Envisioning A Hemp Based Future - 2020 and Beyond
In this new era of fear and divisiveness, CHEA members are staying focused on a positive and constructive course of action that everyone can agree upon and work together to achieve...building the industrial hemp industry. This low THC variety of Cannabis sativa may be the one thing (besides Corona) with the power to actually unite us enough to make real, positive change in the world.
We like to say that hemp can't make you high, but it can make just about everything else. From food, clothing, medicines, to fuel, plastics and building materials, hemp is the world's most useful plant. It also sequesters carbon from the air and replenishes the soil and water. Hands down, The Most Sustainable Raw Material on the planet. So, let's get united (on this one important issue) and make it our mission to build a brighter future utilizing hemp!
We like to say that hemp can't make you high, but it can make just about everything else. From food, clothing, medicines, to fuel, plastics and building materials, hemp is the world's most useful plant. It also sequesters carbon from the air and replenishes the soil and water. Hands down, The Most Sustainable Raw Material on the planet. So, let's get united (on this one important issue) and make it our mission to build a brighter future utilizing hemp!
Whats Next in 2020
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Field Notes
In our six years of working with the industrial hemp plant, we've learned a lot. Bees, for instance, love the pollen from male plants (which mature early then die back) and birds also love the seeds. It will grow in poor to medium soil. Seeds require moist conditions to germinate, but once established water requirements are medium to low. Some varieties are thin and spindly while others are thick and bushy. Lot's of diversity in the Cannabis sativa family. We've also learned that numerous factors, such as elevation, latitude, marijuana grows, etc, can affect Cannabinoid concentrations. And for any new farmer, there's a lot to consider before investing the considerable amount of money it will take to be successful. For Updates, contact us to receive our Newsletter. 
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Moving Forward In The Covid Era
As Summer 2020 progresses, we're feeling very grateful to have a spot in this year's Aspen Saturday Market. To be in such a beautiful place talking hemp and raising money to keep our education and advocacy programs going is a real blessing. Yes, wearing masks, social distancing, and constantly pumping the hand sanitizer isn't ideal, but not that big of a deal either, considering the circumstances. Everyone has been happy to comply. With all Aspen's measures in place hopefully the total lock down is over and we can look forward to more glorious Saturday's into the Fall. Harvest season, then the elections. While it seems that we've taken a deep dive down the rabbit hole and our democracy hangs by a thread, please remember that we have made, and are making great strides forward, even in the midst of this historic chaos. Women's rights, Gay rights, African American rights, and the right to grow and build a sustainable industrial hemp Industry in America, are all movements that are making history and taking us to greater heights of justice and equality. While the political dramas play out, people everywhere are waking up and saying enough is enough. Time for something different. Time for an economy based on hemp that will give us over 25,000 different earth sustaining products! Time for a Peaceful Hemp Revolution! If you agree, please reach out to your elected members of Congress and urge them to support the "Hemp For Victory Act" and go to WarfighterHemp.com to find out about the "Veterans Medical Cannabis Act" that could help thousands of our veterans.
Where do we go from here? Already in our area of Colorado, we've seen hemp businesses fold and farmers go back to growing vegetables and hay instead of hemp. Everyone jumped in and now there's a glut of hemp sitting in barns and warehouses. The CBD craze will continue but money is suddenly tight for millions of Americans so sales are slow to none for many small businesses. What is needed is more affordable CBD oil processing for farmers and ancillary markets for other parts of the plant. Infrastructure and machines that can hull the seeds and turn the stalk of the plant into thousands of essential items. Because of hemp's anti-fungal, antibacterial, and health promoting qualities hemp should be utilized to make our masks, hospital scrubs, linens, towels, clothing, etc. Enviro Textiles is leading the way in the textile arena. In the medicinal sector, we will have to wait to hear if the ongoing University studies, (Tel Aviv Univ., Letheridge Univ. in Canada, Univ. of Nebraska, Dental College of Georgia), can confirm that cannabinoids and even terpenes are Cytokine inhibitors that will reduce inflammation and even help prevent the onset of Covid-19. Stay tuned for updates.
