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Edited by: Mia Feroleto

Contributors:

Will Allen Steve Allin Terry M. Boyd David Bronner Michael Carus Ignacio Cisneros Alli Cloyd Ben Droz Mitch Epstein Marcus Grignon Glenn Goldberg Karen Gunderson Heather Jackson KK Kozik Mike Lewis Alex White Plume Michael Reif Jeffrey Silberman Lucy Slivinski Sally J. Smith Joel Stanley Eric Steenstra Industrial Hemp John Trudell Superhero/Savior of Humanity Industrial Hemp Superhero/Savior of Humanity

Edited by: Mia Feroleto 131

Copyright 2018, Joseph Nechvatal Regina Cornwell Grazia Marchiano Cindy Tower New Observations Ltd. Saul Ostrow Michael Corris Bunita Marcus Bernard Trevisano and the authors. All Joan Pierpoline Lynn Crawford Carol Martin Frederic Tuten rights reserved. ISSN Lucio Pozzi Dorothy Cross Joseph Masheck David L. Ulin #0737-5387. Mira Schor Peggy Cyphers Harry Mathews Marina Urbach Industrial Hemp David Shapiro Nina Czegledy Carlo McCormick Terence Van Elslander Front Cover: Lynne Tillman Mona Da Vinci Justin Melkmann Stephen Westfall Superhero/Savior of Humanity Mitch Eptein | Frederic Tuten Mark Daley Alan Moore Christopher Williams Alex White Plume, Marina Urbach Ana de Portela Robert Morgan Martha Wilson Pine Ridge Reservation, George Waterman Ken Deifik Joseph Nechvatal Elemire Zolla South Dakota, 2017 Paul Dickerson Shirin Neshat Jody Zellen Legal Advisors Sarah Drury Bob Nickas Lisa Zwerling Edited by: Mia Feroleto Inside Front Cover Paul Hastings, LLP Holger Drees Mignon Nixon Back issues may be sunset photo: Lloyd Dunn Valery Oisteanu purchased at: Ben Droz | America’s Financial Advisor Phillip Evans-Clark Wyatt Osato Printed Matter Inc. First Hemp Field at Ryan Prager Metis, CPA FaGaGaGa: Mark & Saul Ostrow 195 Tenth Avenue New Loflin’s Farm, 2014 Mel Corroto Stephen Paul Miller York, NY 10011 Past Guest Editors Frank Fantauzzi Pedro A.H. Paixão Publisher & Guest Keith Adams Jim Feast Gilberto Perez To pre-order or support Editor Richard Armijo Elizabeth Ferrer Stephen Perkins please send check or Mia Feroleto Christine Armstrong Jane Fire Bruno Pinto money order to: Stafford Ashani Steve Flanagan Adrian Piper New Observations Art Director Karen Atkinson Roland Flexner Lucio Pozzi P.O. Box 335 Erika T. Knerr Todd Ayoung Stjepan G. Mestrovic Bradley Rubenstein Chester, VT 05143 Stephan Balint Serge Gavronsky Stephen Prina Copy Editor Mark Bartlett Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe Lise Prown No part of this Leah Poller Susan Bee Guerrilla Girls Sylvia Reed publication may be Tiffany Bell Jennifer Golub Roger Riggins reproduced, stored Board of Directors Curt Belshe Peter Halley Kevin Riordan in a retrieval system Ananda Bosman Maurice Berger Selma Holo Michael Robbins or transmitted in any Ignacio Cisneros Elena Berriolo Stuart Horodner Tim Rollins & K.O.S. form or by any means, Mia Feroleto ~Chair Andrew Boardman Gary Indiana John Roloff electronic, mechanical, Karen Gunderson Mark Bobrow Ciri Johnson Michael Roscher photocopying, recording Diane R. Karp Brian Boigon John Johnston Grace Roselli or otherwise without the Erika T. Knerr Bruce Brand Muffet Jones Frank Rubino prior written permission Lucio Pozzi Ginevra Bompiani Gerald Just Babs Reingold of the authors and Bruce Breland Shoshana Kalisch Steven Schiff publisher. Editorial Consultants Martin Bresnick Susa n Kandel Mira Schor Opinions expressed Susan Bee Eva Buchmuller Steven Kane Joshua Selman herein and the validity Martin Bresnick Ana Busto Diane Karp David Shapiro of the information Tricia Collins Michele C. Cone Alain Kirili John Shaw presented are the Paolo Colombo David Carrier Hilary Kliros Berta Sichel responsibility of the Jim Feast James Cathcart Erika Knerr Duncan Smith authors and not of the Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe Theresa Chong Sabu Kohso Tracy Smith publishers. Peter Halley Nhi Chung KK Kozik Alan Sondheim George Herms Charlie Citron Gene Kraig Susan Springfield Originally published in Diane R. Karp Ronny Cohen Kim Larsen Suzy Sureck 2017 by Mia Feroleto in Joseph Masheck Collins & Milazzo Linda Levit Frederieke Taylor honor of the Industrial Carlo McCormick Paolo Colombo Daniel Libeskind Lynne Tillman Hemp movement in Richard Milazzo David A. Cook Dacia Maraini Mike Topp America. John Trudell What Medicine Does

in our reality as human being hemp is our ally the relationship is encoded in our DNA the cannabinoid receptors in our body are designed by nature to respond to medicinal cannabinoids of cannabis hemp

in our reality as children of earth ancient relationships with cannabis hemp an ally providing food shelter clothing medicine then as so called civilized man turned evolution into progress hemp was an integral component from rope to sails from paper to economics

in the reality of progress our ally lost favor when progress discovered how to drink earth’s blood progress was thirsty and blood was more profitable in a triumph of profits over common sense when controlled by the minds of the few anything going against that was a threat

with hemp as an abundance accessible to, too many so then what was once an ally was now the enemy in a decision of the few to exploit the many as part of the progress of progressive profits with earth poisoning in vapors of mother’s blood

in our reality as human beings in this now could be time to remember back in our far back our reliance to cannabis hemp to provide is a renewable alliance that we decide

to understand the versatility of cannabis hemp if we’re talking about energy hemp can help economics environment industry jobs agriculture fuel housing food clothing paper and hemp creates oxygen on a renewable basis for a sky being smothered by carbons

when that our survival gene kicks in a potential reality of cannabis hemp it is a reality of an environmentally safe renewable alternative green energy resource the economics are basically limitless and cannabis hemp is earth friendly

in the reality of our evolution cannabis hemp is related to us by DNA hemp is earth medicine we as human beings are of this earth hemp won’t save us but it can help us that’s what medicine does

4 Industrial Hemp Ben Droz, Hemp in Vermont. summer, 2015 Superhero/Savior of Humanity 5 Industrial Hemp Superhero/Savior of Humanity Edited by Mia Feroleto

John Trudell 5 What Medicine Does Mia Feroleto 9 Superhero/Savior of Humanity Eric Steenstra 10 The Resurgence of the American Hemp Industry Mike Lewis 12 Ancient Tools, Disconnects and Opportunity: Impacting the Environment

Ben Droz 12 Photos Jeffrey Silberman 14 Enhancing Demand for Hemp Michael Carus 18 The European Hemp Industry: Cultivation, Processing and Applications for Fibres, Shivs, Seeds

and Flowers

Glenn Goldberg 22 While The Paper Was Still Wet Terry M. Boyd 27 Embroidered Abstraction on Hemp KK Kozik 28 Golden Classics Sally J. Smith 31 Faerie House of Hemp Karen Gunderson 34 A Single Leaf and A Branch Of Hemp Ignacio Cisneros 36 Archoid, Tal and Archoid, Blue Lucy Slivinski 38 Paintings on Hemp Paper Alex White Plume 40 Quote Mitch Epstein 40 Portrait of Alex White Plume and His Hemcrete House

Michael D. Reif and 42 Menominee Tribal Hemp Farming: Marcus Grignon A Dream Deferred Alli Cloyd 44 Build Your Own Hempcrete Home Steve Allin 46 Can Hemp Really Be The Answer? Heather Jackson 48 An Open Love Letter to Hemp Joel Stanley 52 Charlotte’s Web: One Little Girl’s Story Continues to Challenge Medicine, Federal Law and the DEA

Mia Feroleto 54 A Conversation Between Two Friends

6 Industrial Hemp Mike Lewis and Growing Warriors; Kentucky grown and processed hemp flag Mia Feroleto

Industrial Hemp: Superhero/Savior of Humanity

“I don’t know if hemp is gonna save the world but I’ll tell you this, Jack Herrer as quoted in Eric Steenstra’s it is the only thing that can.” article for this magazine.

y interest in “A Shelter from the Storm: Artists for the or weak in the knees. Mitch Epstein took industrial Homeless of New York.” Held in 1987 the extraordinary portrait of Alex White hemp took at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Plume wearing his grandfather’s feather seed in the it benefited three organizations working bonnet that graces our cover. In February spring of with the homeless population of New of 2017, Mitch spent eight days at 2014. At York, including the St. Francis Residences Standing Rock recording the protest effort the time I for the Poor, which provides permanent against the Dakota Access Pipeline and was living housing to chronically mentally ill took a break to drive to the Pine Ridge in Canada with my then boyfriend, who adults in three locations. Later, in Reservation to meet with Alex. happened to be a registered medical 1995, I collaborated with Coalition Karen Gunderson has created a series grade cannabis grower, which is ironic for the Homeless on the creation of of her iconic black paintings with the because I do not use cannabis in any ARTWALK NY, an annual event that raises hemp plant and hemp fields as subject form. The topic of industrial hemp had approximately one million dollars a year matter. Thank you, Mitch, Karen, KK come up in conversation, so I turned to for the homeless of Manhattan. Members Kozik, Lucy Slivinski, Sally Smith, Glenn MGoogle. Within minutes I found myself of that core group of friends who served Goldberg, Ignacio Cisneros and Lucio watching the first of Sanjay Gupta’s as benefit committee members have gone Pozzi for including hemp as a material groundbreaking documentaries entitled on to become stars in the contemporary in your art-making process. Thank you, “WEED” and learned about the impact art world. When I look back on that time, Ben Droz for your wonderful photography of CBD on the life of a little girl named all I see is the friendship and camaraderie and support with this issue. Thank you Charlotte Figi, which, to my mind, was that encircled such a worthy cause. to the following contributors listed in nothing short of a miracle. For me, the issue of sustainable housing no particular order: Heather Jackson, My background is in fine arts and, for everyone became a goal, at least as Joel Stanley, Eric Steenstra, Mike Lewis, although I have not painted for quite much of a goal as any one person can Michael Carus, Jeffrey Silberman, Glenn a while, my work has been exhibited have. Taking the Transition Town Training Goldberg, David Bronner, Will Allen, at galleries and museums in the SoHo in Montpelier, Vermont during the summer Marcus Grignon, Michael Reif, Alli district of Manhattan and elsewhere of 2009, I understood the importance of Cloyd, Sally J. Smith, Steve Allin, Ignacio and was well-reviewed in The New York listening to one’s own response level to any Cisneros and Cree Miller from the Estate Times. Artists are trained to create from given thought or idea and to paying of John Trudell. It makes no sense for me nothing, whether it be on a blank sheet attention enough to use this excitement to describe their eloquent words when of paper or canvas or a sculpture made and enthusiasm as a gauge for you can read them yourself. to occupy space. My art education has engagement. The more I learned about Thank you, Erika Knerr, previous provided me with the perfect tool box to hemp, the more excited I became, and publisher of New Observations, for the navigate these challenging times. All we that has continued to be true ever since. opportunity to produce this issue and need is our imagination and some effort to Hemp can provide solutions for countless to be next in line as publisher of New make an idea come to fruition. problems and actually has the ability to Observations. Thank you to Leah Poller for In my mid-20’s, after working as an address multiple problems at the same your editing skills and to Linda O’Brien, administrator in the Department of time. Now that is saying something! to whom I went for transcription services Psychiatry at New York University Medical After almost 40 years of activism, what needed for the David Bronner/Will Allen Center, my interests began to include I can say for certain is there is nothing interview. Linda was so inspired by their human rights and social service issues. At more powerful than an idea whose time words that she donated her services. that time, I came to understand that art has come. With the creativity and drive Thank you, Linda! could be used as a tool to raise funds for of the people who have contributed to We came together to create something those less fortunate and support important this publication, we can, indeed, change of value and succeeded. Now, it’s on to causes. As a result, a group of friends and the world with hemp. It may take a little our next milestone. I got together to organize our first event, time, but not one of us is faint of heart Strength and Honor! ~Mia

