While much is said — for those who listen — about the existing and impending harms of artificial intelligence (AI), more is said about its charms. While thought leaders form Bill Gates to Lawrence Tribe caution of existential risks, others (summed up by Scientific American) express concerns about serious but…

updated April 11, 2023 The question of relative “quality” of indoor- versus outdoor-grown cannabis is often invoked by indoor cultivators seeking to argue that their method is superior and in some sense “essential” for humanity. …

It’s fashionable to describe the odor of uncombusted cannabis as “skunky”. While beauty is in the nose of the beholder, exhaust can be a nuisance, and indeed causes twice as many complaints in Vancouver as waste-treatment plants. Not surprisingly, industrial odors particularly impact lower-income populations. At any rate, underlying the…

This article is based on a keynote presentation by the author to the International Insurance Convention, Colombian Federation of Insurance Companies (FASECOLDA) in Cartagena, Colombia, September 16, 2022 entitled “How can the insurance sector be part of the solution to climate change?” According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), not…

This post summarizes and augments a longer article just released in the Journal of Impact and ESG Investing (here). [Updated: November 29, 2022] While modern-day, billion-dollar cannabis companies may claim high marks on avoiding E-nvironment, S-ocial, and G-overnance risks to themselves and their shareholders and even championing these issues in…

The New Yorker could have used some fact-checking before printing a recent anti-energy-efficiency piece I’ve always respected the New Yorker, and admired the high-caliber writing. But there appears to be an Achilles Heel in their fact-checking apparatus. David Owen drifts astray in his recent piece, speculating that energy efficiency merely…

An analysis I performed ten long years ago found that the carbon footprint of electricity use in cannabis production in California (for legal and illegal activities combined), amounted to that of 1 million average homes or 1 million cars. With the rapid industrialization of cannabis cultivation over the intervening years…

Evan Mills, Ph.D. & John P. O’Brien, Ph.D. While on the one hand California is a leader in climate change solutions, state policymakers are also undermining their own bold commitments by logging publicly-owned forests and thus pilfering a massive carbon treasure chest. Contrary to popular perception, these practices also amplify…

Long before there was an Earth Day — and very long before there was a Weed Day, observed on 4/20 by those in the know — cannabis culture was aligned with environmental values. That went out the window when cultivation moved indoors, particularly conspicuously in California. While this pair of…