The recent report from the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) paints a damning picture for the future of our civilization. It is not looking good. Capitalism continues to tinker around the edges of the problem, while billionaires indulge in space-traveling follies. Meanwhile, the damage we have caused to our planet is quickly becoming irreversible.
Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot are right to push for living ecosystems such as forests, mangroves, and swamps as natural climate solutions. But trees take years to grow. We don’t have years. We desperately need a radical short-term solution that sequesters carbon from the atmosphere. And we need to implement that solution immediately, should we have any hope of saving civilisation.
The solution is staring us in the face. Hemp is that solution. So why do environmentalists turn away from this vital crop? Why are we hemp advocates constantly met with silence?
Perhaps, it is because it is easiest to live in a fantasy. We are obsessed with a green future, but unwilling to engage with the raw material required to get us there.
The environmental benefits of hemp are well documented
Hemp sequesters an average of 2,000 pounds of CO2 per hectare throughout its short growing cycle. It also cleans the soil of toxic heavy metals (phytoremediation), and could address two other major issues as it captures carbon.
Whilst the rise in veganism is great for the environment, it is devastating farming communities.
In light of the decline in demand for dairy products here in the UK, hemp could serve as an alternative crop for those farming communities.
Hemp also provides the raw materials for hempcrete, an alternative to cement, which is the worlds third largest emitter of CO2. Cement currently contributes 8 percent to global CO2 emissions. There are many other sustainable, innovative applications of the plant. If we’re serious about big thinking, hemp could actually solve all our renewable energy storage solutions.
We already have a number of great hemp-producing farms here in the UK, which provide us with functional, replicable models. Hempen in Oxfordshire, Vitality Hemp in Sussex, and Good Hemp in North Devon are all examples of well run, profitable farms.
The opportunities of small-scale production
Hemp lends itself perfectly to small-scale production, which could distribute the wealth from the coming Green Rush equitably. Steve Allin, Sustainable Hemp consultant, told me:
“The thing is […] production […] doesn’t have to be on a huge scale. People expect it to be a really big industrial thing, spending millions on a big factory, which isn’t really the approach I’m interested in.
“I’m much more interested in the bioregional approach. That’s much more about communities. I think [that approach] has a lot more longevity than the big industry model […] it’s also a more realistic way of starting things these days.”
The UK could be home to many smaller scale hemp farms, all producing sustainable materials for a green economy. The British Hemp Alliance (BHA) have been consistently lobbying the government to these ends.
But despite the work of the BHA, the British government does little to ensure that the domestic hemp industry has a share in the expanding $10 billion CBD industry.
It’s no surprise that the government is not moving on this. While domestic farmers are restricted, the UK remains the largest exporter of medical cannabis in the world. The government and their associates already make a significant amount of money from this industry — by gatekeeping it’s potential and profits.
A silent environmental community
While the government’s inaction is of little surprise, the real cause for concern is the silence from the environmental community. It is rare to see mainstream environmental commentators or organisations advocating for hemp based solutions.
As a decade-long member of the Green Party and a core member of the The Green Party Drug Policy Working Group, I want to see the party campaigning for a hemp based economy as a matter of urgency.
Our drug policy includes a section explicitly supporting hemp farmers. It states that a Green government would allow hemp farmers to harvest their CBD-rich flowers for their own production. Or, sell to third parties to produce their own CBD product. A Green government would follow the Swiss model, and allow hemp with up to 1% THC to be cultivated in the UK.
But it’s not enough. As a movement, we don’t go far enough. We should shout about hemp from the rooftops, educate our young people on it’s benefits. Hemp is a solution to our planet’s ills. So why are we mostly silent?
Hemp versus cannabis
One dominant strand of thought among activists is that conflating agricultural hemp with cannabis the “drug” is a barrier to hemp advocacy.
But we must stop thinking in binaries. It’s all cannabis. Cannabis is an incredible, versatile plant. It shouldn’t matter what type is being cultivated. Nor whether it is harvested for fibers, medicine, or both.
Farmers could grow a multipurpose hemp crop. They could harvest the female flowers for CBD. They could use the biomass for hempcrete. All the while, they would be sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere.
The stigma around this plant is so ingrained that it is blocking urgent discussion of a viable, natural solution to the climate emergency. This is despite the evidence available about how the Endocannabinoid System works in the human body. Despite the evidence of the many therapeutic benefits that female cannabis flowers can offer, for both physical health and wellbeing.
Ironically, the environmental movement is predicated on challenging meta narratives about how humans can live sustainably. Yet it remains belligerently ignorant about challenging the racist narrative that has poisoned the modern mindset against cannabis. This blind spot not only prevents us from unlocking the door to a greener, more sustainable world; it also supports a drug policy with ‘racism in its DNA‘, according to ex-undercover police officer Neil Woods.
Ignoring hemp because of the negative propaganda around cannabis legitimises age-old racial prejudices. It allows discriminatory prohibition narratives to go unchallenged.
We have an opportunity to utilise hemp, to provide sustainable and workable solutions to the climate emergency. We must embrace this plant for all she can offer, and speak up, before it’s too late.
Originally published in Green Queen Magazine 4th October 2021