8 Industrial Hemp Left: photo by Ben Droz Superhero/Savior of Humanity 9 Eric Steenstra Due to Jack’s painstaking research and companies producing hemp rope and and thus, the Hemp Industries Association his tireless promotion, The Emperor Wears canvas for the Russian military. Agnes met was born. HIA’s mission was to promote No Clothes became a bestseller. The me in Budapest and we traveled to Szeged the benefits of hemp, defend against Emperor was the vehicle to achieve his in southeast Hungary to tour the factory. harmful laws and regulations and to grow goal of legalizing hemp and marijuana. Our goal was to produce a line of the industry including brining back hemp He printed and distributed the book 100% hemp jeans and shirts. Kenderfono farming. We had annual meetings and himself, releasing 11 editions and had high quality polished hemp twine the group grew and became the go-to selling more than 750,000 copies. He and beautiful hemp canvas which would source for hemp industry information and educated and inspired millions of people be perfect for bags and accessories but advocacy. worldwide, as the book was translated they didn’t have the lighter weight hemp The Resurgence of the into 12 different languages including textiles needed for garments. We made Bringing Back Hemp Farming: Vote Hemp Spanish and German. Most early hemp a deal to begin purchasing hemp twine One of the main goals of HIA was to see business owners credit Jack and his book and canvas. This was the beginning of American farmers grow hemp again and for inspiring them to go into the business. Ecolution, our hemp company. be able to source domestically produced American Hemp Industry I heard from her that we might find hemp fiber and seed. By 2000, we Early Hemp Commerce lighter hemp fabric in Romania, so we realized we needed a political arm of the When I first read Jack’s book in 1990, planned a visit in early 1994. I had met industry to work on changing the laws. there were very few hemp products a Romanian American named Christian A few members of HIA including myself, available. A handful of companies had Delcea who was able to contact a David Bronner, Erik Rothenberg, Eric sprung up selling hemp clothing, cordage, factory that said they could make hemp Lineback, David Frankel and Steve Levine foods and paper including Hempstead, fabrics and garments. The trip was pretty formed Vote Hemp, a 501 (c)4 non-profit. The Ohio Hempery, the House of Hemp amazing and eye opening. Romania was a We originally thought we could achieve and the Coalition For Hemp Awareness beautiful place but seemed to be living in our goal within 5 or 6 years but that was ack Herer self-published The Jack Herer is without question the (CHA). a time warp. As we drove from Bucharest a bit overly optimistic to say the least! Emperor Wears No Clothes in most important figure in the revival of Steve DeAngelo and I discussed to Iasi, we saw few cars but often passed We have made incredible progress over 1985, and in so doing, sparked the hemp industry—he’s the Johnny starting a hemp clothing company people on horses pulling carts or riding the past 16 years, including helping to the resurgence of the American Appleseed of hemp. Jack was somewhat that would make and sell 100% hemp bikes. The factory had recently lost its change the laws of 32 states and getting hemp industry. Americans were of an unlikely advocate. He was born in clothing and accessories. In early 1992, state funding and was looking for new hemp farming pilot programs added to beginning to unravel the tangled June of 1939 in Brooklyn, NY and grew I started looking for hemp fabric and opportunities. They had the equipment the Farm Bill in 2014. This resulted in history of lies behind Harry Anslinger’s up in a conservative family. Up until his discovered that the only company and expertise to make fabric and finish hundreds of farmers planting hemp and anti-cannabis crusade and Nixon’s late 20’s, he was a pro-war and anti- selling it was an importer out of Portland it into garments but they didn’t have any growing 9,650 acres of hemp in 2016. Jblatantly racist if not lucrative “War on cannabis Republican. He joined the Army called the House of Hemp that had a fiber or yarn. They introduced us to hemp Vote Hemp has also helped lead legal Drugs.” Herer’s hemp manifesto catalyzed and served as a military policeman during few Chinese hemp fabrics available. I processors and we arranged to buy the efforts to defend hemp, including the HIA the revival of interest in hemp farming and A Young Eric Steenstra presents with Jack the Korean War. Jack’s life took a dramatic Herrer. purchased some to check out the quality fiber and have it delivered. After some v. DEA case which stopped DEA from manufacturing, and I’ve been fortunate to turn in 1969 after smoking marijuana for and see what we could do with it. After trial and error, they produced some fine banning hemp foods in 2001, thanks to have a front row seat to this fascinating the first time. It opened his mind. In 1973 discussions with Steve, we agreed that quality Nm 10 hemp yarns and made the generous support of David Bronner and somewhat improbable story of the in the early 1900s, culminating in the he founded a hemp store in the Venice we didn’t really want to do business in shirts and real indigo dyed blue jeans. and Dr. Bronner’s. We also have lead rediscovery of hemp and the efforts to Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. The act made Beach neighborhood in Los Angeles, China. The Tiananmen’s Square massacre Steve and I were ecstatic but we through protest and direct action, thanks reestablish its cultivation, use and good no distinction between marijuana and California and began his journey toward had happened just a few years earlier needed more help in getting the kinks to our partnership with Adam Eidinger of reputation in the United States. hemp, and required anyone who wanted writing the book that would enlighten and we didn’t want to do business in a worked out and getting high quality Mintwood Media. He helped us organize to grow cannabis for industrial or medical millions about the plant. country that was oppressing its people. patterns and quality control. I befriended DEA Hemp Food Taste Tests in 2002, How did we get here? purposes to register as a “producer During the next decade, Jack was Unfortunately in those early days, there Barbara Filippone who had decades of farmers planting of hemp seeds on the The focus of this article is on the of marihuana” and pay a tax. Others steadily doing research and collecting were few sources of hemp textiles experience in textiles and garments and DEA lawn in 2010 and David Bronner’s modern American hemp industry, its have covered this history extensively, historical information about his favorite available. we hired her to manage our production. White House hemp harvest protest in contemporary challenges and the robust including Herer in his seminal book, so I plant. He discovered that much of With all the pieces in place, Ecolution 2012. opportunity it presents. But first, it’s won’t elaborate on its prohibition or the the history of hemp had been erased Hemp in Hungary and Romania grew to over $3 million in sales by We are closer than ever to restoring important to understand how Cannabis causes. By 1970, the hemp industry had by government propaganda efforts. We heard that hemp was grown in Eastern 1999, and was sold in hundreds of stores hemp’s potential, but we still haven’t hemp became prohibited and maligned as largely disappeared by the time Congress Yet he persisted, pursuing the truth in Europe. Communism had just collapsed in nationwide and via our web site, one of completed our original goal of having all a dangerous drug. passed the Controlled Substances Act. Washington, DC on visits to the Library Hungary and other Eastern bloc countries. the first hemp sites, which I built in 1994. American farmers be able to grow hemp Cannabis sativa L, commonly known It defined all Cannabis including hemp of Congress and the USDA National With democracy on the rise, I decided to commercially without DEA oversight as hemp, is one of the oldest cultivated as marijuana, and banned commercial Agricultural Library. His approach was go to Hungary. My first visit was in May Hemp Industries Association or interference. While we are getting plants, known for its durable bast fibers, cultivation of cannabis. simple and incredibly effective. He of 1993. I met a woman named Agnes There were many other companies there, this industry will continue to grow, nutritious seed, and for its medicinal presented the historical documents he Palotas whose mother had worked at Elso getting into the industry and we faced proving that hemp is really the incredible properties. Hemp has a long history Jack Herer Rediscovers Hemp uncovered about hemp alongside his Magyar Kenderfono (the First Hungarian some similar challenges. Christie Bohling resource that Jack told us about. in North America, dating back to the My hemp journey started in 1989 arguments that Cannabis hemp was the Hemp Spinning Company). Kenderfono of CHA organized a meeting of hemp European colonists who established it as after meeting DC Cannabis activist, most important and versatile plant on had been processing hemp fiber into companies in 1994 in Scottsdale, AZ. a crop in the early 1600s. It was grown Steve DeAngelo, at a NORML rally in Earth. Jack promoted hemp for food, fuel, twine, ropes and canvas since 1873 Everyone came, including Jack Herer, and throughout America for centuries and Washington, DC. Steve and I became fiber and medicine and offered $100,000 and was part of the Kender Bizalom or we had a lively discussion. We all agreed For more information about hemp, visit its economic advantages were widely friends and he subsequently introduced to anyone who could disprove the Hemp Trust—a group of 17 state owned on the need to form a trade association Vote Hemp at: www.VoteHemp.com promoted by United States founding me to his friend Jack Herer who was claims made in his book. When skeptics fathers George Washington and Thomas barnstorming the country on a “Hemp questioned his claims, he would say “I Jefferson. Unfortunately, hemp was Tour,” educating anyone who would listen don’t know if hemp is gonna save the caught up in the nasty campaign against about how Cannabis hemp could save the world but I’ll tell you this, it is the only narcotics and “marihuana” that took place planet. thing that can.”

10 Industrial Hemp Superhero/Savior of Humanity 11 estimated that less than half of the world’s and ropes that brought the first explorers to the hemp, it will make us more sustainable. While cotton crop is of a genetically modified variety, Americas. Those ships opened up trade and this statement is accurate, it addresses only the meaning the pesticide number could increase ushered in a new era of mobility for people input issue, not the structural problem. Whatever significantly in the coming years. Today, your all over the world. Those sails brought our we put the water in, it is still pulled from average cotton t-shirt has been treated with ancestors to this land, and later would feed the aquifers and shipped thousands of miles using over a pound of pesticide and seven hundred printing presses that would organize our first carbon based inputs to get to you. The industrial gallons of water. Using Berry’s logic, this is a Militias and ultimately helped us declare our hemp plant offers us many opportunities to direct threat to our community and our survival independence. Hemp literally built this nation change our inputs, but the path to its revival that must be addressed. and it could do it again. But it must be done will depend solely upon human willingness to It was in this spirit that I became involved in responsibly and with care, as if we intended accept and pay the true costs of this life that industrial hemp advocacy. You see, not only is to hand it off to our children to use for future we have purchased together. That will require the planet in the midst of an ecological crisis, generations. change to the structural issues that threaten but also America is in the middle of a farm It is often heard in hemp circles that this crop us all. The industrial hemp plant offers many crisis that is alarming and largely unknown. In “will save the planet” because of all the things opportunities for input change, but the path to the past five years, over one hundred thousand we can accomplish with it. This plant can hemp revival will depend solely upon human farms in this country have ceased production. provide everything from a simple length of rope willingness to accept and pay the true costs for For those farmers still producing, expenses to the complex Nano technologies that will the lifestyles that we have acquired together, are up over thirty percent, while the value of store our future energy-- and that is exciting-- with the structural issues that may equally production has risen by only about twenty- but I fear we have forgotten where we came threaten us all. five percent. This means that even with higher from and how we got here. A tool in the hand prices at the farm gate, farmers are still losing of a skilled craftsman becomes a weapon in money. In 2012, over half of Americas farmers the hand of the wrong person and the same lost money. In my home state of Kentucky, is true in this scenario. I came to hemp for we lost ten thousand farms between 2007 the same reason as most people: it presented and 2012. About six thousand of these were an abundance of possibilities to solve some new and beginning farmers, while over half of of the structural problems that we face as a Kentucky’s seventy seven thousand farmers lost planet, not to add another element to structures money last year. In hemp farming, I saw an causing our problems. This is where I fear we opportunity for farmers to produce higher value are heading with this plant. crops and reestablish some rural processing Let us not forget that this is a plant that helped infrastructure. build empires. The same sails that brought our One of my favorite quotes is taken from founding fathers here also brought the slaves the writings of Roman Naturalist and Naval that built this nation. The canvas that covered Mike Lewis commander Gaius Plinius Secundus. “Out of the wagons brought the settlers westward on so small a seed springs a means of carrying this continent, together with the weapons and the whole world to and fro”. It reminds me soldiers that occupied and overthrew the natives of how critical agriculture is to our existence. who called this place home before us. Often it From a simple seed came the means to make can be heard that if we switch all of the plastic Ancient Tools, Disconnects and Opportunity: the cordage that was converted into the sails bottles in the world to bio-based polymers like Impacting the Environment

ost of the earliest as travelling toward some sort of industrial transactions - a partner that once deserved the works of art paradise, some new Eden conceived and same equity but now requires more because I fear we discovered constructed entirely by human ingenuity. And of previous neglect. For decades now, we have today are in we have thought ourselves free to use and used nature to suit our needs without any fact, ancient abuse nature in any way that might further this regard for the externalities. have forgotten tools. People enterprise.” In other words, we have forgotten Perhaps one of the biggest disconnects we created things with care and love because our place. have today is in fashion. Most people have they had to last and would ultimately be The “understanding” Berry speaks of comes forgotten that their clothing and other textiles where we passed onto the next generation. The industrial directly from our belief and participation in can be traced back to the farm; even more so, revolution eliminated the care and effort that modern economic principles. Berry continues they have forgotten how the methods used came from and went into making these earlier objects so that and claims “we have bought unconditionally to produce them impact the environment. Mpeople could work faster and cheaper in the the economist line that competition and According to a World Wildlife report, more face of economic competition. The Industrial innovation would solve all problems, and that than half the clothing in the world is made of how we got Revolution brought us modern economic we would finally accomplish a technological cotton. Globally 2.4 percent of all farmland theory that introduced us to the theory of end run around biological reality and the is planted in cotton, which uses twenty- here. externalities. Wendell Berry in his 1989 essay human condition.” What Berry is calling for in four percent of the fertilizer, eleven percent “Nature as a Measure” writes “for a long his essay is the recognition that nature and our of pesticides, and a quarter of the water time now, we have understood ourselves environment are equal participants in all of our consumed by agriculture annually. It is now

12 Industrial Hemp Above: photo by Ben Droz Superhero/Savior of Humanity 13 Jeffrey Silberman

Enhancing Demand for farmers to reinvest in the infrastructure market share of world fiber consumption Industrial Hemp that was consolidated away from the to below 25% and increased polyester’s Industrial hemp seems to finally be communities they produce in. In many own share to over 52%. If industrial hemp Enhancing Demand for Hemp making headway, and while it won’t ways, farmers are turning to hemp out of becomes important enough, there is more be an easy task for those charged with hope for the old economy of rural farm to fear from synthetic fibers than there is maximizing its growth, it is definitely an communities.” Looking at the industrial from other natural fibers. Polyester can exciting time. Industrial hemp has been a hemp industry as a textile technologist simulate the look and hand of hemp, hot topic for many years, but legalization and part-time flax farmer, hemp has a lot including the natural inconsistencies and and public opinion are now leaning in of things going for it but it has issues to it can be done at a heart-breaking low its favor, making research and product resolve. price. Not perfectly, but enough for all development possible. Many people Industrial hemp for textile end use but vigilant consumers. At the moment, have been waiting a long time for this refers to varieties of cannabis sativa that polyester is focusing on larger markets. opportunity to present itself, and many are cross-bred to achieve long, uniform, That said, industrial hemp competes more are waiting to see how it unfolds. and strong textile fiber that is flexible with flax and ramie and a few other The possibilities exist for industrial enough to be spun into yarn. And yes, cellulosic fibers in the textile market hemp to grow and scale in a number of the plant must contain less than .3% place. Hemp will compete to a lesser ways, and while product developers and psychoactive ingredients (THC), but truly, degree with locally farmed protein manufacturers will have an easier time the textile industries only care about the fiber (wool, cashmere, alpaca) in the with oil, paper, composites and just about yarn’s shape, size, cost and strength, and fashion markets, since protein fibers have anything other than with textiles, it can’t not necessarily in that order. different properties. Hemp, like flax and be ignored that textiles is the big one, Industrial hemp is not a miracle. It is a cotton, will more than likely be used in meaning that there are huge opportunities bast fiber, meaning that the usable textile developing blends that maximize the within this sector for hemp, actually fiber is bundled in the stem like flax or properties of both fibers. At the farm the product category for which it was jute, rather than from lint protrusions level, industrial hemp will compete with originally best known. The reason? The from the seed, such as cotton. Industrial corn, soy, potatoes and what ever grows textile industry ranges from maker-space hemp (Cannabis Sativa) is not related profitably in a given region. But in the artisanal shops to vast industry complexes botanically to flax (Linum Usitatissimum), product markets, if re-shoring is to remain that globally serve thousands of end uses. but to a textile technologist, they might as part of the strategy, then there will be no Even if hemp is only viable for a micro well be cousins. From harvesting forward, greater competitor to hemp than hemp percentage of these end uses, an initiative bast fibers require different processing coming in from other parts of the world in this direction provides opportunities practices and machinery than do seed like China, Russia and Eastern Europe for volume and product exposure that hair fibers like cotton, for which the and other areas where the infrastructure is make other products and markets pale by global industry is well set up. already in place and the price is low. comparison. Due to volume, difficult processing But there are entry barriers in every will impact its marketing ability, at Hemp’s Properties direction. And so if you don’t care about least for locally grown industrial hemp. Industrial hemp is not the strongest fiber in natural fibers or textiles, this probably isn’t Roughly 90% of the short-staple spinning the world as is sometimes claimed, and not the piece for you. frames in the world are for cotton-based even the strongest in the world of natural That said, HEMP activists, depending spinning systems, which include cotton fibers. Flax in some cases is stronger than on their roots, see the industry’s potential yarn and any fiber that is to be blended hemp, but it really doesn’t matter. Synthetic from different perspectives. Some are with cotton. Included in this assortment fibers like nylon will embarrass hemp or growers, some are involved politically, is what is called “cottonized” hemp, flax in a strength test, either tear or tensile, and some are product implementers. referring to hemp fiber that is guillotine day or night, and the new generations But everyone participating wants to chopped to about 1.5”, and modified to of synthetic spider silk made from sugar, see industrial hemp maximized. They compatibly spin with upland cotton. But water, salts and yeast are coming on strong, In a world where world textile fiber consumption of natural contribute time, expertise, and energy in blended or pure cottonized hemp will promising strength beyond any fibers in fibers is threatened by synthetic fibers, hemp looks like it is different ways, but what they all have in have a different hand, luster and texture existence. But who cares? How strong does common is that they believe they have than traditional long line hemp. your shirt have to be? finally making headway. From agriculture to the marketplace, “lightening in a bottle”, and they might be right. Competition Sustainability some basic questions about hemp’s sustainability are being Why hemp? Speaking with Mike Lewis, To provide a sense of reality and scale Industrial hemp will also not save the a Kentucky grower, he states “Farmers in market positioning, cotton last year planet. As a low feeder - better than most addressed such as the slow but growing movement of farm – are hungry. The cost of production is produced over 22 million metric tons of competitive fibers - it still requires water up and the prices at the gate are down. fiber globally, flax about 320 thousand and nourishment like every other living to – fashion, in which markets hemp will compete, with what Conventional Agriculture is literally metric tons, and hemp weighed in at thing, and it is susceptible to some wilts starving the family farm that is forcing about 56 thousand metric tons. Both and pests. fibers will hemp compete who is doing what with hemp and farmers to think outside the box and find industrial hemp and flax are not on But industrial hemp scores high how is it progressing? things less conventional to support their cotton’s radar simply because cotton has in overall sustainability, or at least it bottom line. Industrial hemp certainly fits bigger problems to deal with, specifically can depending on who is growing it. that bill and represents an opportunity for polyester, which has reduced cotton’s Hemp has a fairly low impact on the

