Researcher Phoebe Parker-Shames studies the role of humans within ecological systems. She specializes in the environmental outcomes of rural outdoor cannabis legalization. Her unique perspective was shaped in Southern Oregon, where she grew up in a community founded on and funded by cannabis. In this essay she walks the reader through the social and ecological dynamics of cannabis production that she says are a microcosm of the larger question of rural livelihoods, land use and agricultural sustainability in the Western U.S. Because the legal cannabis industry is still evolving, she sees an opportunity to take a leap to structure things differently from other industries, such as timber, ranching, and industrial crops.