as predators consume infected prey, perhaps the same thing happens here. sure, the bird might not live long enough to worry overly about cancer, but what about animals that eat the birds?
+
Is there a reason to assume that doesn't happen?
not that i’m aware of. it certainly seems possible based on studies we already know; there appears to be a predictable (?) similarity. though i would prefer to discover than assume 👍
Yeah this definitely isn't healthy long term
No it doesn't
If you own a cat, you can help the birds with building materials. Every time you groom your cat, collect the fur. Once you have a golfball sized amount, go to a park or a back garden and place it on a twig in a tree. The birds will soon gather to take away bits of the fur to aid in insulating their nests.
I regularly leave my cats fur in our garden for all the birds to freely use.
Crow: "Aw yeah, muthafucking newports! God muthafucking damn!"
Lake County just north of Chicago just passed a world class Bird Friendly Building Design Ordinance!
Do the smokers care now? When have they ever cared?
At the doctors office after being told they have cancer.
Facts ❤ @@clifforddean232
so instead of singling out every smoker (includes me) maybe just say something along the lines of "do the people that trash the world care now". Because I promise you that i am very aware of how damaging my vice is and i am sure not to affect anyone or in this case anything with it. just trying to help expand your mind. Not everyone that smokes is evil lol
@@natepellegrino7974 As someone who used to smoke, I have to agree with you. I knew the butts were plastic and always disposed of them properly. Even sorting them with other plastics, so the garbage plant wouldn't have any trouble with them. No need to shame every smoker for the actions of some.
@@natepellegrino7974 It's not just about cigarette butts and the smoke, or the obvious things anyone can see. It is about the entire industry, all of the chemicals put into the manufacturing process to make cigarettes palatable and stop the cigarette from burning up completely when lit. It is about the vast amount of land that is cleared to have farms for tobacco and the people in different parts of the world, (usually poor) who farm it with poor pay and no benefits, the amount of paper used in cigarettes and their cartons. It is also about how the smoking industry in the past bought off scientists to claim that smoking is good for people, it is about how the smoking industry used pop culture to get people into smoking (movies, advertisements, etc.).
The amount of corruption that stems from the cigarette industry is staggering. It is funny to me that the oil industry also uses many of the advertising and information falsifying concepts that the smoking industry previously used.
I've participated in adopt-a-highway programs, and the worst trash was always the cigarette butts. They're small, hard to pick up, and EVERYWHERE!
Genetic traits like picking up cigarette butts for nest making is sad when you realize that such traits don't happen over night but over generations. They never stood a chance at the height of big tobacco companies when smoking was all the rage and doctors would peddle cigarettes to patients.
Actually I dont think it takes millions of years of evolution for them to get these ideas. My impression is that they have a limitited number of responses trained by millions of years and that there is something about the properties of the buts that they identify as something usful and instinct does the rest.
I am now imagining a finch watching TV and an advert for a class action lawsuit comes on for birds harmed by contaminated building materials...
They learned from prison economics
Yard Birds. Ex jail birds.
Great editing in this video. Very fun and energetic visuals!
I am liking the new sets, still excellent content,
Tobacco is not bad for people (besides being addictive). The harmful part is the smoking / vaping. There are not significant health risks for nicotine gum or patches.
yeah, nicotine itself is not much different from caffeine.
smoking anything is bad.
alot of substances are alot less harmful when not smoked.
I already disliked smokers because they're some of the least considerate people on the planet...
Not to defend the whole littering and getting addicted thing, but I do get how it is really difficult to stop once one's addicted. Still though, the littering is very ignorant as well as smoking next to others
bro i wont even smoke one cig if im around people who dont smoke. and i pick up all butts. people ive know for years didnt even know i smoked a cig now and a again :P
i smoke, not cigarettes, but i have a lot of friends that do, and i have terminated friendships over littering cigarette butts (id like to add that the littering was just the tips of the iceberg with these people. when someone doesn’t have the basic respect to throw trash in a can that’s literally right there, you can be sure they won’t show you any respect either)
@@BuilderBasti Wouldn't have to litter if they'd bring back public ashtrays.
@@wmdkitty Public trash bins are still a thing?
2:13 ticks are arachnids. Also, @SciShow I’m a huge fan of your channel! Y’all helped a lot when I was researching for my invertebrate zoology project! 🎉
The bird is the word
Haven't you heard.