14 Industrial Hemp Superhero/Savior of Humanity 15 environment, grows well in a lot of industrial hemp? critical transition point to develop textile U.S., there is limited staple yarn spinning places and conditions, provides food Hemp, like flax and some other specialty applications. Hand spinners will bridge capacity available in general, but virtually and fiber, and as a locally grown crop, fibers, has the ability to develop a portion the gap from farm to fabric, and build the no mechanized long staple bast spinning The hemp industry should adopt one logo that represents the has the ability to help alleviate rural of its positioning as “heirloom quality”. showcase needed for capital investment. capacity. This brings forth the decision •entire industry. That logo should be licensed and controlled with poverty and provide farmers with a viable Combining good design, high quality According to NEFLSG’s Lisa Bertoldi, “we of whether or not to send raw hemp to new product. It fits well with the local fabrication, and interesting design can find that there is an increase in interest countries to perform contract processing, specific guidelines by an organization charged with doing so. fiber theme, and can support artisan achieve this and can raise hemp to luxury in locally sourced, locally produced which only makes sense for initial communities. Hemp’s profile in the positioning. This is the smallest part of the textiles. Beyond that, we see that groups development. •The design of the logo should not include the 5-point leaf. market place is closely related to keeping market, but is appropriate for hemp’s current of like-minded people are banding The way forward is to work with That visual relegates industrial hemp production to tee shirts and that image. production capability. This low volume and together to do the work: to make usable countries and regions that can produce baseball hats, and is a deterrent to high end products. high profit market segment can create the household textiles and garments from the products efficiently for now to help Processing umbrella for building brands and will enable local sources. We are seeing this in wool, build the markets domestically. Since the Go for full legalization. Pork producers are correct in their Hemp and flax have some things in other market levels to flourish over time. which is perhaps the easiest fiber with production in the U.S. (both growing and •famous statement that “they sell everything but the oink”. To common, because they are both bast which to see the process through, and processing) can only support low volume, entice industrial hemp production, hemp producers should be able fibers. They are both relatively easy to Local Fiber: Circular Farm to Fashion increasingly in plant fibers namely cotton, then creating a low volume, high margin to grow other varieties, and every variation, including product for grow, but harvesting, processing and Industrial hemp is showing up in the hemp and flax.” business makes a lot of sense. If low cost medicinal and recreational end uses. The public is leaning that way. spinning operations are different. Flax farm-to-fashion movement, which is a offshore producers can help build the plants must be pulled from the ground logical place to develop the high end of Improved Mechanization market to support offerings and provide by a special tractor or by hand to achieve the market, especially for “one of a kind” Prototype fiber processing equipment proof that the industry is attractive to •Clean up the internet presence. Outrageous claims about the the maximum usable fiber length, and or “few of a kind” products. The farm-to- is currently being designed and investors, so much the better. As comes miracles of industrial hemp from the 1990’s damage its credibility. to keep the ground as free and clear as table model that has been so successful manufactured and is already making its the equipment, so will come the market. possible from fusarium wilt which can for farms and restaurants has taken root in debut. This means that retted fiber can be And so, industrial hemp has exciting Take advantage of the historical value of hemp, flax, and cause a complete crop failure. Industrial farm-to-fashion programs. Fashion circles turned into yarn mechanically, and that and interesting times ahead for those •various wools, but never lose sight of the fact that the consuming hemp growers can cut the raw plant rather are forming all over the country, usually is a major development. Taproot Farms who plan to participate. For farmers public buys textile-based products based on price, color, and fit. than pulling it, which is an advantage. as an extension of the textile maker-space in Nova Scotia is in the final stages of who believe in industrial hemp for Every step in bast fiber processing is community. These initiatives usually offering pilot-sized, but mechanized, textiles, they are at least partially in Build the case for farm to fashion circles. In addition to the important, but most agree that successful include groups of artisans who cooperate to breaking, carding, hackling and spinning the fashion business, and for designers •market positioning gains, it can be a demonstrated success that retting is critical. Retting prepares the combine their skills and activities, creating equipment. It works for nettles, it works and merchandisers, they are partially in later can be used to attract potential investors. harvested fiber for the successful removal communal value in textile based products. for flax, and according to Taproot, the farming. And all are involved with textile of the fiber from the bark (shives) by The consortium usually includes a farm new equipment, with some modification, fiber processing, because it will take that encouraging microbial action to “rot” the that produces natural fibers (cellulosic should work for hemp as well. Speaking kind of effort and stamina. •Promoting consumption over production ability can be bark. Removing the bark from the fiber, or protein) and possibly natural dyes. with Patricia Bishop, the Owner of Taproot dangerous, and the reverse is true also. Build markets that can be sometimes called decortication, is really Communities of hand spinners and weavers Farms and a true believer, “we are excited serviced, not markets that will disappoint with lack of service. a three-stage process that includes retting, or knitters add a burst of creativity not by the interest in how our machines will breaking, and scutching. It entails a lot of usually found in the mass markets, and their work to process hemp, flax and nettles. Speak directly to the consumer, as success will depend on crushing with gears and rollers to enable connection to the market through fashion We are eager to test with hemp and nettle •them delivering the fiber concept through to retail. To the textile the shive to fall off and separate from the designers and micro brands is critical. in the coming weeks”. manufacturing community, hemp represents one more fiber that fiber. The major textile and design schools are This is a tremendous step for industrial is hard to process, inefficient, and makes their job more difficult. Modifying the hand (how it feels) is involved, offering laboratory facilities, hemp, flax, and a whole series of natural Instituting new conditions to a manufacturing facility always critical to hemp– as well as flax– because industry connections, structure, talent and alternative fibers as it enables limited but results in cost increases. both fibers are naturally scratchy and credibility. If you wish to participate in a mechanized yarn production. The next need softening. Softening of fibers is done fashion circle, a College or University is step would be for small farms to organize by more gears and rollers, and in some a good place to start. Creating heirloom into cooperatives, much like cotton •Expect that other than small and specialized markets, countries even by slamming thick skeins quality and high-end pieces occurs there. growers do with cotton gins, offering the manufacturing will require offshore production for now, and so against doorways and walls. Softening ability to process fibers regionally while the re-shoring strategy has limited efficacy beyond small volume, can also be achieved chemically, and Regional Study Groups generating modest volume. and presents a counterfeiting risk that can damage market gains. so it should not be assumed that it is The New England Flax and Linen Study Enough volume could be generated to organically grown and processed unless Group is an example of regional artisans penetrate high-end markets with limited Sustainability is on hemp’s side, and it is important to the product is certified. who pool their talents and provide the yardage, like decorative interiors, and •keep it there. The product is natural, can be organic, and can expertise needed to create unique flax create a vehicle for maker-space creativity be responsibly grown, harvested and processed with low Certification fabrics. There are groups like these who to flourish that will attract additional environmental impact. But consumers don’t attach the same Like every new product, the certification specialize in industrial hemp and they markets. importance to organic status with fibers as they do to organic organizations will have their role. They can be found in former industrial hemp will create standards to ensure fiber and producing regions or by way of the local Ways of Scaling Up food. Weigh the pros and cons of organic certification before product quality, apply existing test criteria museums in those regions. Scaling up is directly related to how adding costs to an already expensive product. from other fibers to make sure it is what it The participants in these regional study much of the manufacturing process is to says it is, and then the organizations will groups come from all walks of life. They be done domestically. Knowing that the Manage the controversy, but don’t lose it. It provides millions crash into each other when attempting to are re-enactors, educators, hobbyists, infrastructure exists outside of the U.S. to •of dollars worth of press exposure that will be difficult if not harmonize these certifications. spinners and weavers. High volume is produce hemp yarn, fabric, and products impossible to replace. not expected at this level of the market, provides an automatic pricing advantage Moving Forward but quality and design ability is. While to those countries with inexpensive And so what are the options available to hand spinning is not the answer to the labor. While there is some fabric-forming those who wish to grow, or grow with, overall industrial hemp strategy, it is the (knitting and weaving) capacity in the

16 Industrial Hemp Superhero/Savior of Humanity 17 Introduction From the 15,700 ha in the year 2013 (year of the last big survey), as biocomposites (mainly automotive) and insulation material 85,000 tonnes of hemp straw were harvested and processed as: and other non-woven applications (technical textiles). Insulation Hemp is a multi-purpose crop, delivering fibres, shivs, seeds material is the second most important application for hemp and pharmaceuticals. Currently the fibre is used for lightweight · 25,000 metric tonnes of fibre fibres today, accounting for about 26% of the applications. papers, insulation material and bio-composites. The shivs, the · 43,000 metric tonnes of shivs (woody core of the stem) Biocomposites account for about 14% of the applications. woody inner core of the stem, are used for animal bedding and · The relation between shivs and fibres (shivs : fibres) is 1.7 construction. Hemp seeds, small nuts with a high nutritional to 1 value, can be consumed raw or pressed into hemp seed oil, which has an excellent and unique fatty acid profile. Both seeds · 13,000 metric tonnes of dust (60% pelletized for Michael Carus and oil are used for human food and animal feed. The non- incineration, 40% for compost and other uses) psychotropic Cannabinoid CBD is an interesting pharmaceutical and food supplement also derived from industrial hemp. Hemp straw in Europe is only processed in a so-called total fibre Industrial hemp has been grown in Europe for many hundreds of line, producing random non-aligned technical fibre. This is in years. Through the Middle Ages and until the end of the sailing contrast to flax, processed in long fibre processing lines, which ship period, hemp was an important crop in many European produces a high value aligned long textile fibre and a technical countries including the UK, France, The Netherlands, Germany, short fibre in a similar form to Hemp. Spain and Italy. The most important applications for the strong The European fibre were canvas for sails and sacks, canvas water hoses and Some companies also or exclusively processed hemp seeds or fabrics, as well as ropes. hemp flowers: Today hemp is a niche crop, cultivated on more than 33,000 ha in the European Union (2016). Because of its unique properties, · 11,500 tonnes (compared to only 6,000 tonnes in 2010) Hemp Industry: particularly its environmental benefits and the high yield of seeds natural technical fibres, hemp is a valuable crop for the bio- · 240 tonnes (compared to only 7.5 tonnes in 2010) of based economy. flowers & leaves for medical applications (THC/CBD), food Cultivation, Processing supplements (CBD) and the production of essential oil (for Basic data on cultivation and processing food and beverages)

The first figure shows the development of the cultivation area and Applications for since 1993. Between 1993 and 1996 the cultivation of industrial Whereas fibres and shivs did not show any significant difference hemp was legalised in most of the member states; others between 2010 and 2013, the production of seeds increased by 92% and the production of flowers and leaves by 3,000%. The followed later. In 2011, the cultivation area decreased to its Figure 2: Applications for European Hemp Fibre from harvest 2010 and flowers for CBD production gave hemp farmers a considerable lowest value since 1994 (ca. 8,000 ha), but increased in 2012, harvest 2013,in total 26,000 (2010) and 25,000 (2013) metric tonnes Fibres, Shivs, Seeds extra profit in 2013. 2013, 2014 and 2015, to finally reach more than 33,000 ha in (EIHA 2016) 2016. The main cultivation member states are France and The It should also be mentioned that hemp is one of the very few Netherlands. In recent years, many new European countries crops in Europe that is cultivated on non-organic farms without and Flowers started or expanded their hemp cultivation, mainly for the the use of any agrochemicals. Strong, fast growing hemp crops production of hemp seeds. are able to suppress weeds without chemical support and the crop does not suffer from any pests or diseases that would warrant a spray. Hemp also grows well under an organic regime.

Applications for Hemp Fibres

Hemp fibres have some of the best mechanical properties of all natural fibres. They are mainly used for insulation material and for bio-composites in automotive applications. Before the rediscovery of industrial hemp in Europe in the 1990s, hemp fibres were mainly (> 95%) used for speciality pulp & paper. Because of the high price of hemp pulp – about five times higher than wood pulp – the applications were limited to cigarette (the main market) and bible paper, technical filters and bank notes. The hemp pulp and paper market was a relatively stable market in recent decades, but on the other hand there is no market expansion expected and the market is risky because, Figure 3: Applications for European Hemp Fibre from harvest 2013, from a technical point of view, today hemp and flax pulp could 25,000 metric tonnes (nova/EIHA 2016) be substituted in most applications by a cheaper Kraft wood pulp with specific additives. Today (early 2017) the price range for hemp fibres starts from In 2013 (as in 2010), hemp pulp & paper was still the most Figure 1: Hemp Cultivation Area in the EU 1993-2016, Source: EU about 50 Eurocent/kg for the cigarette paper industry (ca. 25% important market for European hemp fibres with a share of 57%, Commission and nova-Institute surveys (nova/EIHA 2017) shiv content) to around 75 Eurocent/kg for automotive and supplied mainly by French producers. (see Figure 2 and 3 for insulation (2-3% shiv content). details). Due to a lot of research and development in the 1990s financed by the European Commission and the Member States, new applications for flax and hemp fibres were developed, such

18 Industrial Hemp Superhero/Savior of Humanity 19 while dozens of companies show double-digit growth and increasing demand. Some member states have already published regulations, some are limiting the use of CBD only to medical application, while others allow the use as food supplement. Most member states have just started to discuss national regulations. There is no reason to regulate the access to CBD too rigorously because of the wide spectrum of beneficial physiological effects of CBD and its favourable safety profile. Europe should not miss this chance for consumer health and well-being and industrial growth in agriculture and food industry. EIHA gives access to the latest scientific information on CBD as well as a comprehensive position paper, which has been signed by nearly 700 consumers: www.eiha.org In “The Cologne Declaration on Industrial Hemp” from June 2017, signed by more than 200 signatories, the hemp industry points out the most burning issues of the sector. “The signatories Figure 4: Relative price development for Hemp and Flax technical short Figure 6: Applications for European Hemp Shivs from harvest 2013, in Figure 7: Applications for European Hemp Seeds from harvest 2010 urge policy makers to develop a reasonable and harmonised fibres from European production 2003 – 2016 (nova 2017) total 43,000 metric tonnes (nova/EIHA 2016) and harvest 2013, in total 6,000 (in 2010) and 11,500 (in 2013) metric legislation for CBD and THC in food and food supplements, to Applications for Hemp Seeds and Oil tonnes (nova/EIHA 2016) make sure that consumers are protected, to sustain the industry’s Applications for Hemp Shivs current double-digit growth rate, to attract new investors, create In addition to hemp fibres, the process by which they are Hemp seeds have been mainly a by-product of hemp crops jobs and to boost development of safe products.” extracted (decortication) also produces hemp shivs. From a hemp grown in central or southern Europe for fibre production. Only fibre producer’s economic point of view, it is very important small areas were used exclusively for hemp seed production, Michael Carus, managing director of nova-Institute and European to produce clean hemp shivs to sell into added value markets, in contrast to Canada where almost all hemp is grown for seeds Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA) since for each kilogram of hemp fibre produced, one gets 1.7 kg only. But this has changed in the last year, as more and more of hemp shivs .as by-product producers in Europe started to cultivate hemp for seed and For more information, please go to www.eiha.org High performance bedding material for horses and other animals flowes production only. and http://eiha.org/CologneDeclaration/ such as chickens is today the most important market for hemp From 2010 to 2013 the production of seeds increased from shivs. Hemp shivs can absorb moisture up to four times their 6,000 to 11,500 tonnes (92% growth), driven by the increasing dry weight. They are effective for much longer in the stable demand from the food market. Even big supermarkets began or hen house compared to other materials, thereby saving offering hemp food products. An example of this can be found working time. After use, hemp bedding rots down quickly into an in Germany and in The Netherlands. excellent compost. In 2015, in the European Union 11,500 t (2008: 6,000 t) Of the total hemp shiv applications, horse bedding has a market of hemp seeds were produced, and another 10,000 t were share of 45% and other animal bedding 18%, cumalatively imported, mainly from China. The consumption is about representing 63% of the total hemp shiv applications (2010 and 22,000 t hemp seeds per year in Europe. Especially for organ 2013). An interesting new and expanding market is the use of (organic??) hemp seeds, the demand is higher than the supply. hemp shivs in combination with lime for construction. Here the A double digit growth rate is expected, with demand rising market share for shivs is 16%. especially in food goods. A hemp seed market potential linked Figure 8: Applications for European Hemp Seeds from harvest 2013, in to a penetration of 5% of the European nut market would signify total 11,500 metric tonnes (nova/EIHA 2016) an added market value of € 1 billion/year. Two major problems Cannabidiol (CBD) are delaying the growth: government legislation and lack of consumer awareness. Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the non-psychotropic cannabinoids Most of the hemp seeds are used as human food (about 60%), in industrial hemp. It not only has a plethora of beneficial the other 40% as animal feed. Ten years ago, the feed market health effects, but it also has no relevant side-effects. CBD is was dominating the demand. Bird and fish feed is the main increasingly used as a food supplement and in food supplement market for hemp seeds in animal nutrition. Both birds and fish compositions, and as an ingredient in cosmetics, thereby need fatty acids with a high share of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty generating new investments and creating employment in the acids for optimum development. The hemp seed oil is mainly cultivation and processing of hemp and hemp-derived products. used to mix with protein feed for Koi Carp. CBD has increasingly gained prominence in the Hemp seed is an excellent source of several critical mineral pharmaceutical and food supplement industries. CBD can be nutrients and vitamins. Its oil has an outstanding fatty acid easily extracted from the flowers and leaves of industrial hemp as spectrum. It has unusually high 90% unsaturated fatty acids like a high value by-product. In 2013, 240 tonnes of flowers & leaves Linoleic acid (omega 6, essential), Alpha-linoleic acid (omega- for medical applications (THC/CBD), food supplements (CBD) 3, essential), and Gamma-linoleic acid (omega-6). Its protein is and the production of essential oil (for food and beverages) were balanced and easily digested. Its nutritional composition and produced compared to only 7.5 tonnes in 2010. This means an culinary versatility is very much in line with several major trends increase of 3,000% from 2010. Further growth is expected in the Figure 5: Applications for European Hemp Shivs from harvest 2010 and in the science and marketing of food. With the right quality next years. harvest 2013, in total 44,000 (in 2010) and 43,000 (in 2013) metric management and marketing, the use of hemp seeds and oil in At the moment, there is only a tenuous patchwork of CBD- tonnes (nova/EIHA 2016) healthy human nutrition will continuously expand. regulation in the European Union endangering its use as a food supplement, to the detriment of the population and industry. Today more than 100,000 citizens profit already from CBD,

