This Transformation We Require
So we’ve been taught, and grown up, in a culture that values money and its attendant power above all else. Why is this case instead of say, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness being our top priority? It’s actually quite simple. It’s because 600 years ago the British Crown made ‘The Corporation’ a viable business entity. Horrible idea.
Which makes on wonder about nation-states as well. There’s been the natural evolution over the ages, from small villages to cities, city-states and more recently nation-states. Not as horrible an idea as ‘The Corporation’, but one that has seemingly outgrown its usefulness. Some might argue that it’s usefulness was pretty seriously challenged by European colonialism, which so much reshaped the world to support Empire’s ruthless agenda.
Since WWII the U.S. has taken over the mantle of Empire, trying to bend the world so that U.S. hegemony can continue forever. Ain’t going to happen. The trends that supported corporate and nation-state growth are no longer trends. And the supposed virtues of corporations have been seen for what they are. Bullshit, lies, corruption and falseness at every turn. We need a new way forward.
Even the ground rules of the old culture are busted. We assume, and Einstein even postulated, that there are an infinite number of points in time, just as there are an infinite number of points in space. He was wrong. There is only one point it time where Life, and hence we, exist. The point of Life is Now. Less punny, the totality of Now just aught to be the central tenant of any culture. In this one it’s a wildly foreign idea. Yet that makes it no less true.
Once we narrow the playing field of time to Now, we begin to see more clearly the power of our intent. Our collective lives are a mess, pollution is everywhere, if the nuclear war doesn’t kill us, the climate chaos will. Ugly times. And yet, locked into the reality of Now, we understand that we still have options on how we think, feel and act. A tremendous freedom awaits those of us who hold this truth tightly.
Oh yes, and learning Life is relegated to this tiny point in time where the future becomes the past offers another requirement. We are all Here together. Always. We are all always moving from here. Together. A pretty refreshing notion as well.
So we need to find our common ground first. Perhaps then we can begin moving together to solve our horrendous problems.
Our problems, from generations of abuse and corporate overreach all over our planet, are legion.
This Consumer Culture
I imagine that in ancient cultures the goal was water, food and getting basic needs met. Beyond that explore, play, learn, even as other animals do. Getting along was a given. The tribe shared the vibe.
From there we’ve found ourselves gobbling up plastic crap to no end, from our grocery bags to gadgets. We were taught that money is the road to happiness, and more is always better. He who dies with the most toys wins. It’s not only ruining our planet, it’s not making us happier. It was all a lie.
New phone. New car. New shit. We adore it. We’ve been well trained.
The tribe in that ancient culture had a greater sense of abundance than we do. No monthlies, credit cards and the fears of lack so many of us hold. It’s worth noting that they met their needs locally, water, food and wood for energy. We have the same needs now. We just have a corporate greed/corrupt government model today. It is this that must be transformed.
This War Machine
Living in nation-states that disagree sure seems like a great system if you’re in the war business. Recall that a whole slew of nation-states were drawn up by the British Empire. Fuck. And there are amalgamations like China, one political system reigning over a huge number of tribes. And places like the U.S., where we wiped out the indigenous people and brought a bunch of slaves along. Land of the free my ass.
It’s generally been like this since Medieval times, the greatest change being the equipment of war. Catapults hardly compare to the many death machines this war machine has come up with. And now AI and the robots are coming. And of course the frequency. In the Middle Ages we had breaks between our wars.
As many of us recognize, the war in Ukraine goes much deeper than Putin, no angel, wanting to claim Ukraine to remake the old USSR. It’s all part of the demented maniacs willing to destroy we humans out of their greed. The many unknown forces determined to keep us abused and confused, we cannot let them continue. It is this that must be transformed.
This Corrupt Political System
The corrupt political culture, here in the U.S. and on display across the globe, is so evident it needs no discussion. There are a few relative beacons, like the very northern European nations (Norway, Sweden, Finland) but there aren’t a lot of great examples.