Never would’ve thought the similarity between me and Bird would be that both of our childhood home smell like cigarettes.
By now there should be laws enforcing paper derived cigarette filters. It is ridiculous. And while at it, ban single use "disposable" e-cigarettes/vapes
Cellulose Acetate is a paper adjacent product, it is made from plant fibre, it's the same bio plastic Coke uses to green wash disanni water bottles. And no, not all cigarette manufactures use it. Some use cotton, some use fibreglass (those are worse.) Of course those kinds of mitigating facts don't suit the "here's another reason smoking is bad.." narrative Scishow is supporting.
this takes at face value that the filters are doing any filtering, but the brown color on them is largely a chemical reaction in the material itself, only a nominal amount of tar is caught by the filter.
"The tobacco industry determined that the illusion of filtration was more important than filtration itself. The pH of the cellulose acetate used is modified, so that its colour becomes darker when exposed to smoke (this was invented in 1953 by Claude Teague, working for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company)."
I smoke, but this wasn't a defense of smoking. It's incredibly dangerous, and it's gross and destructive to yourself and your surroundings, and butt littering is a serious serious issue, but it's serious because of the microplastics and wildfires, let's not get it too twisted. It's not the plant that's evil, but the companies and industry that have sprung up to maximize profit around it. Sounds like a familiar issue.
When i clicked this video, i was sure it was going to be about R value.
I like it when I'm wrong...means i learned
For some reason I pictured the biodome scene where dude is trying to make a huge air filter from butts
Which is why I enjoy Lucky Strikes unfiltered
As soon as I saw the title, I knew why they do it.
That ASU program sounds super cool!
He shoes a male sparrow as mamma
Shows. Shoes are for the feet.
Cigarette filters are primarily made of cellulose acetate, a plant-based plastic, which makes up around 95% of all filters. The remaining 5% are made from paper and rayon. Cellulose acetate fibers are white, thin, and tightly packed together to create the filter, and can look like cotton. Cellulose acetate is an eco-friendly material made from cellulose obtained from wood produced in sustainably managed forests or cotton linters (the hairy fibers that cling to cotton seeds after harvesting) combined with acetic acid, the main constituent of vinegar.
So if it does end up being bad for the birds, I know a sure fire way to ban cigarettes fast. I'll just say that I would never anger anyone who's associated with the Migratory Bird Act.
it probably isn't bad for them since they are still around to use them so i would assume its a fair trade off and worth it unless we could find a better alternative for them that serves the same function. i wanna give credit to the birds that they might know what they are doing even though we have prejudice against tobacco and plastics.
Yeah not giving up smoking for bird.
@wanderer_of_sol I’ll throw extra butts on the ground now just to see if I can piss anyone off associated with the migratory bird act 😂
I have witnessed my local (NSW Australia) Corvids tearing up cigarette butts by first rubbing them against rough concrete footpaths until the open up and then holding it to the ground with a claw and tearing the fibre out until it gets fluffy before flying away with the fluff.
It is amazing how they have figured out how how to make use of them
I knew plastic straws were nearly a non-issue, but I'm surprised that the cigarette filters outpace plastic bags. I don't smoke cigarettes, so I'm already not contributing to that issue.
So should I take up smoking to help the birds? Or is it enough to leave other people's cigarette butts for the birds instead of throwing them in the trash?
I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I'm not going to take up smoking.
Have you seen the birds that live in Home Depot fly in front of the sensor to open the door!!?? Smart.
🤣When first traveled by train I was impressed by how many birds were in the stations.
So, rather than putting the ad at the beginning of the video, where it can be easily skipped, or the end of it, where it can be ignored, youve put in the middle, where ive had to put the effort to look where it ends... good job. =.=
Nah justskip the video completly. They dont respect your time why should you give it to them anymore.... Most info is told before the add anyway
The Sponsors require where the ad placements are. And I hate mid video rolls too 😑
Well for the question if cigarettes are as bad for birds as for humans I think you would have to get them to smoke them if you want any fair results
Implying birds are real.
Flipping Psyops, they're stealing DNA to keep a list of smokers in case they quit.
Clearly SciShow is part of the conspiracy
they updated them to pick up cigs, write a paper to explain it!!!
