“It is difficult to understand the universe if you only study one planet” ― Miyamoto Musashi
the Hemp Age
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility - I welcome it.
-John F. Kennedy
“On the evening of July 16, 1962, according to [Washington Post executive] Jim Truitt, Kennedy, and Mary Meyer smoked marijuana together. … The president smoked three of the six joints Mary brought to him. At first, he felt no effects. Then he closed his eyes and refused a fourth joint. ‘Suppose the Russians did something now,’ he said.”
Abstract
The Stone Age, the Golden Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age; we've come to define periods of time by the materials used most by mankind and it is thought today will be known tomorrow as the plastic age. As discussed in Why we Need to Grow Hemp on Mars, our dependency on petrochemicals is unsustainable; the Initiative for Martian Hemp Industrialization is an initiative for the ongoing transition from the Plastic Age to the Hemp Age. While the transition from petrochemical plastics to bio plastics and ultimately from unsustainable to sustainable practices across industry ecologies seems inevitable in time, IMHI sees potential for space exploration to redline industrial horticulture innovation and usher in the Hemp Age within century.
Dawn of a New Age
With the industrial cultivation and utilization of hemp once again federally legal in America, we seem to be at the dawn of this new age. The development of the hemp industry parallels the innovation of government and commercial space industries alike. On top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster, and within a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, NASA is once again capable of “launching Americans on American made rockets from America” which Jim Bridenstien, administrator of NASA, and Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, have called the beginning of a new Space age; the initiative for Martian Hemp Industrialization sees this as the second dawn of the Hemp Age.
Implications of Starship
While Crew Dragon missions are to become routine, SpaceX is in the process of developing their next generation of spacecraft with the goal of complete reusability. This next gen spacecraft known as Starship, will dwarf current payload and crew capabilities, opening the gate way for a true renaissance of innovation in low-G industries and subsequently their terrestrial equivalents. As SpaceX intends to use Starship to fund and execute the colonization of Mars, and NASA wants to use them to establish a sustained lunar presence in the name of science, there is simply a lot of horticulture innovation to be done; These colonies will require the most efficient cultivation sciences, systems, technologies, and techniques in the history of civilization. with one of the best ratios of cellulose levels to time passed from seed to harvest, easily transported via seed and propagated via cloning and breeding techniques, and the potential to be repurposed for thousands of cross industrial products, the viability of hemp versatility makes it an ideal crop for industrial and communal utilization on any planet, and a step along the path of least resistance when conceptualizing the colonization of Mars.
The Hemp Age
The MORE Act
In December of 2020, Congress will vote to pass The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act. As the first bill ever approved with the potential to end the federal cannabis prohibition, If passed, cannabis will be removed from the controlled substances act, Federally legalizing the non-industrial cultivation of cannabis by individuals across our country; the Third Dawn of this new age. The Initiative for Martian hemp industrialization sees this the will of the individual as necessary of the will of federal government to see this New Age, the Hemp Age, truly blossom.
Beyond the Third Dawn:
Community Cannabis Cultivation and Utilization
IMHI advocates cannabis cultivation and utilization should ultimately be a responsibility symbiotically fulfilled by individuals of community, industry, and government to establish a sustainable industrial ecology amongst individual and industry. An example of this utilization would be hemp recycling programs. With a similar dynamic to conventional recycling programs, in which an individual disposes of paper, cans, plastic, cardboard, etc. either as recycling or as a standard method of disposal or in return for financial incentive, IMHI is determined to see hemp recycling programs employed by communities and federal agencies in which left over hemp bio mass by individuals and industries alike is re purposed for paper, plastic, clothing material, building material, etc. potentially incentivized by an atmospheric carbon tax deductible and further improved by the implication of innovative utilization.
Forward Upward; Beyond Over Yonder
Through the transcendence of intentions, and ascension of our engines; as individuals of both community and industry; through commitment, conviction, compassion, and consciousness; with passion as our nail and discipline and integrity as our hammer, and ultimately with sustainability in mind, we as one can utilize the viability of hemp versatility as we explore the endless expanse of interstellar space and unfold this singularity of innovation for the betterment of life and liberty on Earth, Mars, between, and beyond.
