Hempin’ Earth Day 2022 & Hempy 19th Anniversary Vital Hemp!!!
The Earth has been around for about 4.543 billion years. The earliest fossils date back 3.5 billion years, though scientists posit that life might have existed as early as four billion years ago.
That’s a lot of life to celebrate on this Earth Day…four billion years. When I think of all the ecosystems that developed and evolved to support the life on Earth, it fills me with reverence and wonder, like watching one of those nature shows narrated by David Attenborough (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out Planet Earth, Our Planet, and A Perfect Planet). What we witness while watching these shows is how inextricably interconnected life is—how resilient, and also how fragile.
Our ancestors lived six million years ago, while our modern form of humans evolved only 200,000 years ago. I founded Vital Hemp nineteen years ago, on Earth Day, 2003 (not long in the history of life) with the aim of helping humans feel more connected to the world around them. Hemp made me feel that way; I figured others would feel the same, knowing the plants that made the clothing were good for the planet and good for their health.
Early days, peddling hemp the Santa Monica promenade during Earth Day.
Some people congratulate me for running a business for 19 years. And I don’t mind giving myself a little pat on the back once in a while, but I know that the praise isn’t for me alone, so I share it:
Praise to the many "hempers", such as Darcy Hughes, who has devoted a good portion of her life to promoting better products made from hemp, that support the healing of life on Earth. Praise for the cutters and sewers and friends in the dye house who all made the clothing. Praise for the pattern makers and fit models who helped me design them to fit; and for the knit houses and factory workers who made fabric and processed plant fiber into yarn.
Praise for the farmers and those who shared and refined 6000 years of experience working with the plant. Finally, and this is most vital: praise to the Earth, that evolved such a versatile and useful plant, serving our human needs for clothing, building materials, food, plastics and so much more…not to mention birdseed, that even makes the birds sing more joyfully ☺!
So on this Earth Day, the nineteenth anniversary of Vital Hemp, I once again praise this life-giving planet, so full of marvelous gifts! From the leaves of grass that push through the pavement to the baby turtle running toward the ocean, life wants to live. The forests of Brazil and all the people and species they support want to live. We eradicate ecosystems at our peril, for we are all connected, and life wants to flourish.
Who are we to cut it down in the span of so few careless generations? Let’s grow hemp instead! And eat it. And clothe ourselves in it. And use it to make rad guitars and smooth-sounding amps. Let us replace tree-made lumber with hemp boards, and concrete with hempcrete. Let’s cool the globe with hemp. Because everything is better in hemp!
Years ago, I had the idea of offering an anniversary discount equal to the number of years we’ve been in business. When we reach 100, I’ll give it all away. For now, please enjoy nineteen percent off everything on the site through Sunday. Use code: VITAL19.
To quote Paul McCartney: “There is no end to what we can do, together.”
Thanks for being vital,
Ron
Ron Alcalay
Founder/CEO/Hemperdasher
ron@vitalhemp.com
vitalhemp.com
~Let Us Hemp You Out!~
