If you scoff at the scientific evidence behind environmental warnings, it's quite likely that you're a smoker. The same type of denial is at work. Since the early 60s, the link between smoking and health problems has been well documented, but people will do what they want to do, regardless of the facts. Even though warnings have been repeated millions of times, smoking is still a serious health problem and teens who've been bombarded with the message still light up. Certain people will always ignore reality, but when they make decisions that affect everyone's future it ceases to be a personal choice. Smoke drifting in a restaurant is a lot like pollution flowing downstream in a river.
Ecological warnings are greeted with skepticism and denial because they question society's long-standing growth habit. There are clear parallels between smoking and the denial of ecological risks; proof that Man and the free market (controlled by Man) can behave illogically. Smokers tend to be the same people who claim that slow-moving problems like overpopulation and the loss of biodiversity are minor concerns. Global environmental health is typically a low priority for people who don't even care about their own health or that of their children. How many times have you heard a smoker say that the air is polluted already and a few cigarettes won't make much difference? A nearly identical argument is used by those who think that a few more extinct species or decimated forests are the price we must pay for "progress." In both cases, the desire to feed a habit blinds these individuals to the ultimate consequences. Either that, or they just don't care...
Elaborate excuses for addicts (www.smokers.com)
More proof of shortsightedness: driving in fog