On August 6th, 2019, I spoke at the 1st public meeting of the Refinery Advisory Group setup by the City of Philadelphia after a fire in June. That testimony has been shared to the refinery@phila.gov address, and can be found here… About that refinery that just closed

Since then, I realized that the myco-remediation, district geothermal and a solar farm would provide one-time jobs; first for remediation then for the two types of clean energy projects.

Some people in the community suggested we come up with a forestry-based regenerative industry. Later, someone else suggested using hemp for soil remediation. Some quick research helped me connect the two suggestions. 

Hemp is an annual crop, requiring planting, care and harvest each year. 

A fast growing plant, reaching 10-12 feet within one season, the planting would provide 2 services: absorb carbon from the atmosphere, and lift up heavy metals from the soil. 

Once harvested, the woody stalks could be the basis for local production of building materials like insulation and hemp-crete, a concrete substitute. Both needed in our urban region, and likely to foster local manufacturing. 

Over time, as the soil gets cleaner, and we increase the acreage planted, the same woody stalks could be the basis for local textile production — for rope, canvas, even clothing. 

When the soil is clean enough, safe enough, we could consider planting for food & body care products — hemp seed, hemp oil, CBD-products. 

Of course, we should still plan for some geothermal and solar farms, allow for some marshland and wildlife preserve, and certainly, public access to the riverfront.

We have found this article about a town in Italy using hemp to decontaminate their land.

My understanding is that the Rodale Institute has a team researching hemp for industrial applications. How can we develop this idea together? I’m certain we can get public buy-in.