In a normal year, the worlds largest annual cannabis event would have taken place in August, on the Seattle waterfront, drawing 100,000+ attendees and featuring multiple stages and hundreds of vendors.

This year, the 2020 Seattle Hempfest has moved on-line with a two day livestreamed event this weekend, featuring panel discussions and musical guests from all over America and beyond.

The theme of this years event is The Green Renaissance. Its organizers present an argument that the cannabis / hemp plant offers more solutions to humanitys growing problems than any other single renewable, natural resource. Legalization is one step, actualization is the journey ahead.

From renewable energy and safe, compassionate medicine to sustainable construction practices and nutritious food products, the cannabis plant is the one natural resource that can play a role in practically every issue we face as we experience the devastation wrought by climate change, says Seattle Hempfest executive director Vivian McPeak.

Our panel discussions are jam packed with educational content from the nations leading experts.

The two day virtual event will feature panel discussions all day both days on one channel, and music performances, guest speakers, and keynote presentations on the other channel.

Travel guru Rick Steves will be making a presentation about ongoing efforts to expand cannabis legalization, and TV personality Jason Gann from the Wilfred series will be speaking about cannabis and its use for spiritual development.

Musical acts from Japan, Ukraine, and Chile will perform, as well as Grammy Award winning acts Rickie Lee Jones and Bone, Thugs N Harmony. In addition musical guests from all across America will be performing at Seattles MOB Studios, or livestreamed from other regions, and pre-recorded video including Nirvana producer Jack Endinos band, Beyond Captain Orca.

On the educational channel, panel topics will include: Pediatric medicine and cannabis use, Race and inequity within cannabis, positive masculinity within the cannabis community, Hemp Construction: US Innovations & Supplies in Critical Times, Hemp & Regenerative Agriculture: How to Heal the Soil While Healing the World, Cannabis and hemp as food, Prisoner Advocacy, Cannabis, Entheogens, and Public Spiritual Health, and more.

Hemp is superior for super capacity batteries, being more efficient than graphene for hemp fiber battery storage.

Hemp-crete concrete is carbon negative, non-toxic to the environment, mold and mildew resistant, and many times lighter than gypsum based concrete. Hemp -board composite aids carbon sequestration by reducing the consumption of tree wood. Hemp wood is currently used for flooring, furniture, accent walls, and countertops. And while it takes 50 100 years for an oak tree to reach maturation, it only takes hemp 120 days to be a harvestable, useful resource.

Stores already stock hemp foods rich in protein and omega fatty acids such as hemp milk, hemp flour, and hemp oil. Cannabis is a crop that be grow on infertile soil preserving fertile, farmable soils for other food crops. Cannabis has been used as medicine for millennia, and is a safer recreational substance than alcohol or tobacco.

Surprisingly, cannabis represents a multifaceted gateway to a more sustainable future, says McPeak.

To learn more, be sure to join online this weekend.

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Check out virtual Hempfest protestival, live this weekend - The Leaf Online