Fun fact: before plastic became so common, cigarettes were made with biodegradable cork, this is what inspired the pattern on the filter. The filling is also designed to turn brown, to give the illusion it’s filtering more than it is.
💯 and in between cork and plastic, they made it out of asbestos! Crazy
It's illegal to litter cigarette butts in many places.
Unfortunately I don't think that will really work. Better to try to gradually ban cigarettes like new Zealand is doing I think.
If someone tosses one out of the car window that's moving at 45 mph, you probably wouldn't even see it happen. Unfortunately I've been a passenger when a driver has done this, and I was left wondering what happened to the cigarette.
And yet cops never actually hold anyone accountable for littering cigarette butts
GOOD
@@bengoodwin2141 sadly that ban is no longer happening :( Was an obvious, smart idea, wasn't it!
I never knew this. I have always hated throwing them on the floor, but I will be even more careful of where I place them moving forward
House sparrows are not native birds. In fact they displace native birds.
When I was a kid, there were cigarette butts EVERYWHERE. Now I've seen one in the past 3 years.
Where the hell do you live 😢
@@HeyItsDyl maybe it's that I moved from Chicago burbs to Atlanta burbs. I smell weed occasionally, but not cigarettes.
@@rebeccastolberg2148 Wild! I could send you pictures at turn arounds on some gravel roads or in like bar parking lots here in CNY and the only debris you’ll see is little white tubes in the gravel all over from the thousands of filters that have been tossed. 😵💫
9/10 finches choose Marlboro
Any tips on which parasite repellent plants we can grow in our gardens to give those birds a safer pest control alternative?
Catnip, lemongrass, mint all do a god job of pest repellent
@@kyuofcosmic well mint is super easy to grow!
thanks for the tip
I have not watched the video yet, but I am making a prediction: nicotine is an ingredient in some pesticide sprays, I am guessing the cigarettes help keep the nest free of flies and other parasitic or otherwise aggravating insects.
i don’t smoke anymore, but when i found out they weren’t compostable, i stopped tossing them.
i used to keep a can in my car, and if walking, butt them on the ground, poor liquid on it, and throw in nearest trash can/in my purse.
does the course work for canadian? or is it just usa?
Wow didn't know I was early
I hate those and some studies say the filter they do is negligent compared to the damage a regular cigar does, is like pretence to make cigarettes look "not as bad".
In the concrete maze where shadows drift,
City birds find strange gifts,
Amid the bustle, dust, and grit,
They've learned a secret, a clever fit.
House finches chirp in dawn's first light,
House sparrows flit in urban flight,
In alleys where the day turns night,
They seek the remnants of human blight.
Discarded on the pavement's edge,
Beneath the bench, beside the hedge,
A cigarette, a small, charred pledge,
Becomes their shield, their fortress ledge.
For in those fibers, poisons dwell,
A scent repels the pests so well,
A tiny, nicotine-laced shell,
Protects their nests where hatchlings dwell.
In chimneys high and eaves so low,
In nests where tender fledglings grow,
The toxic thread they weave and stow,
A barrier against their foe.
Yet, in this tale of urban lore,
A paradox lies at the core,
For what repels may harm them more,
A double-edged tool they implore.
City birds, with wisdom keen,
Adapt to life in gray unseen,
In cigarettes, a cure they glean,
From human habits, crude and mean.
So as we watch them from afar,
These urban warriors, small and marred,
Consider how our actions scar,
The world they navigate, so hard.
In every puff and ash that's cast,
A legacy from present to past,
City birds have found, steadfast,
A way to make our trash their mast.
Great poem
@@angelitabecerra ai bud
It’s wild that I see this video and just a few hours ago I saw a completely broken sparrow. like it had stopped flapping its wings and everything.
...because they don't have hands to vape? 😅
Just this morning we cut the grass. We keep the cuttings and mix them with leaves kept from last autumn to make mulch for our gardens. While mixing the mulch a found an old cigarette butt. We don’t smoke and the guy who owned the house before us didn’t smoke either.
Where are birds finding enough “unsmoked butts” to build whole nests ?
Everywhere. Lots of people smoke a few puffs and throw the remnants on the ground. Especially around public transportation where they can't take they're newly it cigarette with them
I've had people complain about littering and throwing cigarette butts down in front of me
The new extra long ad in the middle of the video is irritating. And I spent so much time forwarding past the ad that I lost the point of the video.