20 Industrial Hemp Superhero/Savior of Humanity 21 Glenn Goldberg

While The Paper Was Still Wet

n 2015, I was invited by Mia (slurry), to make paper to our preferred hold up to demanding weather conditions Feroleto to do a paper project sizes, consistency, and texture. We had and would take an enormous amount of with hemp, a material I was many different size hand molds that we time to be broken down, if at all. aware of but with which I had poured slurry into in order to form the In conjunction with my hemp paper no previous experience. Mia paper. The paper was then removed from project, it is also important to state that and I had known each other the mold. While the paper was still wet increased general production of hemp from decades prior when Mia was in New we poured colored slurries onto the wet is important to us for several reasons. York and working in the arts. I quickly paper in order to make the forms become Specifically, as related to paper, the pulp read up about hemp and its various part of the paper. The work is done when and paper industry historically is one uses, products, physical strength and the paper dries, with nothing added to it of the largest industrial toxic polluters ecological benefits. It seemed like it was that was not part of the process while the of our air, water and land. The paper still somewhat of a secret - underused and paper was being formed. It is an extremely industry uses more water to create a Igenerally confused with marijuana, rather wet and watery process. Much of the ton of product than any other industry. than viewed as the rich, useful and easy work was done freehand; we also made a Deforestation has released an estimated to grow industrial product that it is. Being large group of stencils from my drawings. billion tons of carbon dioxide into the an artist, I became interested in working The stencils were of guys, ducks, dogs, air. Hemp paper doesn’t require toxic with this plant and seeing how it felt in birds and a variety of other forms that bleaching chemicals. It can be whitened the form of paper. I had never seen hemp I often use in my work. The experience with hydrogen peroxide, which doesn’t paper and was curious about this material of pouring wet colored hemp pulp into poison waterways the way that chloride that was brand new to me. Through Mia, I wet hemp paper was new and exciting. and bleach (the chemicals used in making was then afforded the opportunity to work By doing this, both the paper and the art wood pulp paper) do. An acre of hemp at Dieu Donne in New York on a project were formed simultaneously in one long, produces as much paper as four acres using hemp as the sole material for the arduous process and then dried as a single of trees. Producing hemp, in general, paper. Dieu Donne is a premier non-profit hemp paper piece. After the pieces dried, would get many of our farmers back to handmade papermaking facility for artists, I was surprised by the unusual hardness work and afford them economic viability. who also run programs for educating and strength of the paper. We made the Hemp paper stays strong for as long as children and the public (headed by Amy paper reasonably thick. Although it still 400 years, while books made on tree Jacobs) about paper and its unlimited had a fair amount of movement, it was paper are useable for closer to 50 years. creative possibilities. I was fortunate and apparent that if it were a bit thicker, it Hemp paper can be recycled 7 to 8 times, honored to work with Paul Wong, who is would feelcloser to a board than a paper. compared with only 3 times for wood the artistic director at Dieu Donne, and a Our sheets were somewhere in between pulp paper. Hemp fiber use in the U.S. well-known master paper maker. The idea heavyweight printmaking paper and would reduce deforestation, toxins in our for this project was not only to work with cardboard. The strength of hemp was waterways, and aid family farms. thick paper pulp, as they generally do, but obvious and in synch with what I had Despite having limited experience also to experiment and work with pulp read about its use in construction and with hemp, I was able to experience just that was formed from hemp. We started other areas of industry. Given the strength, a bit of its unique practical qualities and the process by using pre-existing hemp durability and its lightweight nature, I potential. It has varied uses, is cheap to paper, since we did not have the facilities have become interested in casting outdoor grow, is a healthier solution to many of to process hemp from its original plant hempcrete sculptures. Hemp Crete is our desired products, and would put some state. The pre-existing hemp paper was a hemp and lime mixture of industrial much-needed life back into the American broken down with a Hollander Beater. It strength that also acts as an insulator and farming industry. Go Hemp! was then ready, in its form of hemp pulp moisture regulator. The sculptures would

Glenn Goldberg, Young Dog, 2016 Hemp Pulp on Hemp Paper Courtesy Mia Feroleto 22 Industrial Hemp 24 Industrial Hemp Glenn Goldberg working at Dieu Donne, photo credit: Paul Wong Glenn Goldberg Young Duck, 2016 Hemp Pulp on Hemp Paper Courtesy Mia Feroleto Superhero/Savior of Humanity 25 Terry M. Boyd Terry

26 Industrial Hemp Terry M .Boyd Embroidered portrait on hemp (prototype for larger piece) Terry M. Boyd Embroidered abstraction on hemp Superhero/Savior of Humanity 27 KK Kozik

Above: KK Kozik, Golden Classics 1, 2017, oil on 22 carat gold leafed hemp paper, sewn with bookbinder thread to Nepalese oiled paper with hemp thread grid. 26 x 31”

Left: KK Kozik, Golden Classics 2, 2017, oil on 22 carat gold leafed hemp paper, sewn with bookbinder thread to Nepalese oiled paper with hemp thread grid. 26 x 31”

Superhero/Savior of Humanity 29 Sally J. Smith

Faerie House of Hemp

hen I was invited to create a work in my field of creativity (Natural Faerie Houses) to be made using Hemp, I was intrigued with the challenge because at the time I knew nothing of the plant. As I researched the history of hemp and its incredible versatility I learned that this is a plant that been a part of human civilization for thousands of years. What astonished me most was that Americans were being kept ignorant of its phenomenal uses which spanned from fiber to paper to food, as a green building material and even a replacement for plastics. The story about how this plant has generously benefitted cultures all over the worldW was humbling indeed and I developed an enormous love and respect for this magical botanical. My next challenge was to gather various slab with a vertical Cypresswood aerial root samples of hemp in as many forms as I firmly attached. The micro LED lighting was could find...and there were many! I was worked into the piece as it was built with fortunate to find a local grower who was each “room” having its own lamp hidden beginning to experiment with cultivation in within to make the whole piece glow this region and he had some raw samples when twilight descends. Extra care was which he kindly offered for my project. lavished on the entrance portal with its I ordered papers and cording from the “leaded glass” doors made from dragonfly internet and began to dream. I wanted to wings and faceted crystal beaded trim make a structure that had a soaring quality made with dyed hemp twines. A hanging to represent rising to full potential. I also “lamp” made from a branched junction wanted rounded and soft forms that gave a of the raw plant, glazed with tissue-thin feeling of pods or cocoons but also echoed hemp paper added a welcoming glow. The the shapes of billowing sails since hemp is final elements to be made from hemp were so important to textile-making. the rounded “boulders” that nestle up to To honor the weaving traditions that the base of the house and the stepping use hemp I decided to use raw hemp bast stone “mushroom” stairs rising to the front strands and weave them into panels for the door. Antique Victorian glass beads which flat walls. The arched and curving roofs mimicked exotic vines growing up the were made from layers of hemp papers entire house were the final decorative trim which had invisible openings cut in some added to give the entire structure a bit of of the internal layers that would then make whimsy and sparkle. For me the project for magical patterns when illuminated from was enormously satisfying to complete on the inside. The windows would all be based so many levels. Left: Ben Droz, Hemp Pilot on the cross-section of the raw plant which If you are interested in reading the full, Program with Daisy. Denver, had a pleasing symmetry. detailed step-by-step story of this piece, Colorado, 2015 After creating all the components please visit: Next page centerfold: individually, I began to assemble them onto http://greenspiritarts.blogspot.com/p/ Salley J. Smith, Faerie House, 2017 my base which was a gorgeous Maple burl hemp-house-project.html

30 Industrial Hemp Superhero/Savior of Humanity 31 32 Industrial Hemp Superhero/Savior of Humanity 33 Karen Gunderson

This page: Karen Gunderson A Single Leaf, 2017 oil on canvas, 12 x 12 inches. Karen Gunderson A Branch Of Hemp, 2017 oil on linen

34 Industrial Hemp Superhero/Savior of Humanity 35 Archoid, Tal ( 14” x 9” x 9”) Ignacio Cisneros composed of large ( 9” x 9’ x 9”) and small ( 6” x 6” x 6”) Tufted altered Dodeca

Archoid, Blue ( 2” x 8” x 8”) composed of coned Tetra (8” x 8” x 7”) and altered Bivexed Octa ( 5” x 7” x 7”)

Hemp Paper and Cotton Paper. Ink Jet Pigments based on a mixture of water, glycol and dyes or pigments. Sealed with Polyurethane wood sealer; Bonded with Cyanoacrylate Glue.

Ignacio Cisneros

36 Industrial Hemp Lucy Slivinski, Powerful Source. Painting on hemp paper, 2017 Lucy Slivinski, Spontaneous Combustion. Painting on hemp paper, 2017 Lucy Slivinski

38 Industrial Hemp Lucy Slivinski, Life Force Painting on hemp paper, 2017 Lucy Slivinski, Baby! Light My Fire! Painting on hemp paper, 2017 "I firmly believe that with hemp we can create a good economy, create energy and start cleaning up our environment.

This season, I am planting 10 acres for growing CBD medicine. With the remaining stalks, I will build myself a house after the harvest."

Alex White Plume May 21, 2017

Mitch Eptein, Hempcrete House, Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, 2017 © Mitch Epstein / Courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York

Mitch Eptein, Alex White Plume, Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, 2017

Superhero/Savior of Humanity 41 Michael D. Reif and Marcus Grignon

Menominee Tribal Hemp Farming: A Dream Deferred

nspired by the documentary Stand- which such cultivation is allowed. choactive effect, cultivation of industrial ing Silent Nation and the trailblazing With this language and a series of 2013 hemp would be inherently in compliance efforts of Alex White Plume in South and 2014 Department of Justice enforce- with the Act and the new Department of Dakota, Marcus Grignon began ment memoranda that realigned federal Justice enforcement guidelines. Thus, in dreaming of bringing industrial hemp cannabis enforcement priorities, the May 2015, the Tribal Legislature legalized to the Menominee Indian Reservation Menominee Tribe saw its opportunity to the growing of low THC non-psychotropic in Wisconsin in 2007. Marcus, a member of the bring the sustainable power of industrial industrial hemp by Tribal licensees on the Menominee Tribe, focused his studies while at hemp to their reservation. The Menomi- Menominee Reservation and provided the College of Menominee Nation on industrial nee reservation enjoys a unique status notice of this change in Tribal law to the Ben Droz, Colorado Hemp, Summer, 2016 hemp as it relates to tribal sovereignty in the within the state of Wisconsin. Granted United States Attorney’s Office for the 21stI century through his scholarly research in to the Tribe in 1854 in the Treaty of Wolf Eastern District of Wisconsin with the Tribal Legal Studies and Sustainable Develop- River, the Menominee Reservation is the intent of complying with the relevant pro- the industrial hemp to ensure that THC hemp crop was the Tribe’s. land under the Act. ment. Marcus knew that hemp could serve as only reservation in Wisconsin not subject visions of the Act. levels did not exceed 0.3 percent. The The Department of Justice disagreed. The Court’s decision was a blow to an alternative means of sustaining Grandmoth- to the jurisdiction or laws of the state of Upon legalizing hemp, the Tribe Tribe even agreed to destroy any indus- Citing the Agricultural Act’s failure to both industrial hemp and the basic er Earth and could jump-start the entrepreneur- Wisconsin. This unique characteristic of entered into an agreement with the Col- trial hemp that tested above this limit, as include Tribes in its definition of a “state” notion of Tribal sovereignty and self- ial spirit on the Menominee Reservation, and the Menominee Reservation was an essen- lege of Menominee Nation to cultivate such hemp would be in violation of the in § 7606, the Department urged the determination. Yet for Marcus, the he was excited about the prospect of bringing tial part of Marcus’ plan to grow industrial industrial hemp for research purposes on Tribal law. Indeed, field samples tested Court to focus on Wisconsin’s ban on Order was at most a temporary setback. the crop back to the Menominee people. hemp there under the Act. While cannabis the Menominee Indian Reservation. The on October 19, 2015 were below the cannabis rather than the Tribe’s legaliza- In November 2015, Marcus joined Passage of the Agricultural Act of 2014 ulti- in all forms—including industrial hemp— Tribe issued an industrial hemp license 0.3 percent limit. Despite those results, tion and argued that the Tribe should not Hempstead Project Heart, an organiza- mately helped Marcus do just that. The Act is illegal in Wisconsin, the Menominee under the its industrial hemp ordinance, the promises, and months of coopera- be allowed to challenge the government’s tion that raises awareness of the benefits contains in § 7606 a provision entitled “Legiti- Tribe legalized hemp in 2015. and the Tribe, with Marcus providing on- tion, federal and state agents entered the actions with their lawsuit. of industrial hemp for people and the macy of Industrial Hemp Research.” For the For the Menominee, the decision the-ground support, planted an industrial sovereign land of the Menominee Indian Following extensive briefing and planet and uses education, organizing, first time in federal legislation, the Act defined to legalize hemp was more than an hemp crop on Tribal lands in 2015 for Reservation on October 23, 2015, and oral argument before Judge William coalition building, and advocacy to industrial hemp as separate from marijuana, acknowledgment of Marcus’ dream of research purposes. seized and destroyed the Tribe’s industrial Griesbach, the court issued a decision catalyze a shift that allows hemp farming, stressing its “delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol sustainable growth. It was means of The Tribe grew its inaugural hemp crop hemp crop. on the case in May 2016. Though finding manufacturing and entrepreneurship to concentration of not more that 0.3 percent on spurring economic development to help of 30,000 plants on three viable acres in After the raid, the Tribe reached out to that the Tribe was indeed right to bring its flourish. Marcus currently serves as cam- a dry weight basis.” Ultimately enacted as pull its community out of poverty and the middle of an old-growth forest on the Robins Kaplan LLP, a Minneapolis-based lawsuit against the government, the Court paign manager and carries on the mission 7 U.S.C. § 5940 and signed into law on provide needed health, education, and South Branch section of the reservation. law firm with a long history of high-stakes sided with the Department of Justice of Hempstead Project Heart visionary February 7, 2014, § 7606 did more than social services to its members. Indeed, the Though buffeted by strong winds and even litigation experience and a growing pres- and dismissed the Tribe’s action. Despite John Trudell to raise awareness of the recognize the marijuana/hemp distinc- Tribe—aware of the successful history of tornadoes during the summer of 2015, the ence in Indian Country. Within weeks, the longstanding precedent counseling the benefits of industrial hemp for people and tion—it legalized industrial hemp growth hemp growth in Wisconsin—determined first crop stood tall as a testament to hemp’s Robins team, led by former US Attorney Court to read laws in favor if Tribes, Judge the planet and redevelop thriving hemp or cultivation under certain circum- that the cultivation of hemp could be a heartiness and grew strong surrounded by for North Dakota Tim Purdon, sought a Griesbach decided that the Tribe could economies that connect tribal, urban and stances. Specifically, despite marijuana’s viable economic development opportu- native annual flowers and shrubs. In the declaration in federal court in Wisconsin not grow hemp under the Act because the rural communities. Marcus’ focus on the continued classification as a Schedule I nity worthy of research by the College of end, it was not nature that brought down that the Tribe’s hemp cultivation was legal law did not include language specifically long game may soon pay dividends back substance under federal drug laws, § 7606 Menominee Nation, a Tribal College with the Tribe’s hemp crop—it was man. under the Act. It argued that because the extending § 7606’s applicability to Tribes. at home. A bipartisan coalition of legisla- allowed an institute of higher education land grant status under the Morill Act of Throughout the summer and fall of Tribe was not subject to Wisconsin civil Instead, the Court found that Wisconsin tors is pushing a bill that would legalize or state department of agriculture to cul- 1862. Further the Tribe determined that 2015, the Tribe communicated with the or criminal law, the only legalization of law—though inapplicable on Menominee industrial hemp through the Wisconsin tivate industrial hemp if done as part of because industrial hemp contains THC Drug Enforcement Administration and hemp that mattered for purposes of the land in every other instance—prevented State Legislature. If passed, Marcus’ dream an agricultural pilot program in a state in levels below 0.3 percent and has no psy- Department of Justice to secure testing of Act’s applicability to the Menominee’s the Tribe from growing hemp on its own could be back on a meaningful path to

