This Earth Day it would be an injustice not to mention the many ways hemp has recently been helping to turn this world's toxic sludge wastelands into air-fresh, fertile soil grounds. It is efficient even, I believe, to say that these toxic practices are our past and we will be continually quickly shifting to hemp products to sustain our planet's eco-system.
photo below by John Henry
The Georgia Hemp Economic Revival Organization (GA H.E.R.O.) founded in May of 2013 is one of many global groups dedicated to educating the public about how the environment and economy can be greatly helped as we start farming hemp again. Hemp can make fuel. Fossil Fuels is one of the worst things for our environment. Also, the horrible plastics made from a derivative of petroleum that don't break down have disastrous effects on our delicate eco-system not to mention the harm they do to our bodies. Hemp plastics and other bio-plastics that are already on the market are biodegradable and the time is now to pressure companies to utilize all means necessary to provide us with these safer, earth-friendly products. Our other option as a consumer is to try our best not to purchase these plastics and opt for glass containers, reusable cloth grocery bags, etc. Generally grocery stores do currently provide at least one water brand in a biodegradable bio-bottle. Unfortunately, American laws restricting the cultivation of hemp along with the high taxing and stringent inter-state trade laws, still limit our capabilities to develop this greener technology.
But enough about technology, hemp has very deep roots, sometimes up to 8 feet, which has a very important role in keeping our topsoil on the earth. Several civilizations met their demise because of topsoil erosion and the inability to grow food. If you have been to the canyons in Providence, GA you get a good idea of what topsoil erosion is. Hemp is also a mop crop which remediates the soil (aka phyto-remediation). Similar to sunflowers, but exponentially more effective, hemp leeches up lead from the soil amongst many other toxins including nuclear waste. It was used by scientists in the Ukraine to pull cesium out of the soil near the Chernobyl site. This year a Japan forum and Climate emergency virtual teleconference on July 2nd plans to stress the need to remediate Fukushima's soil with Industrial Hemp. Our friends in Flint, Michigan not only can't drink their water, nothing is growing in their soil. The only thing that is stopping a plan to heal the soil with hemp is this lack of awareness and bans.
The 2014 Farm Bill was a first step to allow research in states where hemp farming is legal with Sec. 7606, "The Legitimacy of Industrial Hemp Research". Therefore, in states where there is legislation for hemp, such as California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, N. Dakota, Oregon, S. Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia, hemp can be grown for research. Globally hemp is grown in Australia, Austria, Canada, Portugal, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Ukraine, Germany, Great Britian, Russia, Spain, Chile, China, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, and Turkey. There's still work to be done before all farmers can grow hemp globally and in the US (more than 20 states still need legislation). We can help advise Congress to pass the Industrial Hemp Farming Act (S. 134, H.R. 525), which would remove hemp from the Federal Schedule of Controlled Substances. Take Action with Vote Hemp today!
Hemp History Week is another platform for learning about the progress of the global hemp industry. This June 6-12th marks the 7th annual week of this organization's grassroots education and activism. All over the U.S. you can find events in almost every state , often multiple events (last year there were over 1600 national events) ranging from movie-screenings to panels and live-music usually accompanied by samples of hemp products like soap, bath gel, and t-shirts. GA H.E.R.O. will be presenting our 4th annual HHW event here in Atlanta, GA as we fundraise to embark on a sunflower remediation project to clean up local brown-field sites similar to Proctor creek while raising awareness of what hemp can do. We will be partnering with local environmental groups to complete this project.
From what we have learned and researched, hemp is one of the ONLY topics that gives us hope this Earth Day that we can clean up our planet and bring our eco-system back into harmony. But please do your own research and decide for yourself what the most compassionate choices and actions are for you this Earth Day.
*If you liked this article and want to support eco-music please check out some of our latest music videos in reference to this article, In Colorado In July (see below) we actually take you to the Providence Canyons, and in Cannabis Car, we sing about a car that not only runs on Cannabis fuel, but also about how hemp makes paper and building materials as well. Hemp fibers are even used to create the body of the cannabis car. We strive to make this world a better, more compassionate place by singing about relevance,truth, peace and justice, while creating beautiful music.
