1. Should diving be encouraged for everybody? No. Diving should only be encouraged for people who can keep themselves safe while diving. My younger brothers are not extremely mature, I would not trust them in spring environments where you can enter caves. I will not encourage diving for them.
2. Why are we suprprised at how many divers smoke? Personally, I'm surprised for several reasons.
-smoking is known to be bad for your health. Yes, I'm aware that soda is also bad, but soda doesn't give you lung cancer. I've had several family members die from illnesses that were likely caused by their smoking for many years, it's very hard for me to condone someone's smoking.
-in my mind, divers should be more physically fit and should care more about their bodies than non divers. Diving can be a sport that requires, eh, work? I would expect people that care about the environement and their bodies to dive moreso than people that do not.
-diving is supposed to be peaceful, nicotine is a drug that people cannot function without once they are addicted to it, it takes a good bit of work to wean yourself of it. If I were a smoker and wanted to quit, I would probably begin doing something that would put me at peace and allow me to relax, like diving.
3. I have never noticed a problem with diesel or gas fumes on a boat. Usually, I am further from the ehxaust systems than from a smoker.
What really rubs my rhubarb are smokers that throw the butt overboard.
And do I want everyone to conform to my beliefs? No! That'd be a miserable world. But what is wrong with wishing that people would stop harming their bodies by smoking, drinking tonnes of soda or never exercising? I am equally against smoking and obesity, but obese people don't usualy envelope me in their fat the way smokers envolope me with their smoke.