At the same time we have a ton of dictators, authoritarians and fascists. This makes for terrible lives for millions and even billions of us as these ‘leaders’ care nothing for you and me. And it doesn’t look like it will fix itself. While it is my sense that most of us humans are pretty decent folk, our politicians and leaders clearly are not. It is this that must be transformed.
The Way Forward Is a New O/S
While healing and restoring are much needed ingredients, we start with a new yet ancient paradigm. We recognize that we exist within Life, and that Life happens only now. Ergo, we only happen Now. This necessitates that we are All Here Together as well. There is quite literally nowhere else in time we can be. All else is speculation or memory.
Once we grasp this great truth, we can focus our attention, our intent, on how we are playing this living moment. Our fears and pains are seen more truly, where they can be more easily released. And we must begin by healing ourselves. Otherwise whatever new system emerges will end up corrupt as well. Integrity is requisite, and is only found where we humans are able to heal and grow.
Once we have our own selves together, we can begin to remake this crazy world we find ourselves living in. We reject the legal status of ‘The Corporation’ and its effect of globalism, which is a terrible system for getting our needs met, but a great system if your own goal is making gobs of money.
Our priorities could be peace, good governance, localism, organic food and learning, without which we are at the mercy of corporate control. Of these objectives, localism most directly strikes at the heart of the corporate controllers. There are innumerable cases where sourcing needed materials comes from the other side of the world because it makes corporate financial sense, though it makes no sense at all for a healthy culture to be doing such things.
We Must Rise Up
As the great historian and intellectual Noam Chomsky has noted, there’s hardly a time in human history where substantive change occurred without the citizenry rising up. Politicians and demagogues are not inclined to give up power unless confronted by citizens that will no longer tolerate their corruption. We see that quite clearly here in the United States.
For Progressives, locked into the two party system, the lesser evil typically means voting for Democrats, in spite of their lust to appease their corporate owners. The Republicans are off the charts now, going to any lengths to make this country ‘white and christian’, which it has never been. Whether we consider the maybe 10 million indigenous people or the maybe three million slaves, non-whites have played a huge role in our country’s history. Sadly, it’s a very ugly history.
Yet we find ourselves now facing a great precipice. If we do not change our children and grandchildren face much more cruel lives. Our climate chaos continues to wreak havoc, and the permanent war paradigm destroys entire populations in the name of greed. We must rise up.
Now is the time we change or perish. Welcome to World 5.0…
The Vast Impact of Legalizing Hemp
The Empire doesn’t understand yet what has happened. Legalizing hemp farming and hemp industries will have a profound impact on our local communities, our soil, our ecosystems and our culture at large. They don’t understand that legalizing hemp, part of the new Farm Bill enacted in December, is a tremendous catalyst for change. But we do.
Hemp was the first plant under human cultivation, some 10,000 years ago. Hemp farming and production was a staple of Europe and much of the world 1,000 years ago. Without hemp Europeans could not have colonized so much of the world, as hemp sails are durable and don’t rot. So we have some history with the plant.
William Hurst, the yellow news publisher from 100 years ago was quite the racist. He hated people of color, and while it was quite clear that hemp was a staple for poor folk, he intentionally confused hemp and marijuana, a favorite high of these minorities. He demonize both incessently in his papers until congress took the step of making production of hemp and manufacture of hemp products illegal, along with its cousin, ‘the heathen devil weed’. But why go after hemp?
Hearst happened to own millions of acres of forest that he wanted to leverage as paper for his ‘news’ empire. That would never happen as long as hemp was readily available and clearly a much wiser option. He removed that as a legal option, and caused unspeakable damage to our culture and country for nearly a century.
So that’s how we got here, and with this new Farm Bill, we reverse this travesty. And again, The Empire doesn’t yet know what it has allowed to happen.
First, a little clarity. There are hundreds of major strains of cannabis, the family’s latin name. They all share the ability to grow in less than ideal soils with minimal pesticide use. They have edible, oil rich seeds. Their stalks contain strong, durable fibers. They absorb heavy metals and radiation. Hemp has less than .03% of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.
Yet each strain has its unique characteristics. Hemp grown for fiber is planted closely together, with large, spindly patterns than can reach 15 feet. Hemp grown for oil has more widely space plants, with far more side branches to encourage bud and seed growth.
