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Utility Management Advisory

Cannabis and the Climate Impact

Posted on October 1, 2022

I live in Colorado.  Hearing that, you might be thinking, “Ahhh skiing, beautiful mountains, great beer, blue skies, snow….”  Or, you may have thought what many do: “legal weed”!

It is true, recreational marijuana use was first legalized here in 2012, so it is pretty commonplace for us to see dispensaries on every corner or smell the aroma of marijuana drafting through our air.

But, did you know that the production of cannabis is an environmental drain? 

Because it is federally prohibited to transport any cannabis across state lines, any weed that is going to be sold in a given state must be produced in that state.  For Colorado, that poses a bit of a problem, as our climate is not the ideal place to grow marijuana / cannabis outdoors – and so we need to grow it indoors.  This requires a lot of lighting, water, and ventilation.

According to information published in 2021, cannabis cultivators now account for 1.7 percent of Colorado’s total CO2 emissions — greater than the state’s active coal mining industry. 

Read more in these articles.  Fascinating stuff!

https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/growing-cannabis-indoors-climate-impact/73-7f53b067-39d9-427c-be62-2f339059da91 https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/cannabis-climate-change-emissions-1158029/

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