'A roof over our people's heads': the Indigenous US tribe building hempcrete homes

[Jilly_in_VA]

When Earl Pendleton first heard about building houses out of hemp more than a decade ago, it seemed like a far-fetched idea.

To start, it was still illegal to grow hemp – the non-psychoactive strain of Cannabis sativa – in the US. Importing it from overseas was prohibitively expensive. But Pendleton, a member of the Lower Sioux Indian Community, was intrigued by early research that showed hemp could be transformed into non-toxic construction materials that allow for faster build times and result in low-carbon, energy-efficient houses.

Which was exactly what he saw his tribe needed at the time. Roughly half of the tribal nation’s enrolled members – about 1,120 people – are currently in need of housing. With his encouragement, the community started experimenting with hemp as a housing construction material – also known as hempcrete – back in 2016, even before it was decriminalized in the US. This month, the tribal nation is set to open the first vertically integrated hempcrete facility in the nation, complete with its own growing operation.

When the Lower Sioux’s 20,000-sq-ft, $6.2-m onsite facility opens in April, the tribal nation will become a leader in the growing green building movement.

But the decision to invest in hemp was first born out of the Lower Sioux’s commitment to sovereignty and self-determination. “The whole idea was just to be able to service our own needs, because we’re short at least 150 houses [on the reservation],” said Pendleton.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/16/hempcrete-indigenous-tribe-minnesota

A very cool idea which could be expanded nationwide, if not worldwide.

[riversedge]

1. More power to the trible.

[Sanity Claws]

2. Hemp is also good for the soil

[Jilly_in_VA]

6. As the article pointed out

hemp can't be planted in the same field every year; it must be rotated. Still, it is a fine crop and not hard to grow. George Washington grew it, why not our indigenous brothers and sisters? It's good for a lot of things, including making cloth.

[people]

3. Very interesting!

Thanks for posting this.

[pandr32]

4. This is exciting.

Growing hemp does not deplete the earth or require spraying. The insulating properties save energy. The project creates jobs.
Winner!

[bucolic_frolic]

5. A strong, renewable, insulative material with low processing costs

Whoa. The Holy Grail. Best thing since Adobe straw blocks and this can probably take all climates. Wonder what the % of Concrete is, or are they binding it with something else?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hempcrete

Hempcrete or hemplime is biocomposite material, a mixture of hemp hurds (shives) and lime,[1] sand, or pozzolans, which is used as a material for construction and insulation.[2] It is marketed under names like Hempcrete, Canobiote, Canosmose, Isochanvre and IsoHemp.[3] Hempcrete is easier to work with than traditional lime mixes and acts as an insulator and moisture regulator. It lacks the brittleness of concrete and consequently does not need expansion joints.[3]

Typically, hempcrete has good thermal and acoustic insulation capabilities, but low mechanical performance, specifically compressive strength.[4] Hempcrete's mechanical properties, when used in prefabricated blocks specifically, act as a carbon sink throughout its lifetime.[5][6] The result is a lightweight insulating material, finishing plaster, or a non-load bearing wall, ideal for most climates as it combines insulation and thermal mass while providing a positive impact on the environment.

[Caribbeans]

7. Hemp for Victory!

The film was made to encourage farmers to grow hemp for the war effort because other industrial fibers, often imported from overseas, were in short supply. The film shows a history of hemp and hemp products, how hemp is grown, and how hemp is processed into rope, cloth, cordage and other products.

Before 1989, the film was relatively unknown. The United States government denied ever having made such a film. The United States Department of Agriculture library and the Library of Congress told all interested parties that no such movie was made by the USDA or any branch of the U.S. government. Two VHS copies were recovered and donated to the Library of Congress on 19 May 1989 by Maria Farrow, Carl Packard, and Jack Herer.

The only known copy in 1976 was a 3/4" broadcast quality copy of the film that was originally obtained by William Conde in 1976 from a reporter for the Miami Herald and the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church of Jamaica. It was given in trust that it would be made available to as many as possible. It was put into the hands of Jack Herer by William Conde during the 1984 Oregon Marijuana Initiative. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp_for_Victory

How many "attorney generals" said: "THERE IS NO USE FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA"

Even the US GOV Disagrees
Cannabis has been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years.
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/hp/cannabis-pdq


What HASN'T the US GOV lied about