 This is St. Tech, Hawaii. Community matters here. I'm Marsha Joyner. This today is a very special cannabis chronicles. As you know, we are on a 10,000 year odyssey. So tell me news of that plant of many resources which wondered far and wide the ancient plant of food, fuel, and fiber cultivation for millennial. As we venture through the past 10,000 years, we will explore and discover the plant from which cannabis derives. The many uses of the plant, hemp, cannabis, hashes, cannabis in religion, cannabis in medicine, cannabis in dear old Uncle Sam, and so our odyssey begins. Today our odyssey is not long ago and far away. It is current and in progress. So today we have an dear, dear friend, an old friend to Think Tech, Hawaii, and one of my dear, dear friends, Carl Campania. Carl has a new title since he left us. Let me read it. Executive Director of Hawaii Bioeconomy Trade Organization. Ah, and it collaborates with air, marine, and ground transportation stakeholders to advance the sustainable bioeconomy throughout the state of Hawaii. Did I get it right? Are you going to correct? Got it right. Yes. Thank you very much. Now, thank you for having me on the show. I appreciate it. Because this is about hemp, and you say, well, why is he talking about bioeconomy and hemp? Well, because they are one and the same. As we have said, hemp has been around for 10,000 years or more. It depends on who you talk to, but at least that long. And out of hemp, we're talking industrial hemp. We're not talking about cannabis. We're talking industrial hemp because we are talking about industrial hemp. We're only talking about that. It has at least 50,000 different products that can be made from hemp, at least. Wow. And as a side note as one of those, think how many trees you cut down for a roll of toilet paper. That's true. I mean, does that just... Anyway, for those of you that were with us last week, and we talked to farmers on the big island, and they talked about the... They are cultivating seeds of hemp, industrial hemp, cultivating seeds that will grow in this environment, that will be Hawaii seeds, that will be endemic to Hawaii. And that means the soil, the climate, all of that stuff. Out of that comes a whole new array of industries. Just fabulous, fabulous opportunities for industries where Hawaii can sustain itself. It doesn't need to be dependent on tourism or the military. And it's just an exciting, exciting world. So I asked Carl, who is leading the charge on biofuels, and I'm sure you've heard him talk about it. So how does hemp, how do they come together? So that's why I asked Carl to be here. So... Sure. Well, thank you. Once again, thank you for inviting me and for the opportunity to explain a bit about how the bioeconomy for the state of Hawaii and hemp can come together. As you mentioned, there are many, I didn't know 50,000, but there are many uses in many products that can be generated on the hemp. Well, when we get to the bioeconomy, that's part of it. But when we're talking about biofuels specifically, which is what we're driving towards, the Hawaii Bioeconomy Trade Organization is a collection of organizations and stakeholders that are dedicated to the, as you said, the advancement and development of the bioeconomy but specifically focused on biofuels, of which there are a variety of options, whether it is oil or algae, petroleum oil or vegetable oil or peanut oil or sunflower seeds or a variety of oils in that regard, or getting into the actual green plants and green waste themselves. It's that part right there where hemp comes in. So what we would be able to do is support the hemp industry by allowing them to grow as they want and utilize and create and manufacture and create a manufacturing industry for what they want the uses of hemp to be and then take their waste product and put it into a conversion technology that can then create jet fuel. So now we've created a closed loop system, a cycle where every aspect of this product gets to be used and produced in a manufacturing setting across the state, creating jobs, creating educational programs, creating opportunities for the state, as you mentioned, that are not just tourist based. Now for example. So tell me now, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, I think that we get about three harvests a year per acre of hemp, just growing wild. That is without the loving, tender cultivation that farmers tend to do. Without farming, without farming it. So if you had three crops a year, one person, this was on the show last week, they do $100,000 an acre. Sure. Think of what that would do to our economy. That our own people growing on our land, we're not shipping it in. Keeping all of that money here and utilizing it locally in multiple facets, including fuels, but in every other product that can be created and manufactured here. So we're creating jobs here. We're creating products here that'll be utilized and consumed here that will be able to potentially also be exported. So we're creating an export market for ourselves in that regard. And that all of that is huge for the economy. It adds a significant sector that can grow. Especially when you look at all that land that used to be sugar. Correct. All of that, just acres and acres of land. Sugar and pineapple and a lot of fallow fields that are just out there being unused at the moment. One of the challenges that we have with some of that land is the infrastructure. Of course. We don't currently have the infrastructure, the water primarily, but other aspects of infrastructure to actually reach some of these fields. And part of the problem is water has been diverted in some areas. So well, okay, I'm not going to get into whether we should or should not have diverted the water if being used. But what we need to do is make sure that we're getting infrastructure out. And by creating these opportunities, by building up this sector and throughout the hemp industry and the bioeconomy industry in general, what we're doing there is bringing investors in that want to spend money in Hawaii, that want to grow opportunities in Hawaii, and that will include that advancement of that infrastructure to reach those lands. Well, that in itself is an industry. Yes, it is. The infrastructure. And it needs to be there. I talked to representative de Kuit from Molokai. And she's excited about it because it's a natural product and it's not, I mean, it won't disturb the culture. She has farmland. There's lots of farmland there that's just sitting there. Yep. And so she was excited about, hadn't thought about it. But now that she's thinking about it, hey, this is a great opportunity, because