Cannibus varieties grown for THC also prefer wide spacing, to allow as many buds to form and develop as possible.
So why the big deal? Let’s start at 30,000 feet. Much of our current malaise is due to corporate globalism, a trade system developed for profit, not to fulfill human need. Shoes from China, shirts from the Philippines or Indonesia, food from South America, fossil fuels from the Middle East – we’ve been globalized, without really seeing the problem even as us older folk watched this process take place over decades. Here’s a good reference on our oldest cultivated plant.
With legal hemp we begin to reverse this trend, we start strengthening local production and hence our local communities. This will be tightly coupled with the local food movement, which is already gaining influence in many areas. A great blow against The Empire.
How? Here’s a bit of a list…
Hempcrete – the Roman Coliseum and viaducts were built with hempcrete, the hemp fibers adding centuries to the viable ‘life’ of the concrete. As we begin the huge task of rebuilding US infrastructure, hempcrete can be invaluable.
Fuel – biodiesel and ethanal/methanal – the seeds are pressed and processed for biodiesel, the stalks fermented to create ethanal/methanal fuels. Both are efficient and renewable.
Food – hemp seeds have a refreshing, nutty taste. They are a great addition to soups, salads, burgers and more. Hemp oil can be used in food as well.
Clothing – hemp fibers are strong and durable, and through processing can become quite soft. The material takes color dyes well too!
Shoes – slippers and sandals are easily fashioned. Heavy duty work boots will require more processed forms of help.
Composites – Any number of composites can be created from hemp parts. Indeed, many cars now have composites with a hemp base for dashboards and interior molds, just like the first Ford’s did 100 years ago.
Plastics – While our abusive relationship with disposable plastics requires a cultural shift, bioplastics made from hemp are far less damaging to our environments and oceans.
Medicines – CBDs (cannabinoids) are the current rage, able to help treat PTSD, arthritis and other conditions. The plant contains over a hundred cannabinoids, many with medicinal properties. CBDs are not psychoactive.
Even if you’re not stoned, this is an impressive list. Your mission, should you choose to join us, is to aid in our transition to local, hemp based products. Farming, processing, distribution, new products, education and networking – there are tremendous opportunities. Fire logs, furniture, we don’t even know yet what we’re capable of being reunited with our old friend.
With hemp we gain a valuable resource for reducing the destruction of our already degraded home planet, Earth. We immediately reduce logging and its destructive footprint. The bleaching process to make paper from wood is eliminated as well. Imagine the boost we can bring to our communities with locally made clothes, fuel oils and food. Composites for the new 3D printing tech. It’s going to get wild folks!
Curiously, the corrupt Trump administration has enabled the most substantial farm bill in decades. Now, the new congress can further policies which support hemp, which will surely support us.
Embracing hemp carries deeper overtones. Such work is healing and has us in intimate touch with the Earth and its natural cycles. It encourages us to embrace a radical new relationship with our natural world. It encourages us to be present to Life itself.
Now that the government is out of he way, the speed with which we reintroduce ourselves to our oldest plant friend is up to us. It will take a few years to re-find the knowledge and machinery used in the past, and to find our way forward with new ideas and technology. But the time when hemp is again pervasive in our culture is coming soon.
Looking for work or a new enterprise? Think hemp.
An Occupier for Congress
Our federal government has now clearly established itself as an enabler for corporate special interests instead of being the champion of we, the people and the common good. All three branches collude in eroding our civil rights, creating laws and policies which benefit the very rich at our expense. Our situation becomes less tolerable each day. We need a new way forward.
My name is Jim Prues and I have some idea of this new way forward. I literally wrote the book on it:
It was all the above that led me to invest energy in Occupy Cincinnati, joining other locals who appreciate the current threat to our democracy. The Occupy Movement has had many flaws, but we can be grateful for the light they helped shine on the terrible imbalance between the 99% and the 1%. Sadly, our government stands with the 1%. This must change.