1/3 of the video is excessive.
I agree. I think this is a bad idea for the kind of video that SciShow produces. I hope they don't do this again.
When will they get that if an ad is at the end, I'll let it run while I read the comments, but if it's in the middle I am skipping past that thing with no regrets
In Hawaii the common myna is known as "the arson bird" because they pick up cigarettes (sometimes lit) and build their nests in roof eaves.
In the lower 48 starlings probably do the same.
Will make sure I leave all my cigarette butts out now, for the birds!
Had ZERO idea the filters were made of plastic!!! wow
These birds is a gangsta until one of them cough 🤣🤣
Me and the boys tossing spent butts at the birds to give them something to put in their nests
@@anajeckelThe slogan is “reduce, re-use, recycle”. Dropping butts complies. Buying more other things doesn’t.
@@anajeckel fair
Many cigarettes use cotton filters now. The brand I smoke does.
Cellulose acetate: plasic, yes. Petroleum product, no.
Okay? That doesn't matter or mean anything at all to this. Stop saying this like it means it's not a plastic pollutant.
Hi Hank!
Fly safe!
I don't think the birds are ingesting the bad chemicals in the cigarettes though. Like it's bad for us because we're inhaling it while it's burning
Swallow a tobacco leaf, the stuff is poisonous, it causes oral cancer all the time.
Possibly worse for birds, tho, bc of their size & skeleton. Nicotine blocks the action of autonomic nerve & skeletal muscle cells.
I always thought filters were fibreglass
They used to be made from asbestos for some time! Crazy stuff
Why would they want to get rid of bugs in their nests. They eat bugs.
Seagulls do not eat insects.
Also you eat pasta but you wouldn't want to get into bed and find it there
The babies are not capable of hunting and are often unattended in the nest.
@@Topless_monkey on my bed or in a bowl on my bed? it'd be like having pasta, that just shows up... i feel an advert coming
I mean, you wouldn't want to use your kids as bait to hunt down a tiger, now would you?
Hey! Love the new set!
Do the birds get addicted to them too? There was an very old orangutan named Amanda at the zoo I worked at that was addicted to cigarettes. She would beg people for them by holding out her hands (it was an open pit kind of exhibit, so people would throw them in for her). Smoking was banned on grounds a long time ago but if she spots a rule breaker she would still beg for them. Old habits are hard to break! She has since passed (though not from lung cancer, just normal old age).
i remember taking a trip to the uk and ireland about 7 years ago and i have never seen more cigarette butts on the ground of a city than in london and edinburgh it was like it had rained butts
Speaking about behavior change: When the ads were at the end of the video I usually watched them, being to lazy to skip (especially when eating while watching). But now in the middle they annoy the hell out of me and destroys the focus on the content. So I started skipping them.
Thank you for trying to help the education of humanity. Would that our public education system followed your example.
Interesting and thanks. While i hate seeing cigarette butts everywhere, it's actually good that they are not made of fiberglass because they would take even longer to break down. As anyone who has left a screwdriver handle in a humid place has noticed, cellulose acetate is actually made from chemically processed plant fibers.
I also know that the Hudson's Bay company used to roll furs up with tobbaco to keep demested beatles from eating the fur.
Deapite nicotine being used as an insecticide in the past most of the effect would be because of the smokey creosote like tar. Not only does it cause cancer but is just as repulsive to insects as non smokers
Ash wards off parasite, as well. Burnt wood was used as a natural dewormer…watched both cows & goats gnawing on it. They’ve, also, learned that lying in the center of the burnt pile will keep biting insects at bay.
This year I found some bird nests that were made of the fibres of most average tarps. I’m guessing an old sunbleached worn out tarp fraying in the wind.
I was wondering why my outside ashtray is always empty lol. Maybe they also get addicted to nicotine
I just remember going to paris a decade ago. The whole street was “Cigarette sidewalk”. Everywhere you step. There would be a littered cigarette. Not thrown away. Just the new cement. Now not all streets in the city were like this. Although almost everywhere I went. Tourist areas. It was horrible
We buy tabacco twigs for our chickens against mites and ticks
1:09 it's those wind turbines they've got to look out for 😂