what they want on Molokai is to stay, people to stay there. Yes. They are learning, they're, they are learning the language. They are really working at being Hawaiian. And they would love to have an industry that is not dependent on tourists. Definitely. And she was really excited about the possibilities. Well, the possibilities are huge. And one key factor as well is all of this stuff, when we're talking about bioeconomy or we're not only talking about fuels, we're not only talking about hemp and products that can be created. What we're talking about is how all of that integrates into food production as well. Right. And it's so necessary to know that both, both will be raised up and the opportunities that are created because we're giving the farmers a baseline revenue will begin to help the local costs of locally produced foods come down. So it's more affordable. And then we start to get it integrated into more aspects at a lower price, at a lower cost throughout the entire market here in Hawaii. So that, and now we're back to bioeconomy. What does bioeconomy mean? The word bioeconomy. Good question. Bioeconomy means an economy driven by living things, living organisms. Specifically, we're referring to green organisms or plants and trees, algae, and all variations that are sustainable in that regard. And it's considered sustainable because you grow it, you harvest it, it regrows. And you just continue that process. It seems to me that that is so natural for Hawaii in this climate where things just grow. It just seems, I know we are in a different world now. And I have a very dear friend who does surveys and she's found the dissatisfaction of the tourist is palpable because Waikiki looks like rodeo drive, you know. And the things that people have thought of Hawaii for hundreds of years aren't there. So it seems to me that bioeconomy is natural, just really what Hawaii should be or can be again. I agree. I agree. That definitely makes some sense to build up on the bioeconomy aspect as well and what the word means is it's taking those green materials and doing something with them and creating markets and creating businesses and creating and developing with that. So whether it's again fuels or products or food or the distribution aspect of it. So it really takes into account all aspects of daily life when you're engaged in what the bioeconomy is. And it's bringing that as a different sector, a different revenue generating sector to the state. Because in the Hawaiian culture there are so many stories and legends about tied to the land and growing products and harvesting, making salt. I didn't know that you manufactured salt until I saw the Hawaiians did that. So it just seems like such a natural thing to do. So how do we get started? And I know we're working, for me of course, it's the hemp. And the development of the seeds and the Department of Agriculture is doing that, which is great. I mean it's wonderful to think that we have a department in the state of Hawaii that's doing something wonderful and that is developing this market. But how do we move more than just the Department of Agriculture into bioeconomy, into, you mentioned education and schools and whatnot. We need to take a break. But when we come back, let's talk about education. Now we really get this mindset, not just you and me, but how do we move this out? Okay, thank you. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. Some say scuba divers are the poor man's astronaut. At dive heart we believe that to be true. We say forget the moon. Dive heart can help children, adults and veterans of all abilities escape gravity right here on earth. Search diveheart.org and imagine the possibilities in your life. Aloha, welcome to Hawaii. This is Prince Dykes, your host of The Prince of Investing, coming to you guys each and every Tuesday at 11 a.m. Right here on Think Tech Hawaii. Don't forget to come by and check out some of the great information on stocks, investments, your money, all the other great stuff and I'll be your host. See you too. Hi, and we're back. And we are talking with Carl Campania for those of you that have been with us at Think Tech. Remember Carl? And he left us. But Carl is working on bioeconomy. And of course, you know, hemp has got to be a part of the bioeconomy. Now let's talk about moving it into the schools, into children, to have them grow into the mindset, the whole thing of what bioeconomy is. And they are so nice and young that they can grow and see the possibilities and look at a future in bioeconomy instead of learning how to fold napkins and set the table for the tourist. And do laundry. And do laundry. Although it's a wonderful service. But there should be more. And that's a very good point. And it's one of the aspects of all sectors, really, that should really be considered. How are we creating opportunities for our children to thrive here in Hawaii? And stay home. And stay home. What we fight against is the term is brain drain. And that's where the state of Hawaii loses its brains to other countries and to the continent instead of keeping them here. And as far as how we get bioeconomy and hemp integrated with that, there are a lot of steps to it. It's understanding what the supply chain looks like, understanding how to get it moving. One of the biggest factors that we need to, that we are currently trying to address and that we are working on right now and have been for years, is that friendly local policy at the state and county level. So that we've got local policy that makes that development possible. Once we're beginning to increase those opportunities and build the, well, grow the farming opportunities, build the conversion plant technology across the state and integrate it into our distribution network from island to island, as well as intra-island. Once we begin to do that, now we're starting to create a demand for jobs. Once you have a demand for jobs is where the education piece comes in. And that's where we start looking at, okay, five, 10, 20 years from now, we're going to have a fully functioning economy, bioeconomy, that is going to need people locally who understand how to grow, cultivate, and do the conversion process and work in these manufacturing plants at all levels. And they're all fairly well-paying jobs, various levels of that. So we need an education program that can begin as early as grade school, at the moment, and it will work its way. So it will begin as early as grade school and become an entire, its own program at the university level. So you can learn how to engage in agriculture and the business economy and how that comes together in this regard. One of