And so it was that I announced my candidacy, at high noon on the summer solstice, for the First District Seat of Ohio in the United States House of Representatives. The seat is currently held by Republican Steve Chabot. I’m seeking the Democratic nomination, and according to local officials, there are no other contenders at this time.
I’m running on the World 5.0 Platform, a simple guide to the priorities which can reverse this trend toward ever greater malfeasance by government at every level. It points toward principles and a system of ethics, sorely lacking in Washington and in every state house these days. A focus on these five ideas is potentially transformative, and can bring us to a place of health and happiness unseen in our lifetimes.
Here is the World 5.0 Platform…
PEACE
“When the power of Love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” – Jimi Hendrix
Peace is our first priority in this violent and war-torn culture. We refuse corporate and nation-state efforts to destroy life and land for profit, and are committed to peace in our lives and in our world. We actively engage in creating peace through our neighborhoods and communities, and demand the goal of peace from our elected officials.
Without peace our communities are wounded or broken. Instead what must be broken is the long cycle of violence and war. Don’t pull the trigger. Don’t push the button. Do not allow yourself to be a slave to a broken system. Recognize that we all share in this life, and find a new way forward.
GOVERNMENT
“The care of human life and happiness is the first and only object of good government.” – Thomas Jefferson
Good government depends on integrity, justice and balance. We can no longer tolerate our government undermining the common good for special interests. As citizens, it is up to us to create and ensure good government. Democracy is not a spectator sport.
We know now that our government has been twisted by moneyed interests, and does not serve the common good. We know too, that this unholy condition will not change without citizen action, from the voting booth to activism and protests. Engagement creates the change we need.
LOCALISM
“In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.” – Marianne Williamson
Unbridled globalism with its singular goal of profit has failed us. Commerce must exist to serve human need, instead of ruining lives for corporate greed. Localism creates jobs, opportunities for engagement and abundance, increasing our safety, sustainability and happiness.
We vote with each dollar we spend. Will we support Walmart or a local retailer, McDonald’s or a local restaurant? What do we choose for meaningful work? What gifts can we offer our communities? These everyday decisions are transformative, and mark the quality of our lives.
FOOD
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” – J. R. R. Tolkien
The industrial food system has caused massive pollution, desertification, soil loss and environmental destruction that are matched only by the terrible quality of the food produced. By migrating to organic food, we create ecologies within our land and health within our bodies.
Throughout human history, organic food was the only option. It was the diversion of World War II chemicals into pest control products that ramped up industrial agriculture, the foolishness peaking with genetically modified [GM] foods. Instead, we must renew our relationship with what we eat, and create new options to grow, process and share our food.
LEARNING
“We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters or perish together as fools.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
The World 5.0 Platform is enabled by learning. Learning is a lifelong process, and creates the wisdom to make wholesome decisions. It is learning that opens pathways to peace, good government, localism and organic food. Learning is a right and a responsibility.
There is a clear path to wisdom. We use data to create information, and amass information to create knowledge and finally we sift our knowledge to find wisdom. This progression guides us to truth, untarnished by anecdotal stories, outlier data or bold-faced lies. This process also leads us to love.
* * * * *
We know these to be tumultuous times, and we know without substantive and positive change our planet and our lives are doomed to misery and pain. What we have not understood until now is our power. We can remake the world anew. We are the change we need. This is why I’m running for congress. We must rise up.
Jim Prues is an entrepreneur, the author of “World 5.0” and a candidate for the US Congress. A free download of the book is available at World5.org. You can learn more of Jim’s candidacy at JimPrues.org.
In Praise of Hemp
Hemp is the common name for cannabis, the first plant cultivated by humanity as we crept from being Neolithic to becoming Agrarian. Likely this was due to a few reasons. First, hemp is an extremely versatile plant, with leaves, seeds and stalks all capable of creating useful products. Second, it’s particularly easy to grow, needing little in the way of fertilizer or pest control. And finally, hemp is native to many parts of the world, particularly The Fertile Crescent, where some of the first agriculture happened early in our civilization.
