The sticky green herb is beloved amongst hippies, naturalists, environmental activists, outdoorsmen and pretty much everyone who wants to preserve the beauty and strength of the natural world. It is perhaps surprising to learn, then, that the cannabis industry as a whole is not only unsustainable but recklessly inefficient with regards to energy usage, resource consumption and waste production.
Individual cannabis companies and the industry has a whole should take steps to reduce their footprint and become as eco-friendly as the laws governing them allow. Here are a few important ways weed could easily get greener over the coming years.
The main problem with the current state of cannabis cultivation is that so much of it occurs indoors. Greenhouse growing provides an incredible amount of control over a farmers’ crop, ensuring that it grows healthy and safe. However, greenhouse growing is also incredibly wasteful, drawing immense amounts of energy and other resources.
When most people think of greenhouses, they imagine airy glass structures that permit light, heat and slight breezes while shielding plants inside from pests, windchill and worse. However, most cannabis greenhouses are windowless warehouses where marijuana grows underneath industrial, electric grow lights. What’s more, greenhouses cannot benefit from natural precipitation or humidity; instead, they have irrigation systems and ventilation usually powered by humidifiers and electric fans. These energy-intensive systems operate 24 hours per day, drawing huge amounts of non-renewable resources.
Read more at blueandgreentomorrow.com