42 Industrial Hemp Superhero/Savior of Humanity 43 empcrete has been said to be the greatest building material on Earth and here is your chance to learn how to build with it! Industrial Hemp is one of the most sustainable crops to grow because it pulls toxins from the air; soil and farm- ers love the way it renders the soil cleaner and with more nutrients than before it was planted, unlike DISCOVER REDWOOD MEDIA GROUP’S Alli Cloyd corn, soy and wheat which often leave the ground Hdepleted of nutrients. On average, two to three CUTTING-EDGE ART EXHIBITIONS, ART acres of hemp crop provide enough material to MARKETING EVENTS, AND MORE. build a 1,500 sq. ft. hempcrete home! The porous properties of the hemp hurd (bro- ken-up stalk) make any properly built hempcrete ART SANTA FE structure an excellent humidity controller and will July 12–15, 2018 Build Your Own render the building flame, mold and pest resistant. Santa Fe Convention Center, NM Yes, you “hurd” that correctly! Hemp is a natural artsantafe.com building material that produces no toxic materials in its growing or building process. Left Hand Hemp ART SAN DIEGO Hempcrete Home for construction founder Kelly Thornton first learned Oct. 18–21, 2018 about sustainable building materials in straw bale Del Mar Fairgrounds, Del Mar, CA construction. After learning that hemp has even art-sandiego.com better properties than straw, he felt that hemp con- struction could be a game changer for communities RED DOT MIAMI throughout the world. For this reason, his company Dec. 5–9, 2018 will be teaching seminars across the country and Arts & Entertainment District, FL is offering three different workshops to be held on reddotmiami.com Native American Reservations this summer. The owners and teachers at Left Hand Hemp are looking for individuals that want to learn more SPECTRUM MIAMI about the properties and building process of hemp- Dec. 5–9, 2018 crete. Because it is a fairly new concept in the US, Arts & Entertainment District, FL spectrum-miami.com many people don’t understand how it works until they get their hands on it. “We know hempcrete is the best building material on Earth; we want to ARTEXPO NEW YORK teach everyone how to build with it so that they Spring 2019 (Dates to be Announced) can apply the knowledge which they gain”, states Pier 94, NYC Kelly Thornton. artexponewyork.com Left Hand Hemp will be conducting hempcrete seminars throughout the summer. They will include a full week of hempcrete education including [SOLO] participation in every aspect of the construction Spring 2019 (Dates to be Announced) Pier 94, NYC of a structure, from mixing to building, filling their newyork-solo.com heads full of knowledge about the natural building material of hempcrete. Seminars in Fort Berthold, North Dakota, the Pine Ridge reservation in South [FOTO SOLO] Dakota and the Taos Pueblo tribe in Taos, New Spring 2019 (Dates to be Announced) Mexico will present the traditional ways of the Pier 94, NYC Native land and welcome 30 people from around artexponewyork.com/foto-solo the country to join in on the education and fun. What can you expect from attending a work- shop? Expect to leave with enough resources to build your own home and the knowledge to teach others how to build in their communities. By work- ing hands-on with the materials, students will feel the properties and characteristics of the material EL JUEGO DE LAS MONALISAS BY RICARDO CARDENAS and will learn how to properly build using hemp- CONTEMPORARY ART PROJECTS USA crete.

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[email protected] I WWW.REDWOODMG.COM 44 Industrial Hemp Superhero/Savior of Humanity 45 Steve Allin

Can Hemp Really Be The Answer?

hroughout For the last 20 years, I have been system to produce modular housing. the world, promoting a system of using what was The technology now exists to produce communities always considered the waste product, the a particle board made with Hemp and political cellulose core of the stem, which originated hurds that will pass all strength, vapor leaders are in France but has now been employed permeability, moisture, fire and fungus grappling with in many countries including the U.S. By resistance tests to qualify as an approved major issues of economics, employment utilizing this material mixed with a binder product for incorporation building. and uncertain weather. Large scale to create lightweight masonry, houses, If used in a modular building system economic growth is limited by the existing warehouses and shopping centers have all where components are assembled off debt both of governments and individuals; been constructed using several variations site, it will provide employment both automation and globalization have both of of what is commonly called Hempcrete. in the factory and with erection teams, led to fewer jobs and lower paid work. Furthermore, it is possible to build a channeling money into the region from The changing climate, whether man made structure that needs little or no heating the market further afield. The style of the or Tnot, is leading to concern over food or cooling and at the same time provides buildings can vary immensely to suit all production and the vulnerability of homes a comfortable and healthy environment. types of climate or traditions, providing a to extreme weather conditions. Added to these qualities, Hempcrete as a heightened aesthetic as well as a higher So what are we all going to do about it? material has been measured to be Carbon of energy efficiency, while eliminating the Kick the can down the road another mile? negative: it sequesters at least 100 kgs of risk of ‘sick building syndrome’ found in This seems to be the template in most CO2 per cubic meter. other types of materials. If processing, countries, but to act responsibly, we really Many urban and rural communities board fabrication and modular panel have to change things for the sake of our are in dire need of more housing for factories were installed together, the children and grandchildren. So how can expanding populations that poses a major aforementioned problems of economy, we confront these problems positively? political issue. Employment and the boost employment, housing and carbon One industrial crop has been identified to the economy that it produces have emissions would be simultaneously as capable of providing many of the always been an issue of importance, but addressed in a positive manner. solutions to these societal problems, but many regions are finding this objective Of course, many populations do not can a plant really do that? What on earth difficult to achieve, to say the least. So see the immediate possibility of creating are these people talking about? Of course, can using hemp as a building material an industrial approach to their needs as the plant we are talking about is Hemp, really solve some of these problems? a suitable response. Low-tech solutions an annual crop that can be and probably The agricultural production of Hemp are also needed for our societal problems has been grown in just about every will provide farmers with income and and one with which I have been involved country on the planet. improve the quality of soil for future recently in several projects in places as Prohibited for decades due to crops. If a processing facility is created diverse as Morocco, Nepal and Haiti. misinformation and the benefit to a few in a given area, the farming and urban Hemp has been identified as capable of competing industrialists, Hemp has made regions connect, providing a positive providing earthquake proof structures a serious comeback in the last 30 years. force for the local society and a source of or for the repair of buildings damaged It is now cultivated in China, Europe and job creation. by such disasters. It is also possible to the North America. Many people now Hemp production creates at least 3 establish more small scale processing, eat Hemp based food or wear Hemp products: fibers, seed and wood-chips, each accessible to remote communities where clothing, and some automobiles are providing a broader potential for surviving Hemp either grows wild or can be made using bio-composites from Hemp variations in yields. Value can be added to cultivated. These uses, together with the fibers, but there is one use that still exists the Hemp cellulose chips (hurds) by using increasing potential of Hemp as medicine, on a relatively small scale and that is them to manufacture composite boards that are making the focus on Hemp a ‘no construction. can then be incorporated into a building brainer’!!

46 Industrial Hemp Steve Allin, Monkeymind Superhero/Savior of Humanity 47 h, how I love you… let me count the ways. I am not abashed to say that I love you. You hold the potential to heal our planet through soil remediation, to change our fossil fuel dependency by providing a wise bio-fuel option, and I can even wear you. You are indeed diverse. But those are not the reasons I love you. The reason I love you is because you saved my son. When you saved my son, you saved me. And by saving me, you helped thousands. It was a cool fall day in 2003. I was pushing my son Zaki (pronounced like sky) on a swing. His head took such a strong nod that he began to cry. I immediately stopped the swing, retrieved him into my motherly problem-solving arms and decided no more swinging for him. That didn’t stop the violent movements I later learned were Oseizures. Zaki got progressively worse, cycling through seventeen pharmaceuticals and Heather Jackson experiencing new seizure types - six in total. I quickly lost confidence in my problem- solving arms. They hardly felt motherly. Your sole charge as a mom is to ensure the safety of your child; I felt incompetent. I was up against the seemingly impossible task of improving my son’s health. He had declined and we transitioned from ‘cure thinking’ to ‘quality of life thinking’. I felt uncomfortable in my own skin. I had failed. Zaki had over 500,000 seizures by the time he was 5 years old. By the time he was 9 years old he was incontinent, didn’t know his colors, couldn’t write his name, and he waned to the point of receiving hospice palliative services. Hemp, my love, you are nonchalant; not seeming to know your own power and not caring in the least about your generally poor reputation. I will admit, you didn’t have An Open a great one and I was told you were horrible my whole life. Stay away from that. I was told you could cause really bad things to happen and that you left a wake of destruction and broken relationships in your path. But I was desperate, so I let you in. Jim Carrey said “People need motivation to do anything. I don’t think human beings learn anything Love without desperation.” After almost a decade battle with my son’s epilepsy, I was intimate with the feeling of desperation. Even though it was not love at first sight and I felt a little pressured into the relationship, I leaned in and you became a part of our daily lives and us a part of yours. You became so familiar, I learned and knew everything about you. I remember the first time we met. It was July 19, 2012. It was the first time you came Letter over to the house. I had made a makeshift bed on the floor of my bedroom for Zaki due to the severity and frequency of the seizures and the early morning seizures in which he would turn grayish-blue because he could not take a breath until the seizure was over. I skeptically dropped you into Zaki’s mouth. I fell asleep staring at the clock waiting for to Hemp the seizures to begin, but they didn’t. Lo and behold, he did not have a seizure that night – and he didn’t have one the next two days either. I guess you can’t judge a book by its cover. You weren’t the evil thing they made you out to be. It took us about three months until the seizures remitted altogether. Zaki went almost four years without any visible seizures. He had an opportunity to heal, as did the rest of our family. Now Zaki has occasional mild seizures, but he has had less in the last seven months than he used to have in a week previously. So we are still winning. You are still by our side, and we love you more than ever. After Zaki’s remission, it was apparent and urgent that I find the nearest mountaintop and begin yelling until I grew hoarse. So that is what I have done with a band of people who also love hemp as much as I do. The Realm of Caring Foundation was birthed. We have now helped tens of thousands of people access and properly administer hemp to their medically fragile loved ones. We are doing research with Johns Hopkins University, we give financial grants monthly to offset About the Realm of Caring Foundation: We the cost of a therapy that insurance doesn’t cover, and we have become the trusted improve lives through Research, Education, source of education and information to the consumer, doctors and the community. and Advocacy. By funding and conducting In the beginning, we served mostly children with severe epilepsy diagnoses like my Research, we learn more about cannabis son, but now we serve as many adults as we do children and people find us who are and its applications. Education empowers consumers to select the best products living with MS, Parkinson’s, cancer, chronic pain, autism, and many other debilitating for their individual needs and informs disorders. healthcare professionals about options for their patients. Through Advocacy, we spread the truth about cannabis and expand access It all began with a love affair. XO to those in need. www.theroc.us See what we are up to on socials @ Yours always, RealmOfCaring Heather Jackson