Hemp use predates the Agrarian Age, as hemp fibers have been found in pottery in China and Taiwan dating to 7,000 years ago. The classical Greek historian Herodotus (ca. 480 BC) reported that the inhabitants of Scythia would often inhale the vapours of hemp smoke, both as ritual and for their own pleasurable recreation. So presumably the Scythians were the first recorded stoners.
In Europe, hemp growing and production became quite popular during the Medieval Age, having disseminated in that direction along with much of the technology of the Arabic Golden Age in Northern Africa. In Europe hemp seeds were used for food and oils, the leaves for teas and the stalks for fibres, including rope, clothes, sails and paper. Estimates put the number of Europeans actively involved in hemp growing and production in the 15th and 16th century at well over 50%.
Hemp has a strong historical influence on every continent, with varied cultural and religious traditions. Many African spiritual practices involve consuming hemp smoke to enhance awareness and generate visions like the Dagga ‘cults’.
The Spaniards brought hemp to the Western Hemisphere and cultivated it in Chile starting about 1545. However, in May 1607, "hempe" was among the crops Gabriel Archer observed being cultivated by the natives at the main Powhatan village, where Richmond, Virginia is now situated; and in 1613, Samuell Argall reported wild hemp "better than that in England" growing along the shores of the upper Potomac. As early as 1619, the first Virginia House of Burgesses passed an Act requiring all planters in Virginia to sow "both English and Indian" hemp on their plantations. The Puritans are first known to have cultivated hemp in New England in 1645.
In more modern times, hemp was a popular crop in antibellum Kentucky and other southern states. It was commonly used for a variety of products, most notably the paper on which the U.S. Constitution was written. Several of our founding fathers were hemp farmers.
All this changed with William Randoph Hearst, who began demonizing hemp in order to leverage his great tracks of forest for paper production instead of needing to buy hemp from other farmers. His effort to demonize the plant was also instigated by his racism, as many hispanics and blacks used hemp for recreation. The word, marijuana, is the hispanic term for that form of hemp which has psychoactive ingredients.
There are several varieties of hemp, most of which have very little THC [tetra-hydro-cannabanoid], the mind-effecting component. For most of U.S. history, the distinction was well-understood and laws reflected that awareness. Like so many with the power of media, however, Mr. Hearst did his best to cloud that distinction, as he was against hemp in any form. Indeed, industrial hemp was referred to as ‘ditchweed’, while hemp for medicinal or recreations purposes has come to be known as marijuana.
An analogy would be poppies, where you have the breadseed poppy seeds that can be found on bread or rolls, in contrast to the opium poppies grown to create morphine and heroin.
As reference, the timber and lumber industries, textile and petro-chemical industries are the most influential in keeping hemp illegal. As usual, we can follow the money. Then for pot there’s the pharmaceutical industry, the alcohol lobby and all those anti-drug agencies with self-preservation interests. We learn much from understanding these connections.
With this background, let’s consider how hemp might again play a pivotal role in our culture.
Assuming access to air and water, our most regular needs are for food and energy. In the World4 culture, these needs, at least for the industrialized world, are met through global corporations like ADM, Monsanto, BP and Exxon. And of course, hemp is illegal to grow in much of the industrialized world and particularly the United States.
But as noted above, hemp is easily grown with little required in the way of fertilizer or pesticides. As such, hemp typifies a sustainably-oriented plant. Corn, by comparison, requires heavy doses of fertilizer, especially nitrogen, and requires a good deal of pesticide use, with Roundup often used to kill weeds, and genetically modified corn seed that is resistant to the effects of Roundup. With the vast expanses of corn grown in this country, it should be no surprise that the runoff from these chemicals has created a huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. And let us not forget that our tax dollars subsidize these efforts through farm and energy subsidies.
With hemp, we have a low-impact, high-yield crop that can be used for a variety of uses. The stalks and fiber can used for composites that can be a wood substitute in an array of products. They can also be processed to create ethanol. They can be burned as a carbon-neutral resource, since the carbon they release is but the carbon the plant ingested during it’s life. Durable, light-weight, and strong, it’s difficult to imagine all the uses for industrial hemp were we to focus on designing and building hemp-based products.
