RECAP - Stories & Beer: The Business Case for Sustainable Cannabis

 

Tonight, we hosted our monthly "Stories & Beer" Fireside Chat at the HUB Bay Area. This month, TriplePundit Founder and Moderator Nick Aster conducted a brief conversation with our special guests about a topic of importance to the sustainable business community: cannabis.

As a newly legal industry, cannabis cultivation has been getting a lot of attention. With a myriad of legal challenges and lack of supply chain clarity, our current way of producing cannabis isn’t healthy for our planet, or us. Indoor cultivation accounts for an astonishing 5 to 8 percent of the electricity consumption in California, and no one knows the kinds of chemicals and pesticides that are being used.

Tonight's Fireside Chat at the Impact HUB San Francisco was a fascinating conversation on the cannabis industry through the lens of sustainability. Nick Aster moderated the talk between the audience, Flow Kana’s Michael Steinmetz and Emerald Growers’ Hezekiah Allen.

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Schedule

6:30 – 7:00 – beers and networking
7:00 – 8:00 – fireside chat and Q&A
8:00 – 8:30 – networking

Michael Steinmetz, Flow Kana

Is a graduate from Carnegie Mellon University, former NASA engineer and investment banker turned social entrepreneur. He grew his last company Le Zuc, and its non-profit arm, to more than 50 people across two countries. He’s the founder of Flow Kana, an SF based startup that aims to shift the conversation around cannabis and play an active role in creating the clean cannabis movement.

Hezekiah Allen, Emerald Growers

Hezekiah Allen was born and raised in Humboldt County. He studied Politics and Government at Pacific University. After university he returned to the North Coast to work as a consultant helping local residents increase water storage, implement conservation irrigation practices, and assisting local organizations with fundraising and strategic planning. In 2010 he was hired as the Executive Director of the Mattole Restoration Council. While with the MRC Allen was one of the first community leaders to call attention to the increasingly severe environmental impacts associated with illegal and unregulated marijuana cultivation.