48 Industrial Hemp photo by Nicole Montanez Superhero/Savior of Humanity 49 50 Industrial Hemp Superhero/Saviorphoto by ofNicole Humanity Montanez51 Joel Stanley These are complex questions that our into law by the President. The bottom that cannabinoids are “antioxidants and company addresses every single day. line is that the DEA is still trying to label neuroprotectants,” making them useful in Charlotte’s Web is now legal across 50 all cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug, and the treatment of various diseases. Again, states, but our mission continues to ensure that’s not something likely to change in this is in opposition to the DEA’s position that every person who needs it has access the foreseeable future. Fortunately, when that hemp has no medical value, but it’s to it. With so many opposing points of a regulatory agency’s position is contrary certainly a glimpse into the future. [7] view, beliefs and motivations that are to federal law, the law prevails, as seen in The political and medical pendulum often powered by economics, scientific HIA v. DEA in 2004. is no longer in stasis. In fact, it’s Charlotte’s Web: One Little Girl’s Story and medical evolution, and sometimes, For the billions of dollars that the accelerating, but until that weight shifts plain ignorance and greed in addition to cannabis industry is pumping into a from the DEA, lobbyists, pharmaceutical the contradictory positions of the federal struggling US economy, one has to companies and those who have a vested law and the DEA, our work environment consider the business it generates in the financial interest in prohibiting cannabis, Continues to Challenge Medicine, is very fragile. prohibition of it, which drives industries CBD and cannabinoids, we must Charlotte’s story has become the center that gain directly from its prohibition, continue to reach for it from the pivot. If of a public debate and influence in the like privatized prisons, courts, defense for nothing else, we must do it for the Federal Law and the DEA passing of hemp laws, yet, with each step attorneys, mandatory drug/alcohol Charlottes of the world. we take forward federally, the DEA sets up courses, to name a few. Law enforcement My brothers and I didn’t know when a new roadblock. agencies rely on prohibition for their we met Charlotte that her story would The DEA’s decades-long prohibitionist budgetary existence. become a heart song for hundreds of hen my Hemp gave us a way to help people non- likely the pharmaceutical medications stance on hemp, classifying it as a Cannabis commonly serves as a safer thousands of people who had been failed brothers psychoactively and open a path to create - you put the potential risks of cannabis “schedule 1 drug” with NO MEDICAL alternative to alcohol, and is being used by traditional medicine, seeking safer and I dove a new space. in a context like that, it’s a very easy VALUE along with Heroin, is illogical as a substitute over opioids for pain plant-based options. We didn’t know it into the In 2012 when we met Charlotte and decision.” Despite our fears and naivety, given the scientific and anecdotal management. When we consider that would become a rallying cry for millions cannabis her parents, Paige and Matt, we had only we immediately started propagating more evidence. Also, it’s outdated due to the the pharmaceutical industry has spent to help change the laws of our nation. Last business in eight plants bred of a specific high CBD, plants. [4] passing of federal cannabis laws, the over $3.5 billion lobbying against its but not least, Charlotte’s story continues 2008, we had been actively seeking CBD low THC variety, initially called “Hippie’s We administered our hemp extract boom in state economies and scientific legalization in the last 18 years, (nearly to transform the way we care for ourselves genetics, but nature originally designed a Disappointment” for obvious reasons. to Charlotte via her feeding tube, and and medical evidence showing that double that invested by the Oil & Gas through science and medicine, sparking different cannabis. The genetics we sought Charlotte had been suffering from within the first week, she was seizure cannabinoids are helpful to mankind. industries), the anti-cannabis efforts make research and widening the potential for were mostly found in wild hemp growing over 300 polymorphic seizures per week free. I thought, “Who are we? We’re not In 2014, President Obama signed the more sense. cannabinoid therapies. Her story is all of as a remnant of the Hemp for Victory because of a rare form of epilepsy known doctors.” We didn’t know enough, but Farm Bill that made Charlotte’s Web legal Despite the fact that hemp is legal ours, and it’s long from over. campaign in which our government as Dravet Syndrome that is treatment we’re so very hopeful. throughout the US. Congress supported and the US consumes more hemp than grantedW draft deferments to farmers in resistant. She was wheelchair bound and That was five years ago. this ruling with the 2015 Consolidated any other nation and that one out of five Notes exchange for supporting the Word War kept alive through a feeding tube. She I just saw Charlotte last week. She Appropriations Omnibus Act that Americans lives in a state where cannabis [1] https://www.dea.gov/ops/cannabis.shtml II effort. Almost 70 years later, the DEA couldn’t talk; her parents never heard her had gone from having a seizure about additionally protects hemp from DEA is legal, the DEA continues to spend $14 [2]http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ has spent millions of US tax dollars to laugh. Charlotte had experienced heart every 20 minutes to being about 99% action. million of taxpayer dollars yearly on the article/pii/S0140673602844154?_rdoc=1&_ eradicate this same program. These life- failure so many times that she lived in a seizure-free. I didn’t honestly believe any At the end of 2016, the DEA published Cannabis Eradication program. Bi-partisan fmt=high&_origin=gateway&_docanchor=&m changing genetics became the basis state of constant hospice. Her neurologist of it until we monitored ten more seizure- a Final Rule stating that CBD and all Federal lawmakers have been trying to d5=b8429449ccfc9c30159a5f9aeaa92ffb&c for our now well-known hemp product suggested a “do not resuscitate” order. prone children and quietly experienced cannabinoids qualify as ‘marihuana defund ineffective programs like these and cp=y “Charlotte’s Web”, named after a resilient Experimental drugs developed for similar success. Even now, sometimes extracts,’ a drug code suggested by the direct tax dollars towards more relevant [3] http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=s0100- and revolutionary little girl, Charlotte animals were offered to Charlotte as a I forget it’s real and that it happened. DEA in 2011. The creation of this new issues. [5] [6] 879x2006000400001&script=sci_arttext Figi. It’s been almost a decade since we last resort. Paige and Matt did what most Then, I see these kids running around and drug code is an “administrative rule,” not Charlotte’s Web is marketed as a [4] http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/07/health/ foraged feral varieties in the fields of doctors tell you not to do; they scoured playing – and smiling and laughing. It hits a change in the Controlled Substance Act. dietary supplement, so we’re not legally charlotte-child-medical-marijuana/ Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas, yet Google for answers. Eventually, they me hard. It’s incredibly moving. The DEA does not write or change laws. allowed to make disease claims. The [5] http://www.businessinsider.com/marijuana- Charlotte’s story is still one of the greatest landed on some 1850’s research and a Understandably, the Figis didn’t want The only way to add cannabinoids or irony is that the US Department of in-america-20-of-americans-can-now-access- arguments to broaden our current federal 1980’s Brazilian study conducted by Dr. to tell their story publicly for fear of losing other substances to the list of controlled Health & Human Services has patented legal-weed-2016-11 hemp laws and to challenge the DEA’s Raphael Mechoulam. Paige felt she was custody of Charlotte. In 2013, they met substances would be by an act of cannabinoids, securing and heightening [6] https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press- position on CBD and cannabinoids. [1] more at ease pursuing non-toxic CBD. [2] CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent, Congress passed by the Senate and signed their role in the industry. The patent states releases/lieu-amendment-slash-and-redirect- During our early years, the [3] Dr. Sanjay Gupta, with whom Paige felt underground cannabis industry was taking Paige traveled from dispensary to comfortable in sharing Charlotte’s story plants that were naturally 2-6% THC (the dispensary in search of CBD. Everyone for his docu-series, WEED. psychoactive cannabinoid in marijuana) kept saying, “CB-what?”, “Cannabi-who?” When filming began, we had a waiting or less, and breeding them to increase until a fellow parent said “You have to talk list of 40 people. My brothers and I the THC. We did the opposite. We to the Stanley brothers.” decided to take a huge risk by cutting weren’t geniuses. It was simply because I went to the Figis’ house and the majority of our THC production and some people, myself included, don’t witnessed one of Charlotte’s grand-mal we moved into CBD, even though there smoke marijuana or find benefit from seizures within minutes. It scared me wasn’t an actual market yet. When the psychoactive levels of THC. into a cold sweat. I had a mother asking CNN piece aired, 50-100 families moved Decades-old data had said that me to make a hemp extract for her dying to Colorado to access Charlotte’s Web another botanical cannabinoid, CBD, child. Charlotte’s doctors signed off on legally. A few months later that number could potentially help with inflammation, her a medical cannabis card. One of grew to 400 families, and our waiting list neuroprotection, spasms and so on. them later said, “Charlotte’s been close to skyrocketed to 15,000. Through trial and error, we landed on death so many times, she’s had so much So, where are we today? Where is the the foundation for Charlotte’s Web. brain damage from seizure activity and pendulum swinging legally? Medically?

52 Industrial Hemp Photo of Charlotte Figi Superhero/Savior of Humanity 53 Mia Feroleto All that the spiritual giants, all of them, were basically saying the same thing, that we all need to get down with each other, and we’re all children of the same Divine source. And if we don’t, in the next holocaust with a nuclear-armed A Conversation world we’re going to perish. My grandfather And, you know, I got to be an activist, like I felt urgently called to spread this message, we’re promised my boys, and I want to make sure I all one or we’re all none. He went around the Between Two Friends keep that promise. country proselytizing this message. One Friday afternoon in March, I had the pleasure to sit in on a conversation between friends Will Allen and David Will Allen grew up on a small farm in the San David Bronner grew up in in Glendale, a suburb of Los Angeles. His father was the head of operations of a Bronner. The conversation ranged from facts on their personal lives (some of which even they did not know about each Fernando Valley, where his family farmed 11 acres. Will’s father raised hogs while his mother grew vegetables and worked as a specialty chemical manufacturer where they produced the Dr. other) to industrial hemp, activism and the fact that there are signs of a positive future for it. Here is some background seamstress. They sold pork and produce. Bronner’s soap in bulk for Dr. Bronner’s. information on each of them: As the population in this part of Southern California The original Dr. Bronner, David’s grandfather, Emmanuel, expanded, Will, as a troublesome youth, realized he needed to was a third-generation soap maker from a German-Jewish family change course and joined the MARINE CORP, where he was that began to manufacture soap in 1858 in southern Germany. trained in electronics. As a MARINE, he served as an atomic, By 1909, the year Emmanuel was born, the family business was biological and chemical warfare paramedic and an auto pilot supplying liquid soap to all public washrooms in Germany. specialist. David’s grandfather came up through the guild system and, Upon completing his stint in the service, Will decided to apprenticed to another soap maker, became a master of soap become an electronics engineer, but hated it. He switched to making. He completed a degree in chemistry but was also an anthropology and studied tropical forest farming, earning a PhD activist from a very early age. Clashing with his father and others in anthropology from the University of Illinois for what he calls, at the company on politics and newfangled soap making ideas, “probably the most enjoyable thing you could ever do.” he took off to America in 1929 and became a consultant to the Will left Illinois for the University of California at Santa U.S. soap industry. As Hitler rose to power, David’s grandfather Barbara, where he served as faculty adviser to the student body, became increasingly frantic to get his remaining family out which was politically largely leftist. While there, the students of Germany. Two sisters made it to America, but their parents demonstrated and set fire to a bank, a fateful event that caused resisted, believing it would blow over. The Nazis closed their Will to spend two years in court and approximately one year in factory in 1940 and the remaining members of the Bronner jail. He was never convicted of burning the bank, a crime of family were deported and killed in 1942. David’s grandfather had which he is innocent. married in the mid’30s and David’s father, Jim, was born in 1937. Upon release, Will rented a piece of land and returned In the midst of this incredible tragedy, David’s grandfather to farming in 1968. When Will’s two sons were diagnosed was having intense mystical experiences of love and unity at the with muscular dystrophy, he understood he needed to farm heart of reality and across all religious traditions. organically. This began his life-long commitment to organic Emmanuel ended up in in Pershing Square in Los Angeles agriculture, which he practiced in California, Oregon and which was a hotbed of activism at the end of the ‘50s and ‘60s. presently in Vermont at Cedar Circle Farm. His son Jeffrey died He realized a lot of people were coming to buy his soap rather before reaching his 16th birthday. Will’s son Cameron lived until than to hear what he had to say. So, he started putting what he he was almost 39. Cameron’s family had managed to keep him had to say on the soap labels. The iconic Dr. Bronner’s label was alive that long, which was an extraordinary accomplishment. born out of his grandfather’s urgent mission to Unite Spaceship In September of 2016, Will was named one of the Politico 50 Earth and help people to cross the ethnic and religious divides Most Influential People of the Year by Politico Magazine. that separtae us. Jim Bronner essentially rejected the cosmic philosophy of his father and thought of it as an escape from life’s responsibilities. David grew up in a conservative Reaganite household. It wasn’t until he graduated from Harvard and went to Amsterdam, where he had intense psychedelic experiences that expanded his consciousness and opened him up to a magical, living, spiritual dimension of existence, that he finally understood his grandfather’s teachings. David became a mental health counselor in the Boston area, journaling, thinking, becoming vegetarian and vegan and appreciating that if a company like Dr. Bronner’s offered him a job, he would take it. David’s daughter Maya was born on March 7, 1997, on the same day that Emmanuel Bronner died. David Bronner (2nd from left) and Will Allen (3rd from left) prepare to plant hemp seeds on the lawn of the DEA. Tuesday, October 13, 2009, with ceremonial shovels that read: Hemp Planting Oct. 2009 ~ DEA Headquarters ~ American Farmers Shall Grow Hemp Again, Reefer Madness Will Be

