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The hidden environmental cost of growing marijuana

As the cannabis industry grows larger and more popular in the U.S., marijuana production, like most other commercialized products, is focused on being bigger, better, stronger, and faster. “Marijuana is an incredible plant,” said Jim Parco, an Economics and Business professor at Colorado College: it is a plant that can arguably grow more efficiently and produce more crop yield than most other herb or vegetable plants. The question becomes about whether those involved in the cannabis industry can continue to produce enough crop to meet the high demand in a sustainable manner.

Parco described that even the slightest manipulation or disturbance of the dark cycle can cause the plant to become hermaphroditic—both male and female in one, preventing the growth of buds. The plant’s sensitivity to light creates intensity and attention focused on light and electricity usage in the cannabis industry. Cannabis industries use large amounts of electricity to power the high-intensity lights necessary in the growing process, often spending close to $50,000 on electricity bills. In his hydroponics system, Parco uses LED lighting as a more sustainable alternative, but hopes to switch to solar panels. “One day I’m going to do that,” he said.

As the cannabis industry is still not federally funded, these larger businesses are not permitted to utilize “federal water,” meaning they are charged 4 to 5 times more to buy water to feed their cannabis plants. Not only would a hydroponics system save an immense amount of water, but also a large amount of money for these commercialized businesses.

Parco argued that a hydroponics system can only work successfully for smaller scale, homegrown cannabis.

“If something goes wrong, it goes wrong quickly,” he said, recognizing the way in which larger scale production would not be conducive to such a sensitive and easily disrupted system. The interconnectedness of a hydroponics system could lead to issues, Parco said, “if one gets infected, they all get infected.”

Read more at The Catalyst
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