From sucking in carbon to supporting birds and bees, cannabis is a supercrop in the fight for our planet’s future
After decades of negotiations, almost 200 countries have agreed to a historic deal to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. Cannabis could help get them to the goal while slashing carbon emissions in the process.
Planetary health is human health, and the twin challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss threaten the very living systems we all depend on. But the good news is we already have the solutions. To re-regulate our climate, we first need the heaviest polluters among us to rapidly reduce their emissions (oil and gas companies and the wealthiest being the top “climate criminals”) and a global transition to clean, renewable energy. To halt (and reverse) a decades-long decline in biodiversity, protection and regeneration of nature is key. The global adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015 paved the way for science-backed climate action to keep global warming within ‘safe’ levels by 2100 (1.5 degrees celsius below pre-industrial numbers). A similar historic pledge for biodiversity took place just last month. At the CBD COP15 (not that kind of CBD, but the Convention for Biological Diversity) almost 200 countries signed on to an unprecedented “deal for nature” aiming to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. Beyond protecting and rejuvenating nature and moving away from polluting and planet-destroying practices, there is one emerging solution that could help accelerate action for both climate and biodiversity: cannabis.