With hemp oil we have another energy-rich resource, which can be used in cooking, as lamp oil and as a medicinal, as its high concentration of essential fatty acids is great for the skin and overall health.
Hemp seed can be used as a food as well. The roasted seeds are crunchy, they can be used in soups and casseroles, mixed with cereals or other foods. They’re highly nutritious, have a good deal of protein and again, are positive-impact environmentally.
Hemp has remediation properties too. It absorbs heavy metals in the soil, reducing their toxicity and harmful environment effects. There are vast expanses of hemp in the area of the Chernobyl nuclear accident for just that reason.
Hemp can be grown successfully in nearly every state in these United States. One can imagine a culture where locally produced hemp provides a good portion of the energy, food and product needs for our communities. This methodology would provide employment in both production and processing of the plant. It would reduce the environmental damage caused by our overused, subsidized corn. [Corn syrup is a cheap, low grade sugar that’s in a ton of processed foods.] Re-integrating hemp into our culture is just good, common sense.
And then there’s marijuana. The heathen devil-weed [a term coined by Heart’s yellow press] was blamed for all sorts of bad behavior as part of the demonization process. But as usual, someone who smokes pot and acts badly likely acts badly anyway, with marijuana as the straw man. Marijuana reduces aggressive behavior, unlike alcohol. This slander against the singular most influential plant in human history is but one example of the dysfunctionality of our culture.
Weed does indeed have psychotropic properties of note. Being stoned has a curious effect on the mind. Most say it tends to enhance whatever we feeling or experiencing at the time, offering a heightened experience of music or games or food [the proverbial munchies]. It is often used as a mind-quieting agent as well, as the stream of thoughts so constant to most of us becomes less pressing in a marijuana state of mind. In our fear-ridden, highly-stressed culture that alone could be of great value.
It’s worth noting that marijuana has not been placed as the medical cause in a single death in this country. Compare that with alcohol, tobacco, or the host of concoctions the pharmaceutical industry markets to us constantly. Mary Jane is decidedly benign.
As a medicinal, hemp oil has the afore mentioned essential fatty acids that are very effective for skin issues like excema and when ingested enhances body health. Medical marijuana is much in the news these days, being legal in California and a handful of other states. It’s value in alleviating the worst effect of cancer treatments, chronic back ache and other issues is well-documented. Imagine if our culture actually encouraged research on medical marijuana. Not likely when the legal drug cartel we call the pharmaceutical industry has so much influence in government.
Proposition 19 is a measure on the ballot in California this fall that makes hemp legal. It merits our support for all the reasons indicated in this writing. Perhaps with this ballot measure passing we can begin to reverse the foolishness that has withheld leveraging this marvelous plant for the last 100 years.
Perhaps one of the most beneficial characteristics of this renewable resource is that the hemp plant can be used in its entirety, and that a streamlined life-cycle assessment yields positive impacts on the environment throughout the growth, harvest, and production stages. The industrial hemp plant offers a wide variety of high performance applications through the many aspects of community design, and will help strengthen our local economy, return power back to our local agricultural industry, and restore the environment as it grows. – Scott Blossom
Well said, Mister Blossom. Perhaps this fall [in California Ballot Measure Prop 19] we’ll begin to see a return to sanity in our policies toward this marvelous and versatile plant. And wouldn’t it be just swell to see this happen in the wider context of a return to localism. Very World Five – dude.
Hemp for the World
There’s a lot of energy in the air these days surrounding hemp, and with good reason. Hemp was removed from our culture back in the early 20th Century when a number of laws were established that demonized hemp and marijuana. Now, as we’re learning that so much once held as true is false, it should come as no surprise that our illusions about hemp are crumbling as well.
Hemp is the common name for cannabis, the first plant cultivated by humanity as we crept from a Hunter/Gatherer culture to an Agrarian one. This were several reasons for this. First, hemp is an extremely versatile plant, with edible seeds, rich oil and strong, fibrous stalks. Second, it’s particularly easy to grow, needing little in the way of fertilizer or pest control. And finally, hemp is native to many parts of the world, so it was accessible to large segments of our ancestors.
