Marijuana growing destroys the environment. But it’s green, and it’s from nature, the marijuana activists tell us. The “greenest” thing about marijuana is its color. Mother Jones has an article highly critical of the marijuana growers. The story is told vividly in these pictures and charts.
It’s time we wake up to how much it contributes to the DROUGHT. In California, the growers 1) divert water and worsen drought conditions; 2) use pesticides which also harm the water supply; 3) threaten the salmon supply, as explained in the Oregonian, and 4) threaten other species with the use of rat poison.
Indoor growing warehouses include round-the-clock lighting and climate control. They put extreme drain on the electric grid, and marijuana growers have been asked to change their energy-hogging ways. Another article describes how much electricity it really takes to grow in the warehouses. A study will be released soon, explaining the energy requirements.
Few people realize how the growers have modified the plant and cross bred it over the last 30 years. This process has intensified recently. It is not evolving over time like the corn plant did in Mexico. Instead there has been an aggressive attempt to bring out more THC, and the marijuana of today is up to 10x stronger than it was in the 1980s.
Great points! From roundabout sources, a reasonable estimate of the number of outdoor pot plants in California is around 125 million. I think remote sensing from satellite imagery is how this is ascertained. (Caveat: Please see the numbers confirmed before quoting.)
But going on this probable number, and considering the average plant uses about 900 gallons of water per year (to produce a pound of pot- all ballpark estimates here), the very plausible guesstimate puts California water usage for outdoor marijuana production at a bit over 100 billion gallons of water per year!
For a plant with ZERO nutritional value, marijuana sure holds its own. Considering the drought, the fires, the destruction of hundreds of homes, the contribution to greenhouse gases from indoor production, the destruction of the environment in many ways as discussed above, marijuana must be so very precious to many Californians.
There is something about the cannabinoids that drives the brains in the masses of pot abusers, like some kind of worship. What else could be going on?
Give the drought a year or two or more, maybe five years or even longer, then suddenly water becomes as precious as gold in California. Folks will be fighting over it.
Add to that, as we drill deeper for water, the aquifer bearing formations can be destroyed. Not sure how this works geologically, but it appears that in some formations, the interstitial areas when depleted of water, collapse. When this happens, the aquifer is destroyed without the possibility of ever being restored, if I understand correctly. Big, big trouble looms in the not to distant future.
And speaking of priorities, it’s all for the love of and getting high from a narcotic plant, for crying out loud!