Your Choices and the Environment
I’m Yesenia, and I will help you learn about some choices you can make and develop skills to practice when refusing to buy or use e-cigarettes or tobacco.
“When refusing vaping, you are choosing to keep your environment free from the hazardous waste of e-cigarettes. Let’s practice refusal skills with healthy outdoor alternatives.”
Think about three outdoor activities that you enjoy doing or want to try. These will be healthy alternatives to vaping.
Peer Influences
Before our next activity, here are some key terms to consider:
Peer Influence: Influence is when we notice and are affected by how our friends act. For example, If you see a friend saying no to using an e-cigarette, it might encourage you to do the same. On the other hand, if a friend asks you to try and e-cigarette, that’s also an influence.
Peer Pressure: Pressure happens when you’re pushed or forced to act in a certain way to fit in with your friends. If a friend insists that you use an e-cigarette and threatens you with consequences if you refuse, that’s peer pressure.
Both peer influence and pressure can either be positive or negative.
“Think about a scenario where you are offered to vape. You’ll notice the conversation and thought bubbles are blank. Go ahead and follow the guides to fill in the spaces and tell a refusal story.”
Or feel free to create your own comic strip on paper or use your favorite online cartoon maker (e.g. Powtoon, AI, Adobe Acrobat)
“Now that you have created a refusal scenario, plan out a different refusal for you to use in real life.
Fill out the refusal cars and practice what you would say if someone asks you to try vaping or smoking,
Don’t forget to include an outdoor activity that shows you care about the person, just not the harmful activity they are offering.”
Being outdoors can benefit our mental, physical, and emotional health while building an awareness of environmental issues that may be impacting our community.
“Now that you explored the concepts of peer influence and peer pressure through discussion and refusal scenarios, as well as exploring healthy outdoor alternatives, choose an outdoor experience for each day of the week. The activity can change form day-to-day or stay the same.”
Use this activity log to help you log your progress. Healthy habits take a while to develop, so don’t stop after a week, keep going outside and staying active!
I refuse vaping…
To actively protect our environment, ensuring healthy outdoor spaces now and for the future.