Hemp has a strong historical influence on every continent, with varied cultural and religious traditions. It’s written about in China as early as the 5th Century BC. It was commonly breathed or smoked by various tribes in the Middle East. Many African spiritual practices involve consuming hemp smoke to enhance awareness and generate visions like the Dagga ‘cults’.
In the United States, as early as 1619 the first Virginia House of Burgesses passed an Act requiring all planters in Virginia to sow “both English and Indian” hemp on their plantations. In more modern times, hemp was a popular crop in antebellum Kentucky and other southern states. It was commonly used for a variety of products, most notably the paper on which the U.S. Constitution was written. Several of our founding fathers were hemp farmers.
All that changed when newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst decided to demonize the plant, his financial interests better served by printing his newspapers on wood pulp supplied by forests he owned in the early 20th century. Dupont’s new plastics were far more valuable in a hemp-free world as well. His nephew, Harry Anslinger, commissioned ‘Reefer Madness.’
Today, we can still follow the money. The lumber, textile and petro-chemical industries are the most influential in keeping hemp illegal. Then for pot there’s the pharmaceutical industry, the alcohol lobby and all those anti-drug agencies with self-preservation interests. We learn much from understanding these connections.
With this background, let’s consider how hemp might again play a pivotal role in our communities and culture.
With hemp, we have a low-impact, high-yield crop that can be used for a variety of purposes. The stalks and fiber can be used in composites as a wood substitute for an array of products. They can also be processed to create ethanol. This is a carbon-neutral resource, since the carbon released is but the carbon the plant ingested during its life. Durable, light-weight, and strong, it’s difficult to imagine all the uses for industrial hemp were we to focus on designing and building hemp-based products.
With hemp oil we have another energy-rich resource, which can be used in cooking, as lamp oil and as a medicinal, as its high concentration of essential fatty acids is great for the skin and overall health. Hemp seed can be used for food as well. They’re highly nutritious with a good deal of protein. Hemp has remediation properties too. It absorbs heavy metals in the soil, reducing their toxicity and harmful environmental effects. There are vast expanses of hemp in the area of the Chernobyl nuclear accident for just that reason.
Hemp can be grown successfully in nearly every state in these United States. One can imagine a culture where locally produced hemp provides a good portion of the energy, food and product needs for our communities. This approach would provide employment in both production and processing of the plant. It would also reduce the environmental damage caused by our pollutive, subsidized corn production. Re-integrating hemp into our culture is a key to the new localism.
And then there’s marijuana. The heathen devil-weed [a term coined by Hearst’s yellow press] was blamed for all sorts of bad behavior as part of the demonization process. Marijuana actually reduces aggressive behavior, unlike alcohol. The demonization and slander against the singular most influential plant in human history is but one example of the dysfunctionality of our culture.
Weed does indeed have psychotropic properties of note. Being stoned has a curious effect on the mind. Most say it tends to enhance whatever we feeling or experiencing at the time, offering a heightened experience of music or games or food [the proverbial munchies]. It is often used as a mind-quieting agent as well, as the stream of thoughts so constant to most of us becomes less pressing in a marijuana state of mind. In our fear-ridden, highly-stressed culture that alone could be of great value.
Medical marijuana is much in the news these days, being legal in a number of states, though often still prosecuted by the Feds. Its value in alleviating the worst effects of cancer treatments, chronic backache and other issues is well-documented. Imagine if our culture actually encouraged research on medical marijuana [sigh]. Not likely when the legal drug cartel called ‘the pharmaceutical industry’ has so much influence in government.
Finally, it’s worth noting that marijuana has not been placed as the medical cause in a single death in this country. Compare that with alcohol, tobacco, or the host of concoctions the pharmaceutical industry markets to us constantly. Mary Jane is decidedly benign.
Just say no to politicians and pundits who espouse the evils of hemp. They are uneducated, disingenuous or both [surprise, surprise]. Let’s say yes to re-introducing hemp into our culture, and to creating local jobs, products and health.