How “Green” is Your Cannabis?

Oden Taylor, EcoNews Intern

Generators, High-Intensity Discharge lighting, dehumidifiers, industrial fans, giant opaque plastic tarps, and single-use, non-recyclable plastic packaging; for a product that claims to put users more in touch with Mother Earth, cannabis production sure is rife with environmental catastrophe.

Humboldt County has been known for its cannabis since the 1970s, but with recent booms in industry demands, the quality and sustainability of Humboldt cannabis production have taken a significant hit. With so many different products offered at dispensaries, how can cannabis consumers ensure they aren't adding to this problem?

Dominic Corva, leader of the Cannabis Studies program at Cal Poly Humboldt, says the best way to ensure that you are getting sustainably harvested and ethically sourced cannabis is to grow it yourself. But for many cannabis users, this is simply not a realistic way for them to obtain the product, usually forcing them into a dispensary.

Dispensaries have come a long way since the early days of medical legalization. Recreational legalization, while in many ways good for the state, has brought with it new challenges that have disconnected consumers from the cannabis they are buying by sealing it tightly in single-use non-recyclable packaging.

Corva explained that with the state restrictions on testing, all customers have to go off when purchasing cannabis is, "How pretty is the package and how high is that [THC] number?"

THC(Tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive compound found in cannabis)may be what the cannabis industry wants consumers to think is the most important component of their product but Corva argues otherwise. Oftentimes THC percentages on cannabis products are inflated and unrealistic, he said.

Corva explained the concept of "lab shopping", in which cannabis producers shop around to see which lab will report the highest THC percentages for their product. The methods used to extract these high THC percentages from plants often require the complete desiccation of the flower to a point that is beyond conventional smoking methods, Corva said.

Instead of focusing on THC, Corva recommends spending your time in the dispensary asking questions about how the cannabis was grown. He added that an easy way to find sustainable products is to ask for flower that is Sun+Earth certified.

In addition to the environmental benefits, Corva also explained that full sun-grown cannabis has a higher terpene profile and has greater medicinal benefits than its artificial light-assisted counterparts, despite what you may hear from your local budtender trying to sell you on the high THC content of an indoor.

As saturated as the cannabis market is with large scale corporations, there are still many growers that are in touch with natural farming methods. Local cannabis farmer Mary Gaterud has been growing cannabis on her property the natural way since 1998. Starting from seed, Gaterud produces one harvest per year under full sunlight.

Gaterud identified herself as a "dinosaur" in the industry, explaining that many of the large-scale cannabis operations’ modern techniques for year-round harvesting require huge amounts of fossil fuels in the forms of energy and plastic.

"You’d never think that people don't want a plant grown from seed anymore, but many of these large-scale operations have to use clones versus seed plants," Gaterud said.

Clones require artificial light to supplement the natural life cycle to keep them from flowering too soon, Gaterud explained. Year-round harvesting also requires the use of heaters, fans, dehumidifiers and more, all powered by loud generators and sustained with diverted water.

These techniques are not only unsustainable from an energy perspective, they also cause direct damage to the ecosystems and habitats of local species. In Humboldt County, these harvesting practices have been known to harm many species, including salmon, the spotted owl and the marbled murrelet, according to Corva.

Gaterud said the best way for consumers to know what they are buying is to understand where the products they purchase come from and how much actually went into producing them. According to Gaterud, even cannabis that claims to be grown outdoors and with sunlight often still uses much of the same equipment as an indoor grow operation.

"Mainly, it's factory farming inside of greenhouses, light assisted, multiple harvests a year, claiming that that's sun grown, [while] under plastic," Gaterud said. "It's the same power draw that you would have as an indoor, except it's [outside]."

Gaterud also expressed that it is up to consumers to avoid cannabis products like disposable vape cartridges, and to try looking for natural products that come in recyclable packaging.

"We’re in the sea of plastic, it's become this plastic coated extravaganza," Gaterud said. "And to think that every piece of plastic that every human has ever touched is still with us on the planet and will probably outlive us is shocking to me, and it's shocking that the state of California would encourage this."

To mitigate the unsustainability of the cannabis industry, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted on October 25 to include the Humboldt Cannabis Reform Initiative on the June 2024 ballot for a vote of the people. Author's of this initiative say it offers "a new vision for cannabis cultivation in Humboldt County."

According to the initiative's website, if passed, it will "reduce the cannabis cultivation footprint, promote healthy environments and rural communities, ensure public involvement, [and] transition the industry to small-scale, environmentally-minded cannabis farmers by stopping expansion of industrial mega-grows in rural neighborhoods and limiting cannabis cultivation to less than 10,000 sq. ft."

The initiative states it also seeks to protect the health of residents, landowners, and the watershed, by tightening rules on wells and water diversion, as well as "reducing noise pollution and risk of fuel spills by allowing only one emergency generator for new permits."

Some in the cannabis industry, however, worry these new regulations could harm the way they run their businesses. The Humboldt County Growers’ Association, for example, is opposed to the initiative for fear that the new regulations will be too hard for cannabis farmers to bear, causing them to go out of business entirely.

Regardless of what side you land on, it is clear that reform is needed to move toward a healthier future for the cannabis industry in Humboldt.

Tips on how you can purchase more sustainably next time you are at the dispensary: Ask for full- sun-grown cannabis and avoid purchasing anything grown indoors. Buy in bulk to avoid single-use plastic packaging as much as you can. Try your best to support small local farms to reduce emissions from the transportation of products. And as always, remember that nothing will change unless we demand that it change. If your local dispensary doesn't have eco-friendly products ask for them until they do.