Hemp for Victory with Author Kenyon Gibson - Choogle on #52
In Camden Town London, Uncle Weed visits Hemp for Victory author Kenyon Gibson to discuss his motivations and influences for writing the book, using hemp for fuel, fiber and food, unique modern hemp products, the political pressures surrounding re-mainstreaming cannabis hemp, activism tips for emerging hempsters, his research for UK Parliament on hemp as a replacement crop for opium in Afghanistan, plus conversation on contemporary hemp production in the United Kingdom and around the globe.
Plant a seed for Hemp for Victory - Choogle on #52 (.mp3, 38MB, 47:05)
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Get Hemp for Victory
“Hemp for Victory: History and Qualities of the World’s Most Useful Plant.” [ISBN 0-9549939-0-X, London, Whitaker Publishing, 2006.
Hemp for Victory in the UK through Whitaker Publishing
Hemp for Victory in USA via Mina Wear
Hemp for Victory reviews
Just Published in UK: Hemp for Victory - Kenyon Gibson’s new book Hemp for Victory: History and Qualities of the World’s Most Useful Plant, is out in paperback at $29.95, printed on tree-free hemp Mina Hegaard of Minawear Hemp Clothing is one US distributor. Bulk orders can be made via Kenyon Gibson, or from the publisher’s site, www.whitakerpublishing.co.uk. More information is available on Kenyon Gibson’s Hemp for Victory web site which includes a link to a recent Guardian article about hemp and the book.
“The talented researchers and writers assembled by Kenyon Gibson have gone above and beyond the call of duty by creating a phenomenally documented compendium on cannabis hemp. Paralleling the numerous uses of cannabis hemp, Hemp for Victory details its social, political and economic impact over the years. Historical and current information covering a wide range of relevant topics makes Hemp for Victory especially useful for an equally wide range of readers. Environmentalists, farmers, patients, and manufacturers will all benefit from Hemp for Victory.
From the budding hempologist to the seasoned activist, Hemp for Victory is a must have.”John E. Dvorak, Board Member and Treasurer of the Hemp Industries Association, founder and curator of the Boston Hemp Co-op’s Hemp History Library and Museum
Kenyon Gibson resources
Kenyon’s Hemp for Victory blog and bio:
“My interest in hemp was started when my younger sister told me about the benefits of the plant. After reading up on her remarks, I was not surprised to see that major corporations and politicians have kept this information suppressed and tried to give hemp a bad image. As our climate deteriorates and our economies suffer, it is time to put the foot down and demand a change for the better. With hemp, we could make a safer, fairer and cleaner world. Writing about this for the last seven years has finally produced “Hemp for Victory”, and I hope that it will awaken the reader to the opportunity we have to make a change. There was such a plethora of information on hemp that one book could not contain it, and as events are unfolding daily, it is good to be able to blog about it; otherwise, I’d never have finished writing, as the temptation to add just one more bit was part of the reason for the long gestation period for “Hemp for Victory”.”
Kenyon edits the Journal of Industrial Hemp Association
Speech by Kenyon “The Best People in History Used Hemp“
Article by Kenyon “Hemp The Bush That George Grew“
Kenyon Gibson is all smiles outside Sainsbury’s Camden Town, with his hemp bag
Photo by Sagar at Hemp and Natural Fibres
“Hemp is at hand” article in The Guardian by Annie Kelly, Wednesday September 27 2006
excerpts:
For decades, UK farmers were banned from growing a plant wrongly associated with potheads. But this versatile member of the cannabis family is moving back into the agricultural mainstream.
{snip}
The hemp community insists that it is moving hemp away from its associations with drugs and the people who smoke them, but tensions still remain.
“I loathe the fact that there are still people who think the hemp industry is run by a bunch of potheads trying to legitimise their own drug habits,” says Kenyon Gibson, hemp researcher and co-author of Hemp for Victory, a new book on the history and uses of hemp. “It could not be further from the truth, but there are people out there who benefit from keeping the link between hemp and marijuana alive and kicking.”
He believes the misrepresentation of hemp as a dangerous narcotic has been pushed for decades by international conglomerates, who are well aware of the threat that the plant poses to their trade.
“It was the large multinationals who helped ban hemp decades ago, and it’s the large multinationals who are still ensuring that natural alternatives to their products are being sidelined even in this time of environmental chaos,” Gibson says. “Look at how many trees we could save by investing in a global hemp paper industry. Look at its potential to contribute to natural ethanol, yet we’re lagging behind countries such as Brazil which are making great strides in creating fuel from domestic products.”
Token investments
“We can’t let token investments from the government into niche hemp industries divert us from keeping on pushing for the true environmental potential of hemp to finally be exploited,” Gibson continues. “The true power of hemp will be unlocked only when we’re able to use it to challenge large-scale, environmentally-damaging industries, and this isn’t happening yet.”
It is a line that companies such as Hemcore are eager to distance themselves from. Hobson says that his company prefers to treat hemp as a sustainable but commercial product, rather than getting into arguments about corporate politics.
But for Gibson, Pugh and others like them, the two issues are inextricably linked. “As hemp once posed a threat to some investors, so it does again today - for which reason some would rather leave the issue of hemp alone,” Gibson says. “With such a commodity, many positive changes can be put in place from which we can all benefit. The battle to get this recognised still needs to be fought.”
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