Reflections ►
Saving the World with HEMP!
Hemp Rope by Dolores Halbin, RN, BSN, contributing writer
I wrote my first essay about hemp on my mom’ s typewriter in 1970, my freshman year,“ How Hemp Can Save the World.” I was fifteen. Now, at 70, I cannot put into words my gratitude or sense of privilege for attending the 13th International Hemp Building Symposium( the first time in the U. S.), sponsored by the Lower Sioux Community, the Cansayapi tribe, in Morgan, MN.
My overwhelming emotional reaction to this event isn’ t just because I saw my heart’ s desire coming true— hemp can save the world— or because I was in a room with multiple hemp pioneers from around the world, giving me confidence— hemp is unstoppable. My joy, deep down inside, was the picture of America that these international travelers, and all of us, were immersed in.
A Restoring Picture of America
this symposium and their collective drive to share what they have learned, to keep producing better, more effective, more accessible hemp products for the masses. These people have been gathering from around the world for 12 years before coming to the Lower Sioux Tribal Lands for year 13.
Damien Baumer came from the UK to speak. In 2009, with the help of his father, wife, and children, Damien invented the interlocking hemp block, filing a patent on his process in 2012. In 2015, while renovating a farmhouse, he created a fast spray application system with a new binder, offering high insulation and quick drying. He partnered with the Vicat group; their product, called EREASY ®, is used across Europe and the U. S.
I don’ t know how many of these attendees and speakers have been to America before this symposium; however, we all shared a sense of awe at this part of America and the peaceful, expansive tribal lands.
We left Kansas City at noon and arrived at 7 p. m. During the sevenhour drive across Iowa and into Minnesota, we saw a few signs to cities, but did not encounter a single one. There were just enough gas stations, barely, to keep us from having to pull off the road and find a tree.
As we entered the tribal lands, the atmosphere shifted. It’ s harvest season, so enormous machines were harvesting the hemp, corn, and sweet grasses, filling the air with a fine dust that glowed pink and orange with the setting sun and rising moon. This is what all these international travelers saw of America: land, crops, clean air, and the warmth of the Lower Sioux, the Cansayapi people.
The Prayers
Tribal Leader Vanessa Goodthunder and the Red Tree Singers opened the conference. Before the singing, the group drummed. I read that the purpose of the drumming ceremonies is to synchronize the heartbeats of all involved in the ceremony. The hosts, Steve Allin, founder of the International Hemp Building Association back in the 1990s, and Danny Desjarlais, Hemp Project Manager for the Lower Sioux, welcomed us.
The Pioneers
As I sat in the audience with my dog Butch, it didn’ t take long to realize I don’ t speak construction. Turning 70, my hearing took a hit, and with the speakers’ accents, I didn’ t pick up much, but others did.
The technical nature of the questions in the Q & A sessions following every few speakers made me realize the caliber of people attending
This house is built from hemp construction materials by the Hemp Building Projects at the Lower Sioux Community.
( Photo contributed)
Antine Moussie came from France. He is CEO of La Chanvriere, a French agricultural cooperative of 700 hemp farmers founded in 1973. The cooperative is Europe’ s largest producer and processor of hemp.
The Keynote speaker, Dr. Eshrar Latif, Associate Professor at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff, Wales, UK, focused on the hygrothermal performance of hemp-based insulation materials and co-authored a book about the process. I didn’ t know what most of his words meant, but I was grateful to be in a room full of brilliant minds that did.
The next speaker, my road trip buddy April Hatch, RN, MSN, was a breath of fresh air after all the technical speakers, starting off her session with a round of applause for the Lower Sioux, our sponsors. She even got a drum roll from the band.
Hatch was there to warn about the rapid rise in autism and autoimmune diseases, especially among children, linked to living in toxic environments with building materials like formaldehyde that 38 November 2025