54 Industrial Hemp Photo by Eric Streenstra Superhero/Savior of Humanity 55 David Bronner: My father had been our lip balms and lotions and everything September of 2009 that Jack Herrer had a in terms of what’s possible on all fronts. of Ag, the Kentucky Department of Ag, always been to figure out how can you running his own company, Dr. Bronner’s, else. stroke and I was down. Man, this sucks. Will Allen: Their strategy is, we’ll tell and under Ag Commissioner Comer, create a local community around a farm. along with my mom and his brother Ralph Soon after we put hemp in our We’re a year into Obama and nothing you the good things about it, but then who has now been elected as a freshman And that’s what we’ve done with festivals since the early ‘90s because my granddad products, Bush came to power which has changed. It’s the same drug war that’s we’ll have somebody on the other side to Congress, that we have powerful and with events and with tomato tastings had gotten too sick to run it. So I came was a big bummer. Canada had just in place, the same policies and the same who’s usually totally full of shit tell you Republican allies. We have Comer now and dinners in the field. People want to in and joined in 1997 but, basically, a re-commercialized hemp in ‘98. So in everything. all the bad things about it. And that’s in the house, who is going to be our party. We feel that that’s a really important month after I told my dad I was ready to October of 2001, right after 9/11, America Obama, as an Illinois state senator, what they do, because that’s their fairness champion there. We have got McConnell way of getting to people to learn about come in, he was diagnosed with Stage experienced a media blackout and it had voted to commercialize hemp in in journalism. It’s the same thing they and Rand Paul in the Senate. And, of nutrition because you always have to have Four lung cancer. Fortunately I came in totally traumatized the nation. Bush and Illinois three times, but was doing nothing do with climate change. 97 scientists course, McConnell is the Senate majority a lot of great food at parties. And so we and had a wonderful and intense year company took advantage with their wish to re-commercialize hemp nationally are opposed to it, 3 are in favor of it. leader. We do have powerful allies on supply all that. with him before he passed in ‘98. list and went after, among other things, or doing much of anything on a lot of And you never see that that disparity the Republican side that make strange And then we do a lot of stuff with I was 24 when I had to step up and industrial hemp and medical marijuana fronts. And so we cooked up an idea to is reality. It’s presented as they have to bedfellows for sure, but I’m actually kids. We took a page out of the tobacco start running Bronner’s. I understood that and declared all of our inventory to be dig up the DEA’s lawn and plant hemp present both sides as if both sides were feeling pretty optimistic that this might campaign where they went after the we needed to run this business the way Schedule One controlled substance based seeds to just kind of bring attention to equal. Our biggest job is to get to people be our year that we’ll actually see the young people. We have over a thousand my granddad ran it. It was going to be on the fact that we had trace insignificant the absurdity of the whole situation and about hemp, to inform them. There Industrial Hemp Farming Act finally be kids come to the farm every year. And an engine for activism. We capped our minuscule amounts of THC in the hemp calling on Obama to follow through. were approximately 200 people at this passed. we have a farm camp for kids that is a salaries. It didn’t matter how much profits seed oil. And, in the course of this we also conference I attended yesterday and I’d The DEA just took advantage of the weeklong. It’s about 200 kids a week we made. All our profits were going to go All hemp seed products were declared discovered that the USDA’s own hemp say maybe 35 went to the hemp sessions. change in administration to mess around for a five-week period in the summer. into our causes and charitable partners. to be Schedule One drugs and we were fields where they grew all different So that was a good representation. But we including issuing a guidance or some We also have home-school classes for The first activist thing we did was put given three months or until February 6 of hemp varieties and determine what need 350 going into those sessions. kind of interpretation of marijuana extract moms where we teach you this stuff about hemp seed oil into the soap. Since hemp 2002 to dispose of it. That began a series was optimized for fiber and seed and that is a disguised attempt to backdoor agriculture and then you can teach that is a great sustainable agricultural crop, of battles with the DEA. We actually different growing conditions was in the David Bronner: I was just going to scheduling CBD. And then there were stuff to your kids. grown in rotation especially with corn backed them down on February 6th and Arlington fields where the Pentagon is say the big enemy, too, is the spreading some seizures in North Dakota that were So a lot of our work is around children and soy, it was going to be a really good then won our final victory on February 6th now sighted. In Lester Dewey’s diary, the of misinformation and hysteria, and it’s totally BS. and community and totally around food way of not only in itself not requiring a of 2004. And February 6th is Bob Marley’s USC agronomist who did a lot of work just ridiculous. Cannabis is one of the With the 2014 Farm Bill, hemp can because our food system is screwed. We whole lot of pesticide inputs, but then just birthday. I’ll tell you what, there are so with hemp, had just been discovered. most therapeutic or the most therapeutic be grown pursuant to a state regulatory just went to Spain to visit our grandkids reducing weed and pest pressure when it’s many synchronicities on this level with So we got some really good press in The reactive agent known to man. Nobody program, and is. We have 10,000 acres and we were surprised. We went over grown in rotation with other crops. cannabis. It’s a holy plant for sure. Post about the whole fun thing. Will and I has ever overdosed. With CBD, there in the ground last year and I think double there and everybody is relatively thin. Also, it was a way of taking on the were arrested and Will was awesome and is no psychoactive effect. It’s totally a that this year. So, I’m actually pretty We came back here and everybody is drug war and DEA. As with when I was Mia Feroleto: I completely agree very articulate in talking from a farmer’s nonissue in that regard. But the emerging optimistic that this is our year. overweight and you know, they are simply in Amsterdam, I had just really awakened with that. It’s ironic - I lived in Canada for perspective about why hemp made so real problem is that the pharmaceutical I highly recommend everyone tap victims of a bad food system. We spend to the religious dimension that there almost two years with my ex-boyfriend, much sense. It was the first time I spent industry, big pharma, has now moved in. into Vote Hemp. It is a really good most of our time trying to tell people that was a religious war on the sacrament who’s a medical grade grower. He was time in jail, so it was good to be there And they want to lock up CBD as only organization that I’m on the board of the food system and the medical system of cannabis, in particular. Hemp was working with the plants one day and he with Will, who had been through the being able to be prescribed as an FDA that can equip people with the tools are screwed up. If we started to really just the most ridiculous example of the saw my face in the plants and heard a ringer a few times. approved prescription and that it won’t be and sample letters to send elective look at some of the medicines that are in hysteria of the drug war. That a non-drug voice telling him, you’d better take care of available any other way. Which, of course, representatives and organize lobbying mushrooms, that are in marijuana, that agricultural crop was Schedule one under her. I’ve been intuitive my whole life and I Will Allen: But what was really fun then they control the supply and can trips, as well as the Hemp Industries are in hemp, we would change the whole the USDA. So it was a way of engaging knew then that I had a special connection was, when we got to the jail we were all jack up the price and gouge people. So Association and National Hemp dialogue. on the machine and beginning to work to the cannabis plant. And that’s when sitting there talking to the jailers, who that’s definitely a new dimension. Well, Association. And then whatever local state And that’s what we try to do on our to normalize cannabis, a little more I started doing my own research and were all really nice guys who, after a it’s not new. We definitely have got to be chapters might be in their state. But I think farm. That’s what we try to do with our generally. writing about industrial hemp. little while said, well, it doesn’t make any watching that and fighting it as much as Vote Hemp is a great place for people to activism. And we’ve had a great time I definitely come from the Jack Herrer How did you two meet? sense that this is illegal, right? And, you the DEA. go to figure out what they can do. getting arrested. I am not opposed to school of hemp. But, we need to play know, what it pointed out to us is that it. I think it’s a good strategy. But you it straight. I mean, when you have your Will Allen: I think we met at one people are really ignorant. They don’t Mia Feroleto: You’re both seasoned Mia Feroleto: Actually, Vote Hemp is can’t overuse it because everybody just hemp supporters you need to be talking conference or another. You know, we’d really understand what this plant is as activists and totally committed to one of the beneficiaries of the benefit that says, oh, you’re just getting arrested for about hemp and not getting too distracted kind of go to the same conferences hemp. Not as, some high THC pot, but as the legalization of industrial hemp. we’re doing in December at the art fair attention. But it makes a difference. And on its cousins. because we’re both interested in trying to hemp. I’m curious about what you both see in Miami. The Realm of Caring and Vote I think we’ve gotten a lot of feedback. When we put the hemp seed oil in the fix things. I think the contrasting problem is that happening right now and how you see Hemp. In fact, yesterday at this conference this soap, we did a lot of customer trials to big business totally understands what it the average person becoming involved one woman came up to me and said: Did evaluate the changes in the product. The David Bronner: I vaguely remember is because this plant is a competitor with and making a difference in his/her Will Allen: So what we’re trying to do you get arrested in front of the DEA for reason intrinsically hemp is so great is it’s meeting Will at some conference or cotton, this plant is a competitor with communities? is determine how we can use this locally. planting hemp? And I said I did. She says: a super-fatty ingredient high in Omega- another. But what I most remember is all the other vegetable oils, this plant is Here we are in Vermont, right, where, Can I take a picture with you? 3 content. And the Omega-3 is the big our getting arrested together. I think that’s a competitor with lumber, this plant is David Bronner: Well, on the hemp the more crisis-ridden we get, the more market driver on the food side because where we really bonded. a competitor with steel, this plant is a front, actually, strangely enough, I problems with climate, the more areas David Bronner: Yeah. hemp seed is one of the few plant-based competitor with cement. This plant is a think we are well-positioned with the like Vermont are going to be cut off. And sources of Omega-3 of any significance, Will Allen: Yeah. That was neat. competitor with a dozen other products. Republican Congress and even with so a lot of our focus has always been Will Allen: And so you get paid back along with flax. And fish has Mercury and All of these industries really hate the Trump administration that, because on, how do you build local community for all the stuff you do, you guys. trace toxins that can concentrate and be David Bronner:Yeah. hemp. They have been working for years Kentucky was the historical heartland that has food sovereignty? And part of a problem. So that Omega-3 in our soap to keep hemp right where it is in the of hemp farming and has been leading that food sovereignty is a wide mix of David Bronner: You know, absolutely. is triple unsaturated and makes the lather Mia Feroleto: Was that in front of the cross-hairs of Category one. the charge, along with Colorado, but vegetables, because we’re vegetarians. That’s awesome. I think you were the smoother and less drying. One of the first DEA headquarters? Kentucky most of all and because the That isn’t to say that we don’t carry meat charismatic sexy beast for sure, man. That signs of an Omega-3 deficiency is dry, Mia Feroleto: The corporations are Kentucky Department of Ag is much more and so forth in our farmstand. But, we went viral. flaky skin. So we use hemp seed oil in all David Bronner:Yeah. I think it was doing their best to keep it from the masses feminine than the Colorado Department don’t grow any of that. Our strategy has Mia Feroleto: Last year for the Art

56 Industrial Hemp Superhero/Savior of Humanity 57 on Paper Fair we gave out samples of you’re a rock solid inspiration to us all and more chemicals. field for industrial material use”). curious and inventive he has pursued self- Dr. Bronner’s soap with the exhibition I’m really exited that our daughter, Maya, is So getting the population of livestock Carus is also managing director of the expression in photography, dance, poetry of art by Glen Goldberg, which was going to be interning on Will’s farm, Cedar under control and getting them out of Contributors Bios European Industrial Hemp Association and video as well as the classic mediums. all made 100 percent from hemp. So Circle. their cages and integrated onto our farms (EIHA); nova-Institute as executive office Ignacio has been a life long student of 20,000 people came through the fair and, And, my life passion project is, I mean, so that the fertility and feed flows are of EIHA was member of the Lead Market spiritual science and seeks to be clear throughout the 5 days we had hundreds of I’ve got a few, but definitely regenerating balanced and we’re not using synthetic Will Allen Initiative (LMI) “Ad-hoc Advisory Group and direct about the human experience conversations about the soap and the art agriculture and its capacity to not only nitrogen, we’re using nitrogen-fixing See Interview bio page 55. for Bio-based Products“ (2010-2013), and and the expanding consciousness on and all the other things that hemp can do. grow healthy food and provide a lot of cover crops to bring nitrogen into the is member of the Technical Committee, our planet. His work is presented in People had no idea. They had absolutely different ecosystem services and provide agriculture and agricultural system. This is Steve Allin CEN/TC 411 “Bio-based products”​ (since the realization that artistic pursuits are no idea. wildlife habitat and a lot of great stuff the big generational task. We need to do works internationally teaching and 2011), member of the “Expert Group on fundamental to inner development and while rehabilitating rural communities. this because this is our number one shot advising on the Hemp Building System. Bio-based Products” of the European outer grace. David Bronner: We still have a long But also its ability on a global scale at mitigating climate change and drawing As Director of the International Hemp Commission (since 2013), member of way to go educating people. But, we have to start to draw down huge amounts, down huge amounts of atmospheric Building Association, he organized their the Thematic Working Groups “Biomass Alli Cloyd made a lot of progress. And the reality is gigatons, of atmospheric carbon and carbon. now annual symposium. supply”​ and “Market-making”​ of the is an advocate for Federal full plant that for a long time there you could get sequester a stable organic matter in soil. It’s not enough to just de-carbonize the He lives in Ireland with his family in the “Bioeconomy Panel”​ of the European legalization and believes hemp can hemp in your co-op, but that was pretty It’s really exciting what the potential for energy and switch to all renewables. We mountains of Kerry. Commission (since 2013), as well as truly solve the world’s worst problems. much it. But now it’s available in Costco regenerative agriculture has in soil. It’s the already have way too much carbon up in member of the SCAR Foresight experts She and her partner, Kelly Thornton, Terry M. Boyd and Wal-Mart. We’re definitely making a largest land-based carbon. And up to one- the atmosphere and we’re putting more group “Sustainable Bioresources for a co-operate the hemp-lime construction b. 1986 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Boyd lot of progress with de-stigmatizing the third of excess atmospheric carbon in the and more up there and we need to draw it Growing Bioeconomy”​ (since 2014). company, Left Hand Hemp. They hold is a multi platform artist who uses plant. But, as far as the benefits, people first place is from depleted mismanaged down. And regenerative agriculture is the (SCAR means Standing Committee on workshops to teach people how to build performance, pattern and fiber art, are pretty clueless. soils worldwide. And land use change is number one strategy that we’ve got. So Agricultural Research). “hempcrete” structures and believe it is to explore the mind. His recent body driven by agriculture. So we’re pushing we’re really excited on that. Michael Carus is main author of the greatest building material on earth. of work employs both drawing and Will Allen: Yeah. really hard on regenerative ag, along with And then, I guess, bringing hemp different fundamental reports and policy unconventional sewing techniques to animal welfare and eating a lot more into that picture. Hemp is a great crop papers on Bio-based Economy in the Ben Droz create a visual “white-noise” that is meant Mia Feroleto: Is there anything you’d plant-based diet. As, we need to get the to grow in rotations. Regenerative EU: http://www.bio-based.eu/nova- is a professional photographer in to connect audiences to lost memories, each like to add? population of animals under control. agriculture is about management and papers nova-Institute is a private and Washington DC, specializing in high-end forgotten dreams, and personal histories Not so much the human population, but smart management. Instead of input- independent institute, founded in 1994; corporate and charity events. Droz has by allowing an access point to the Will Allen: David and I are fortunately the animals. Because the conversion of based agriculture, it’s management based. nova offers research and consultancy photographed regularly for Washington unconsciousness. For Boyd, the repetitive involved in a bunch of exciting things grains to grain carbohydrate and protein And hemp, in a rotation, because it out- with a focus on bio-based and CO2- Life Magazine since 2011, and also nature of the process serves as a visual in the world right now. And a big one is to animal carbohydrate and protein is competes weeds and on top of having all based economy in the fields of feedstock, with Washington Post, Washingtonian mantra that triggers a meditative state. hemp. And hemp is a piece of a much so inefficient. You know, it’s like a factor these intrinsic benefits of a strong fiber techno-economic evaluation, markets, Magazine, DC Modern Luxury, Brightest Removing the referent to the external bigger puzzle that we’re trying to work on of five to twenty depending on the and seed and all the markets that it can LCA, dissemination, B2B communication Young Things, and other publications. world, these sewn abstractions guide which is regeneration of our agriculture, type of meat. And the growing appetite sustainably fulfill, it can really help in and policy Today, nova-Institute has more Droz was classically trained in Black and the viewer back to the unending and and that is because it’s in such dire shape, for meat is just putting way too much a diverse organic cropping system in a than 25 employees and a yearly turnover White film photography and darkroom elegance of the line, and invite the viewer we really need to work on fixing it. And strain and is dependent on the synthetic rotation to help control weeds and pest of more than 2 Mio. €. process, and attended the prestigious to look inward for meaning. we think that one of the vehicles towards nitrogen, which is the nitrogen fertilizer, pressure. So, yeah, it’s really nice to see “Pennsylvania Governor’s School for His staged performances use a that is organic and beyond organic. So we is incredibly energy-intensive to make. our passions coming together like that. Ignacio Cisneros the Arts”. In 2009, when Droz moved compound bow to shoot a yarn-tethered get to work on that and we get to work And the Haber-Bosch process takes one Born 1965 in Venezuela, contemporary to Washington DC, he moved in event arrow back and forth through a stretched with a lot of really incredible people that percent of the global energy to make. And Will Allen: And what it usually ends up artist and autodidact astronomer. He was photography, shooting nightclubs, music canvas, as if it were a needle and thread, are also absolute idealists like we are, then it totally messes up the soil biota and with is we’re looking for a place to party. educated in New England. In his twenties concerts, and social events. to magnify the process of sewing to a you know. And so that’s always fun to be the natural ability – the natural fertility of he studied sculpture and cinema at Bard In addition to his photography, Droz scale at which it becomes dangerous. This around those people. And I have had a soil and its ability to sequester carbon and David Bronner: Yes. Awesome. Right College. He was a founding member of works with Vote Hemp to legalize method of sewing tears apart gallery walls wonderful time being around David and do all the important things soil does as a out on Cedar Circle, baby. See you there! TRT tv Tachira as director of video post industrial hemp farming on the Federal and disintegrates the fabric, breaking the his family and the people who work for living membrane, but we treat it as like production. He participated in the Desk level. Since 2008, Droz has worked on mending and healing metaphor of sewing, him. the dead dirt matrix to hold plants up that Will Allen: Thank you Mia! top publishing revolution. In his thirties he Congressional advocacy efforts for The using violence to create an elegant David Bronner: Well, likewise, Will, we just bring to harvest with more and concentrated in abstract surreal painting. Industrial Hemp Farming Act, and worked tension between life and death. Showing in Caracas, Santa Fe NM, and full time Congressional affairs from 2009- Miami FL. In his Forties he pursued Multi 2014. Today, Droz balances his two David Bronner wavelength imaging of the interstellar passions, advocacy for industrial hemp, See Interview bio page 55. medium as well as observational and photography. Michael Carus astronomy. Now in his fifties Ignacio is integrating his wealth of experience and Mitch Epstein (MSc) (Germany) physicist, founder and (born 1952, Holyoke, Massachusetts) is a managing director of the nova-Institute, work in consciousness. This has taken him to a detailed study of regular solids and fine-art photographer who helped pioneer is working for over 20 years in the field fine-art color photography in the 1970s. of Bio-based Economy. This includes their unexplored permutations, hyperbolic space, number theory, and the possibility His photographs are in numerous major biomass feedstock, processes, bio-based museum collections, including New York’s chemistry, polymers, plastics, fibres and of galaxy wide inter-species relations. Ignacio demonstrated artistic aptitude Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan composites. Museum of Art, and Whitney Museum of The focus of his work are market as a child and remained interested in painting and sculpture throughout his life. American Art; The J. Paul Getty Museum analysis, techno-economic and ecological in Los Angeles; the San Francisco Museum evaluation as well as the political and He produces work on and with paper, with pigments and brushes as well as of Modern Art; and the Tate Modern in economic framework for bio-based London. processes and applications (“level playing through computers and pixels. Naturally

