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Greenerfest Returns Hemp Activism To Its Roots
Inaugural event brings hemp movement back to Venice Beach

While the medical marijuana movement is feeling good about how far it’s come in the last decade, another segment of the green movement is waiting for its time in the sun. Weather permitting, that time may come May 15th at the Venice Beach Boardwalk, Windward Recreation Center.

Asked his goals for Greenerfest, Event Coordinator, Strider Agostinelli is clear: “we want to–number one–educate and–number two–mainstream hemp products,” he says. The organizer says that the success of the medical marijuana movement has shown that hemp activists still have some work to do. “We were bothered by the fact that, while medicinal marijuana has become increasingly accepted and legal, knowledge about the other beneficial uses of hemp has lagged behind.” While he says they’re also supportive of medical marijuana, relative silence about the industrial and energy potential of hemp products led them to create a festival to showcase its many ecologically-friendly and practical uses.

It’s a family affair for Agostinelli, whose father, Scott, has been involved in Seattle’s large Hempfest for many years and helped to conceptualize Greenerfest. “We couldn’t believe that nobody was doing it here, especially considering Venice is where the hemp movement began,” Agostinelli explains. “The Venice Boardwalk is where ‘The Hemperor’, Jack Herer gathered some of his first signatures.” The festival will be held just steps away.

Scott Agostinelli sees the legalization and exploitation of hemp’s possibilities as an essential part of environmentalism. “There just isn’t a green movement until you talk about hemp,” the veteran activist says.

The inaugural Greenerfest will feature a tribute to the pioneering cannabis activist and Boardwalk fixture, Herer, who died April 15. Close friend George Clayton Johnson, well known novelist and screenwriter (Logans Run, Twilight Zone, Oceans 11), will be a featured attraction on the Greenerfest stage. Johnson is “one of the original beatniks,” says Agostinelli, Sr. “He started smoking in 1956, when he was writing for The Twilight Zone.” Herer’s family will also attend.

In his book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, Herer describes the multifaceted uses of hemp, including: clothing fiber that is “softer than cotton,” “the highest quality and longest lasting paper ever made,” and sustainable biomass that could replace much of the fossil fuel used today. He describes a public intentionally misled about the dangers and potential benefits of hemp, to protect the investments of industrial interests intent on minimizing competiton. Herer suggested that, by preserving trees and eliminating greenhouse gases released by fossil fuels, hemp could be a major component of saving the planet.

The educational mission of Greenerfest extends to members of the green movement as well, some of whom have not yet gotten the message. Agostinelli says that, when they hear about the potential industrial and energy uses for hemp for the first time, many environmental activists are “blown away.” “When they learn about what this plant can do, they all agree that it should be a part of the solution for our future,” he says. “It really opens their eyes.”

Citing a recent Reason Foundation study of the economic and environmental benefits of hemp legalization, Greenerfest organizers call the ban on hemp in the U.S., “an archaic consequence of the war on drugs.” According to the report, “industrial hemp typically contains 0.3 percent or less” of THC–a fraction of the concentration found in marijuana cultivated for drug value.

Sharing the Greenerfest stage with Johnson will be activist and musician Vivian McPeak. The co-founder and longtime Executive Director of Seattle Hempfest is optimistic about the future of the hemp movement. “No political or human rights movement in America has made it this far without eventually winning,” he says. “It’s just a matter of time.”

Eco Activist and Chef Bryan Au will give a presentation on eating organic, including healthy recipes that can be prepared in under ten minutes. He will also focus on creating edible landscapes.

A number of musical acts will join the Greenerfest celebration. The Anthony Aquarius Mystery will perform a tribute to the Jimi Hendrix Experience, including brother Leon Hendrix. Tokens (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) singer/songwriter Mitch Margo will appear. Bone Thugs N Harmony frontman Layzie Bone and rapper Thin C fill out the bill.

The seeds of Greenerfest were planted last summer, when the Agostinellis and others in the movement agreed that its time in Venice had come. He says everyone he’s approached about organizing the event has been enthusiastic and helpful, from city officals to performers and exhibitors, and they’re looking forward to advancing the dialogue about hemp as part of our green future.

Greenerfest will be held 10:00 am-6:00 pm, Saturday, May 15, 2010 at the Windward Recreation Center in Venice. There’s more information on the festival’s web site: www.greenerfest.com.