Simple Ways To Take Action For Change:
How about doing your own mixed media campaign to inform big business (like Bayer, Dow, Shell, etc,) to get with the times and begin to capitalize on this huge growth market. Urge them to think restoration instead of destruction. Sustainability, instead of reckless cannibalistic, unsustainable growth. We need all sectors of big business to see the light and become our future hero's...instead of continuing down this dark and evil path. There's tons of money to be made in the creation of this environmentally friendly, super sustainable, new green industry. It'll be incredible (and we'll all be so thankful) to have you on board, committed to investing...lets say... just 5% of your profits back into hemp R&D, and into converting your operations to begin utilizing hemp in your products. That can't be that hard of a transition...can it? The pro-hemp arguments are so easy to make that we must start making them to all parties involved in our corporate state. Time's a wasting people, lets get going!
And if big business won't do it on their own, petition your local, state, and our federal government to make them invest the 5%. Oil companies, the paper and building material industries, plastic composite companies, textile manufactures, auto makers, etc, should all be involved in a national campaign to use hemp as part of a comprehensive plan to become ecologically sustainable and carbon neutral, (Yes, Cannabis is a huge carbon sequestrator), in the next ten years. Think of the incredible publicity and good will that would generate. But we all must make it a point to do our small part to badger these dinosaur titans enough, with enough sustained pressure to push these big guys into doing the right thing. And remember, it's not enough to just have legality...We absolutely need a new, 21st Century, "Hemp for Victory Act", like the campaign our government created during WWII. The public needs it's government to fund research, ensure safety, and incentivize all kinds of hemp related businesses. Time's a wasting. Keep the pressure coming and before you know it, we will change the world...via hemp.
For more info on the "Hemp for Victory Act" please click above on the Vote Hemp logo.
Where do we go from here? Already in our area of Colorado, we've seen hemp businesses fold and farmers go back to growing vegetables and hay instead of hemp. Everyone jumped in and now there's a glut of hemp sitting in barns and warehouses. The CBD craze will continue but money is suddenly tight for millions of Americans so sales are slow to none for many small businesses. What is needed is more affordable CBD oil processing for farmers and ancillary markets for other parts of the plant. Infrastructure and machines that can hull the seeds and turn the stalk of the plant into thousands of essential items. Because of hemp's anti-fungal, antibacterial, and health promoting qualities hemp should be utilized to make our masks, hospital scrubs, linens, towels, clothing, etc. Enviro Textiles is leading the way in the textile arena. In the medicinal sector, we will have to wait to hear if the ongoing University studies, (Tel Aviv Univ., Letheridge Univ. in Canada, Univ. of Nebraska, Dental College of Georgia), can confirm that cannabinoids and even terpenes are Cytokine inhibitors that will reduce inflammation and even help prevent the onset of Covid-19. Stay tuned for updates.
Simple Ways To Take Action For Change:
How about doing your own mixed media campaign to inform big business (like Bayer, Dow, Shell, etc,) to get with the times and begin to capitalize on this huge growth market. Urge them to think restoration instead of destruction. Sustainability, instead of reckless cannibalistic, unsustainable growth. We need all sectors of big business to see the light and become our future hero's...instead of continuing down this dark and evil path. There's tons of money to be made in the creation of this environmentally friendly, super sustainable, new green industry. It'll be incredible (and we'll all be so thankful) to have you on board, committed to investing...lets say... just 5% of your profits back into hemp R&D, and into converting your operations to begin utilizing hemp in your products. That can't be that hard of a transition...can it? The pro-hemp arguments are so easy to make that we must start making them to all parties involved in our corporate state. Time's a wasting people, lets get going!
And if big business won't do it on their own, petition your local, state, and our federal government to make them invest the 5%. Oil companies, the paper and building material industries, plastic composite companies, textile manufactures, auto makers, etc, should all be involved in a national campaign to use hemp as part of a comprehensive plan to become ecologically sustainable and carbon neutral, (Yes, Cannabis is a huge carbon sequestrator), in the next ten years. Think of the incredible publicity and good will that would generate. But we all must make it a point to do our small part to badger these dinosaur titans enough, with enough sustained pressure to push these big guys into doing the right thing. And remember, it's not enough to just have legality...We absolutely need a new, 21st Century, "Hemp for Victory Act", like the campaign our government created during WWII. The public needs it's government to fund research, ensure safety, and incentivize all kinds of hemp related businesses. Time's a wasting. Keep the pressure coming and before you know it, we will change the world...via hemp.
For more info on the "Hemp for Victory Act" please click above on the Vote Hemp logo.
In addition to Vote Hemp, The National Hemp Association, NHA, with roots in Boulder, is another great resource for up-to-date hemp information.
