WHAT’S NEW
Albany park clean-up and chalk the walk
Reality Check members recently spent a Sunday afternoon picking up litter and “chalking the walk” at Swinburne Park in Albany. In one small area near the playground and soon-to-be-reopened splash pad, members cleaned up hundreds of cigarette butts along with other trash. The chalked facts and stats called attention to the harm caused by tobacco litter. In 2020 New York State banned smoking in all public parks, including in municipal parks. The clean-up made it clear that more needs to be done to foster compliance with the policy, including educating community members and posting visible signs. Many municipalities throughout the state have also banned the use of e-cigarettes in parks, but currently the City of Albany has not. Reality Check members, Amra, Ashita, and Myla spoke before the Albany Common Council on August 4th to...
NYS Adult Smoking Rate Falls Below 10%
The prevalence of cigarette smoking among New York adults fell to 9.3%, marking the first time the rate has dropped below 10% since smoking rate surveillance began. The data comes from Cigarette Smoking New York State Adults, 2023, an updated reported recently released by the New York State Department of Health. In 2000, when the New York State Tobacco Control Program was established, the adult smoking rate in New York was 23.2%. “This is reason to celebrate as cigarette smoking is a leading cause of preventable death and disease in our state,” said Jeanie Orr, Director of Capital District Tobacco-Free Communities. “Unfortunately, there is real concern that the progress made over the past quarter century will be more difficult to sustain because of federal program and funding cuts.” Read the entire press...
Art for Earth’s Sake: Students Tackle Tobacco Waste Through Creativity
For the second year in a row, we’ve had the privilege of teaming up with the talented students of local high schools to spotlight an urgent issue that affects our communities and environment: tobacco waste. This year we expanded to other Capital Region schools including Bethlehem High School, Schenectady High School, Evolve program of Watervliet High School and Albany High School. This collaborative project invites students to use their artistic voice and creative lens to design compelling posters that highlight the environmental impact of cigarette litter and tobacco waste. From discarded cigarette butts polluting sidewalks and waterways to the long-lasting damage they cause to ecosystems, these student-made visuals are more than just posters, they are a call to action. This year’s artwork was proudly displayed on the digital...
To the left is a typical tobacco product display. If you don’t use tobacco, you may not even notice, but kids do. Kids see. Kids notice. Kids remember. In fact, kids are more than twice as likely as adults to notice and remember retail tobacco marketing.