58 Industrial Hemp Superhero/Savior of Humanity 59 Workshop (now the Joyce) and Sculpture the light makes them visible, like magic.” Housekeeping, 60 Minutes Australia, impact is undeniable—even a brief of the crop. Although he has appealed, Center. Feroleto founded and chaired the Gunderson’s highly reflective surfaces CNN with Sanjay Gupta to name a few. conversation will show that his vision is the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals Contributors Bios Vermont Chapter of Women Grow and cause the paintings to sparkle and shift as Follow Heather on FB⎥ Twitter⎥ contagious and will, as we work together, upheld the DEA, while acknowledging is the Producer and Creative Director of the viewer moves about the artwork. Instagram @HeatherChat bring about the growth and change that that its registration process could be a His recent series, Rocks and Clouds, HEMP NY CITY. With over 50 one-person and over 160 Realm of Caring is a 501c3 charitable Kentucky, the U.S., and our good green burden and that hemp might be a good will open at Thomas Zander Gallery, She is determined to maximize group shows to her credit, Gunderson organization that has grown to a team Earth so markedly needs. crop for the Pine Ridge Reservation. Cologne in April, 2017 and was recently visibility for the arts and our cultural has exhibited throughout the United 15 full and part-time dynamos. They Finally this season, in 2017, Alex exhibited at Yancey Richardson Gallery, world and is currently developing the States, Great Britain, Spain, Belgium, Italy, serve over 40,000 families from all over Alex White Plume White Plume has planted his first hemp New York and Galerie Les Filles du Adopt An Artist Program to send artists to Bulgaria, Bahrain, Poland, Denmark and the world. They reach over 2 million was born on the Pine Ridge Reservation. crop in more than 15 years. He intends to Calvaire, Paris. Mitch Epstein: Free of destinations around the globe to further Togo, West Africa. Her work was recently people a month through their efforts He grew up strongly connected to build a hempcrete home for himself and Charge will open at Andreas Murkudis develop their art. exhibited in an exhibition curated by and awareness. RoC is doing innovative traditional Lakota culture. He joined the his family after the harvest. in Berlin in April 2017. Recent solo In addition, she is using her skills Barbara Rose entitled, Painting After Post and first of its kind research with Johns US Army and was stationed in Berlin, exhibitions include: Fondation A Stichting as a journalist to inform, educate and Modernism. Hopkins University collaborating on the Germany, where he left the US Army in Michael Reif in Brussels (2013); Sikkema Jenkins & empower through the industrial hemp Karen Gunderson was born in Racine, largest registry in the US and launched 1978. White Plume’s interest in socio- is a principal attorney at Robins Kaplan Co., NY (2012); Thomas Zander Gallery, movement and has obtained initial Wisconsin, and earned a Bachelor of both current and former NFL player political issues developed later in life after LLP in Minneapolis who specializes in Cologne (2012); Fondation Henri Cartier- funding to build sustainable housing with Science degree from Wisconsin State research projects. RoC distributed over his return to Pine Ridge. financial litigation and Native American Bresson, Paris (2011); Kunstmuseum hemp in Haiti. Feroleto is a committed University, Whitewater. She earned both $150,000 in grants to families in need. White Plume has pursued a life of issues. He has worked with Tribes in the Bonn (2011); and Musee de l’Elysee in animal rights and animal welfare activist. a Master of Arts and a Master of Fine They also have aided in over twenty states farming but had difficulty succeeding fight to bring industrial hemp to Indian Lausanne (2011). Mia Feroleto resides in Vermont. Arts degree from the University of Iowa, adding cannabis legislation since 2014. with crops on the limited agricultural Country and represented the Menominee In 2015, Epstein performed American Iowa City, in Painting and Intermedia, lands of the reservation, where physical Tribe in its efforts to grow hemp under Power with cellist Erik Friedlander at the For additional information, please contact respectively. Gunderson has been the KK Kozik conditions are harsh and challenging. He the 2014 Farm Bill. Michael was part of Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Feroleto at [email protected] subject of numerous one-person shows My creative output is like a road map. I and his extended family, or tiospaye, tried the legal team that succeeded in lifting The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in the United States. She has received have a forward trajectory but, driven by alfalfa, barley and corn; they also raised the decade-old injunction banning hemp commissioned and premiered the work in Marcus Grignon numerous honors and awards, most curiosity and psychology, I head into horse and bison, which are being raised pioneer Alex White Plume from hemp- 2013, which was a theatrical rendition of is Campaign Manager at Hempstead notably a Lorenzo Magnifico Prize in different cul-de-sacs to explore what lies by ranchers in growing herds on the related activities. his photographic series. The performance Project Heart, a project of the Earth Island Painting at the 2001 Florence Biennale there. I find my best work emerges from Great Plains. All yielded little more than combined projected photographs, archival Institute. His professional career includes (Italy), and has been named by noted a strong attraction to embark. This makes subsistence under the harsh conditions. Jeffrey Silberman material, video, music, and storytelling. service as an advocate in the public critic Donald Kuspit as one of the “New my oeuvre episodic. I am working on After considerable research, in is a Professor and Chairperson of the Epstein’s ten books include Rocks sector. His work in Washington, D.C., Old Masters.” landscapes now, but I also am drawn to 1998 the Oglala Sioux Tribe passed an Textile Development and Marketing and Clouds (Steidl 2016) New York Santa Fe, NM, and throughout Wisconsin Tracing the life and career of the artist, interiors. The bookshelves compel me, ordinance to allow the cultivation of low- Department at the Fashion Institute of Arbor (Steidl 2013); Berlin (Steidl/The have included food security, community Karen Gunderson : The Dark World and I will be returning to them soon. The THC-hemp on the reservation. The market Technology (FIT) in New York City. He is American Academy in Berlin, 2011); organizing, youth development, state of Light is written by author and critic environments I construct, both natural for the crop was high around the world, the 2016 winner of the President’s Award American Power (Steidl, 2009); Mitch and federal public policy, business Elizabeth Frank, who won the Pulitzer and architectural, are metaphors for the and it is a sustainable product with a short for Faculty Excellence, and serves on the Epstein: Work (Steidl, 2006); Recreation: development, tribal government, political Prize for her biography of poet Louise realm of the interior. growing season. During World War II, Organizing Committee of the FIT Summer American Photographs 1973-1988 (Steidl, management, and farming. He is an Bogan and is the author of a number of My artistic self has the freedom to the US government encouraged hemp’s Institute on Sustainability in Fashion and 2005); and Family Business (Steidl, 2003), enrolled member of the Menominee books on art, including Jackson Pollock, wander. To visit and revisit, to remember cultivation for its qualities of “hardiness, Textiles. which won the 2004 Kraszna-Krausz Nation in Keshena, Wisconsin. He holds published by Abbeville. and also to leave behind. Each body of utility and low cost.” He concurrently served as a consultant Photography Book Award. a double Associate’s Degree in Tribal Gunderson now spreads her time work — different segments of paintings, In April 2000 White Plume and his to the International Cotton Advisory Winner of the 2011 Prix Pictet for Law and Sustainable Development from between Manhattan and her new studio different types of paintings, drawings — family planted industrial hemp on their Committee (ICAC) Secretariat, and as American Power, Epstein was also the College of Menominee Nation and in Coxsackie, New York, which overlooks are separate entities that dangle from my farm on the Pine Ridge Reservation. At Executive Director to the International awarded the 2008 Berlin Prize in Arts a Bachelor’s Degree in Democracy and the Hudson River. timeline like souvenirs of a moment or a that time, he was reportedly the only Forum for Cotton Promotion (IFCP) from and Letters by the American Academy Justice Studies with a minor in First place. What did Walt Whitman say? “I farmer to openly plant, cultivate, and 2001-2016. in Berlin, and a 2003 Guggenheim Nations Studies from the University of Heather Jackson am large. I contain multitudes.” produce cannabis-related crops within He is the owner of Maple Shade Fellowship. Wisconsin-Green Bay. He is a recipient is the co-founder and CEO of the the borders of the United States since it Farm in Westchester, New York, that Epstein has worked as a director, of the 2010 Brower Youth Award from the Realm of Caring Foundation (RoC), an Mike Lewis was prohibited by federal anti-drug laws produces flax and indigo, and is a winner cinematographer, and production Earth Island Institute. internationally acclaimed non-profit Michael began full-time farming in in 1968. While hemp products can be of the Winrock Award for Service and designer on several films, including Dad, primarily serving families who are dealing 2010 and, after supporting local farmer’s sold in the United States, its cultivation Dedication for his work with Russian flax Salaam Bombay!, and Mississippi Masala. Glenn Goldberg with life-limiting and chronic health market and community supported is prohibited, a law implemented by the producers. He lives in New York City. is an artist living in New York City and conditions. The number of people her agriculture efforts throughout 2011, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). working in Brooklyn. He has exhibited organization has served has grown 9900% founded America’s first Veteran Oriented Although related to cannabis, hemp does Lucy Slivinski Mia Feroleto extensively and teaches at the Cooper since 2013, from 400 families served to food security organization, The Growing not have psychoactive properties and is in is a critically acclaimed sculptor and is a well-known art advisor, activist and Union and Queens College CUNY. over 40,000. Her why is her youngest son Warriors Project, in 2012. In 2013, demand worldwide for a variety of uses, installation artist based in Chicago. artist. She was the creator of A Shelter Zaki. After he journeyed from hospice to Michael was a celebrated recipient of including processing as a cloth and as Slivinski holds an MFA, from Cranbrook From the Storm: Artists for the Homeless Karen Gunderson’s health using Charlotte’s Web, she made Kentucky’s Local Food Hero Award, food. Academy of Art and a BFA, from Northern of New York and ARTWALK NY, now a black paintings explore luminosity and it her mission to empower families who an honor granted by Seed Capital In addition, White Plume believed that Illinois University. She has utilized national event that opens established push the limits of painterly gesture. find themselves in the same position her Kentucky and the Kentucky Department the tribe’s sovereignty on its land would salvaged materials in her practice for artists’ studios to the public to raise funds Working exclusively in black oils, family was in. of Agriculture to exceptional individuals enable him to grow the crop. Federal DEA over 30 years. Slivinski has exhibited for the Coalition for the Homeless and Gunderson focuses the act of painting She is leading a movement to who promote local, farm-fresh food grown agents made a surprise raid on his field her work in Miami at Art Basel, Fusion other causes. She had organized many on the relationship between brushstroke reimagine the way we think, talk, and in Kentucky. At the close of 2014, Yahoo that August and destroyed his crops. In MIA and SCOPE fairs and all over the benefit auctions and events at auctions and light. “By using only blacks, I’m respond to cannabis and hemp and the lauded Michael as one of eight people August 2002, he was served with eight world having had numerous one person houses such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s forcing the focus onto the brush strokes people who use it. Heather’s work has who “Made our World a Better Place”. civil charges by the US District Attorney exhibitions in New York City, Chicago, and has served on the board of directors reflected by the light,” she says. “I paint been featured on Dateline, New York A recipient of the prestigious “Wendell related to the hemp cultivation, and a Bordeaux, France, Havana, Cuba and of such organizations as Dance Theater a form, an image with black paint, and Times, National Geographic, TIME, Good Berry New Agrarian” award, Michael’s court order prohibiting continued growing Reading, PA to name a few.

60 Industrial Hemp Superhero/Savior of Humanity 61 connection back to this world, the only site in 1994, one of the first Cannabis home we have, and to live their lives with related sites on the internet. Contributors Bios a deeper respect and love for the Earth Eric has been actively involved in the while they are here, then it will have HIA since its inception in 1994 including served its purpose. serving as a board member, vice president She has several commissioned public and president. In his role as the Executive art installations throughout Chicago, Joel Stanley Director of the HIA, Eric oversaw a including the Logan Skate Park, attended the University of Colorado 250% growth in membership from 2008 “Hedgerow”, in Grant Park, “Natural from 1998 to 2002. When Joel was 21, to 2017. Under his leadership, the HIA Rhythm”, in Saint Cloud, MN and he bought his first business in flooring has advocated for industry standards for “Ancestoral Throne,” in Bordeaux, and restoration, thus beginning his producers of CBD products. France. Slivinski has also incorporated entrepreneurial path. If money were no Eric is the President and co-founder salvaged materials in several collections object, professional fly-fishing would of Vote Hemp, a national grassroots of sculptural lighting that she has have been his first occupational choice. non-profit advocacy group based in designed and fabricated. In the fall of Nevertheless he has strived to remain self- Washington, DC. Vote Hemp’s mission 2012, CS Interiors Magazine named employed throughout his career. Joel asks, is to change state and federal laws to Slivinski “Best Lighting Designer”, in “Why have one boss when you can have allow American farmers to once again Chicago. She has work in many private 300, right?” Before entering into the brave grow hemp commercially. Under and public collections such as, Capital world of hemp and medical cannabis, he Eric’s leadership, Vote Hemp has been Investments Collection, Chicago, was a fluids engineer in the oil and gas instrumental in getting pro-hemp Illinois, The Longhouse Collection in industry. Joel continues to find fulfillment legislation passed in more than 30 states. New York, the City of Chicago, City of taking a chance on this career shift. In 2005, Eric worked with Rep. Ron Bolingbrook, Illinois and the City of St. After decades spent advocating and Paul (R-TX) to get the first modern U.S. Cloud, Minnesota Her work has been knocking at adamantly closed doors, hemp legislation (H. 3037) introduced written about in Art in America, New York Joel and his brothers now marvel as little in Congress and in 2012 he worked with Times, and Sculpture Magazine, Chicago children, like Charlotte Figi, possess the Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) to get hemp Interiors, and Luxe Magazine. key to open those same doors. Joel says, legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate. “Sometimes it takes something we all can Sally J. Smith sympathize with, something that gets to John Trudell (1946-2015) I make sculptures out in the environment the core of us, like a suffering child, to has been identified as a poet, a fighter for out of natural materials. help open our eyes. And then, some even Native American rights, an agitator, and The process is mysterious. Sometimes admit that maybe we have been wrong lots of other things. it begins with an idea, or an inner about this issue.” But if you were to have asked him prompting to work with a particular space Aside from the pleasure of seeing which of these descriptions best suits or material. Always what is required people get well, Joel loves witnessing him he would have refused to be pinned is a deep sensitivity to the rhythms of these families break through the down. “Actually I don’t consider myself the landscape, the seasonal shifts and propaganda and dogmatic expressions to be any of those things. They’re things the flight of the sun or moon across the that have come from our collective fear. that I do…but they’re parts of me. They’re sky. One enters the creative process the Joel remains honored through this journey not the total.” Indeed, Trudell was the same way one enters a secret glade in and hopeful that the Charlotte’s Web complex sum of all that he saw, endured the forest- quietly and with reverence. stories will continue to open doors. and accomplished in his 69 years, a time Keeping the lines of communication open in which he experienced more than most between myself and whatever natural Eric Steenstra people might in several lifetimes. forces may be present in the landscape has 23 years experience in the hemp John Trudell did not set out to be a allows me to see more deeply into a industry including as a co-founder of the poet. He never studied poetry in school. moment in space and time and endeavor pioneering hemp company Ecolution, as He took that road primarily through a to create a work of art that arises out of a former board member and Executive series of detours, and his poetic and this mystery. Director of the Hemp Industries political sensibilities were forged by For me the essence of what I am doing Association (HIA) and as a founder and the remarkable, sometimes horrifying as an artist is to create work that brings current President of the political advocacy circumstances of his life. the Human heart back into the natural group Vote Hemp. John Trudell was born on February 15, world thru the doorway of whimsy and/ In 1993, Eric cofounded and created 1946 in Omaha, Nebraska, and grew up or magic. It is our disconnection from the the pioneering hemp brand Ecolution on and around the nearby Santee Sioux Earth that has brought untold suffering to with cannabis activist and business leader reservation. (His father was a Santee, his ourselves and to millions of other beings Steve DeAngelo. Ecolution created a mother’s tribal roots were in Mexico.) with whom we share this magnificent popular line of 100% hemp clothing Trudell became acquainted with hardship jewel of Life sailing thru the black void and accessories sourced from Hungary at an early age. His mother died when he of empty space. We must reconnect with and Romania and sold to retail stores was 6, and he watched his father struggle the Earth if we are to survive. It is not across the US, Canada and Germany. to feed and clothe his large family. This an option, it is imperative. In order for Eric managed the daily operations of the experience left Trudell with a deep us to care for the planet we must love it company and its growth to $2.5 million contempt for the American “work ethic,” once again. If just a single piece of my in annual sales and a staff of thirteen. Eric compounded by the endemic racial and work can inspire the viewer to make that also built Ecolution’s award winning web economic injustice which surrounded

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