Indigenous Rights and Climate Justice Leader Winona LaDuke Urges Textile Industry to Protect the Earth: Advocates for Hemp Clothing

Indigenous Rights and Climate Justice Leader Winona LaDuke Urges Textile Industry to Protect the Earth: Advocates for Hemp Clothing

The Once Forbidden Fiber Takes Center Stage in Short Film for Patagonia Featuring LaDuke’s Mission for a Hemp-Based Society on Native American Soil as part of a New Green Economy.

Natural. Misunderstood. Legal. This is the story of hemp in the United States. A forbidden fiber in the U.S. since 1970, hemp has taken the heat for almost five decades. Until the Farm Bill passed in December of 2018, hemp was federally illegal to grow for commercial purposes, making it risky for businesses to invest in a new crop that was incorrectly classified as a drug.

White Earth Reservation, Minnesota (October 28, 2019) ─ Activist and author Winona LaDuke wants to inspire change, respect the Earth and make industrial hemp a worldwide regenerative material available to everyone, everywhere. LaDuke urges the textile industry in the short film produced for Patagonia by Little Village Farms, Misunderstood: A Brief History of Hemp in the U.S., to take the hemp plant seriously and approach it the right way. Once banned as an illegal fiber in the U.S., hemp has not been a part of the textile landscape for decades. Today, LaDuke believes the power of hemp will pave the way for a new green economy.

“Hemp is not something we should take for granted, and if we treat this plant with respect, this plant will help us change our world. If we continue to treat it like they did in the past industrial economy, it won’t help us,” explains Winona LaDuke, Indigenous Rights, environmental and climate justice leader. “I want to be a part of a group that does the right thing and wears clothing that will not destroy the environment."

For the past 80-plus years, hemp (containing little to no THC, hemp is the non-intoxicating variety of cannabis) was a forbidden crop and not allowed for commercial purposes, due to the prohibition of its intoxicating cousin, marijuana. However, unlike marijuana, the hemp plant has experienced a resurgence after the Farm Bill passed in December 2018, which gave hemp agriculture the green light to move forward as an industrial crop. Vote Hemp, a Washington D.C. -based advocacy group, estimates 115,000 – 138,000 acres of hemp were harvested in 2019. 

Also, more than 34 states were licensed in 2019 to legally grow hemp for commercial purposes, prompting more states to increase efforts for hemp innovation across the country. Currently used in 25,000 products globally, industrial hemp-based goods include automotive parts, furniture, fiber and textiles, food, beverages, dietary supplements, beauty products, musical instruments, bio-plastics, construction materials and more.

Hemp, Food, and Balance

In addition to the film, LaDuke was recently recognized in the Sierra Club's online magazine for the foreword she wrote in a new book, Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the United States: Restoring Cultural Knowledge, Protecting Environments, and Regaining Health. Published in August 2019 by the University of Oklahoma Press as part of its Native American Studies Series, the book addresses social, political, economic, religious, and climate concerns associated with Indigenous food and health. "If we are unable to feed ourselves, we will not survive, and if we lose our whole being to our minds, policy work, and scholarly discussions, we will have lost our direction. We need to strike a balance,” LaDuke adds, “I feel that hemp can help undo the mess we have made, but we have to approach it right. We will get nowhere if we continue with the same aggressive industrial behavior.”

Winona LaDuke (left) on her farm in Minnesota being photographed by internationally acclaimed photographer Annie Lieibovitz.

LaDuke and Leibovitz 

LaDuke is no stranger to hemp cultivation and believes the next economy will be hemp-centric. That’s one reason why famed photographer Annie Leibovitz visited LaDuke at her farm this past Summer, where she captured Winona's genuine connection to her ancestor's land through photography. "Hemp is a cornerstone of a post-petroleum economy and needs to be reintegrated into rural farming, particularly Indigenous farming," says Winona LaDuke.

Winona’s Hemp & Heritage Farm

Winona’s Hemp & Heritage Farm, located near the White Earth Reservation in Northern Minnesota, is working with the Anishinaabe Agricultural Institute to build a new locally grown economy based on food, energy, and fiber through a new hemp production facility on LaDuke's independent land adjacent to nearby tribal areas. The farm utilizes solar power for its buildings and horse-based energy in the fields. Vegetables and supplying food to the community is another passion of Winona’s. “We grow food such as corn, potatoes, squash, beans and other vegetables that focuses on regenerative farming and most importantly focuses on reduced petroleum agriculture,” explains LaDuke. “The future is organic; it’s green and local.”

Hemp Mill Fundraiser Campaign 

Join Winona LaDuke and her fundraising efforts to fight climate change, build community, stimulate a new economy, and preserve the Anishinaabe Akiing territory, beautiful land of biodiversity and pristine waters in Minnesota.