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About This Episode
In honor of Earth Day, this episode pays homage to one of our planet’s most healing, restorative and sustainable resources. Some believe that organically grown cannabis is the key to a carbon neutral future; others insist that it is vital to reversing trends in climate change. Almost everyone can agree that it is down to earth medicine. Hemp, marijuana’s non-psychotropic cousin, can be used to make nearly anything that is now made with fossil fuels such as motor oil, fuel, petrochemicals, synthetic textiles, plastic and paper. And, rather than emitting carbon, it is actually carbon negative and can restore depleted soil with nutrients and carbon lost due to unsustainable farming practices.
Prior to the War on Drugs, cannabis grew wild in many regions throughout the United States. It can grow rapidly in adverse climate conditions and resists most pests that can destroy other crops, so it can also thrive without any pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers when grown outdoors where it can soak in natural sunlight.
Unfortunately, growing cannabis where nature intended is not yet possible in most states. Even where marijuana is legal, most cultivation is done indoors under high-intensity lights that produce a lot of heat and evaporative moisture. This opens the door to a host of issues with mold, fungus and pests that would likely not proliferate outdoors.
When it comes to growing marijuana for medicinal purposes, applying pesticides, fungicides, and other toxic chemicals would pose a dangerous health issue, which is why patients should demand organically grown cannabis. It’s up to cultivators to voluntarily adopt organic principles to ensure patients are safe. That’s the topic of today’s show and cultivation expert Amy Andrle has some great insights right after Dr. Bryan Doner’s Medical Marijuana Minute update.
About Our Guests
Amy Andrle is a founding Board Member of the Organic Cannabis Association, serves on the City of Denver’s Cannabis Sustainability Work Group. As co-owner of L’Eagle Services–a Denver-based clean cannabis cultivation and dispensary, she has voluntarily developed eco-friendly facility standards to produce a pesticide-free organically grown cannabis. Amy is leading the charge on making the cannabis industry as green as possible for the industry as a whole, advocating for the adoption of sustainable practices across the board.
Acknowledgements
If not for the generosity of our supporters, we wouldn’t be here! We’d first like to thank our sponsors at Hemp Meds and Healthtera. We’d also like to thank our producer Windy West at Star Worldwide Networks, Erik Godal, the composer of our theme “Evergreen,” Dr. Bryan Doner, our Medical Marijuana Minute contributor, XRQK Radio Network for broadcasting our show around the country, and Compassionate Certification Centers for helping us spread the word. We are grateful!