the things that we currently do, and this is how this just works naturally, is many of our students at public school as well as private school learn about low e-patches, learn how to cultivate and work within and the uses and aspects of low e-patches. So we're already teaching some of that to our children, and so they're getting exposed to it early and begin to figure out who's interested in continuing in that path. And as many of them talk about becoming scientists or engineers, or you name it, you start laying out the opportunity of becoming a bioeconomy engineer. And so you start creating those opportunities. So it's not an overnight thing. No, of course not. But as the industry itself grows and becomes a viable industry, is where all of that then follows? Well, for us cannabis chronicles, one of the issues we deal with constantly is the negative impact of even the word and the scheduling of cannabis as a schedule aid drug, which it's not. And so that stigma isn't a real problem. I mean, we've got people working on removing it and who's dedicate their whole lives to removing the stigma. That is number one because when people can see the benefits without looking at all of this other nonsense that the government has, the government and the big farmers hold on to. If we can just move that, we can just grow like this. Well, that would certainly help. Getting it off of the schedule A would be a huge help. I know that that's not, we might be able to do that locally, but on a federal level. Oh, no, we're not even going full with sessions, a little dwarf. But no, the state can do it. The state has the right. In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court said the states have a right to control their own medical issues. Now, but we're not going to talk about cannabis. We're going to talk about using hemp to as part of one of the legs of the bio economy. Yes. And we really need to work in the schools so that they can see how this seed, this little seed that's been around for 10,000 years, can grow into this and that can go into this and this. Exactly. See the process. See what the supply, learn an ingrained understanding of what the process is, of what an entire industry can be from, here's a seed and you plant it and it becomes this. And once it becomes this, you can then turn it into all of these types of products. And oh, by the way, we're not done there. Once you're done doing that, there's a waste product. And that waste product now gets converted through a cellulosic conversion process into a fuel. Okay. And we can learn that word cellulosic. Cellulosic. I love it. Okay. See, that increases your vocabulary. Cellulosic. It does. Okay. I got two words today, bio economy and cellulosic. They're two big words and at the moment, they mean a lot and yet very little to too few people. We need to get more people to understand. Yeah. But even that helps at the grade school level in their vocabulary and in learning how to grow the seeds and how this hemp plant can clean the land that we have polluted. That if we just start there for the young kids, just that self makes it worth it. Yeah. That they can see because they are tuned in. Our young people are really tuned in to preserving the planet and this much more than we think they are. Yes. And this is step one in preserving the planet is to clean it up. Yes. Yes. And many of us are right in line with that desire, but not all of us, unfortunately, are quite as inclined to clean up. But that's one of the challenges that we have. Yes. But you know, because this is so local, this whole idea, the bio economy is so local that we don't have to deal with the federal government so they can go screwing around if they want. But to preserve Hawaii has to be number one. Yes. And this is a way to do that. And all we have to do is remember Hawaiian culture, remember the the AHAWA system, remember how Hawaiians have thrived for generations before we got here and how they did that, and just recall that, teach that, and utilize what is available to us locally to thrive. That is such a, we got to find out what bio economy is in Hawaiian. I think it's just the there, the Native Hawaiian, I can't speak for the Native Hawaiian culture, but it just seems to be the natural part of how they were integrated, how they were, how Native Hawaiians have always been connected to the land and connected to the plants and the trees and the fruits and everything that is here in Hawaii. And to just add this one plant to clean up the mess that we've made, because you know, the land left behind from the pineapple and the sugar plantations is polluted. And the land left behind Uncle Sam is polluted. So if we can just take this one plant to begin to clean it up, that's step one. I think that would be a huge win. Creating the environmental awareness of that, I think, is an important aspect because I don't know how many people are quite aware of both sides of that. How much damage has been done and how much hemp itself can help cleanse it and what that means. I think there needs to be, there could be an informational briefing on that, just to understand that better, so we can understand. I think that would be an important aspect to just begin with. Yeah, just to begin. And especially with youngsters. Because everything we see about this new generation and the schools are doing where they keep the leftover food for the worms and then they have this beautiful new soil and the kids are doing that. Vermiculture, yeah. All, everything. So this seems to me, the more I think about this, the more I think this, that's the place to begin. And what's great is I think a lot of that is happening. And as most things when it comes to this, it's a slow roll. It's happening in, not in fits and starts, but in a slow progress. We definitely have vermicultural centers in any of our public schools. We definitely have farm to school opportunities at many of our schools. And those opportunities are growing to more and more of our schools. And I'm not just talking about private schools, I'm talking about public schools as well. So I think that's a huge aspect of it. And the more our children are introduced to it and what it means, I think, the more the future is brighter in that regard. I'm excited. Well, of course, I've been excited about the opportunities with hemp, but I was thinking really on the big picture, but let's get down to the little picture. And that's wonderful. To begin with the students, to begin there. They're malleable. They can be molded and they already care. And they are our biggest investment for the future. Yes. And one last thing before we go about hemp and one of the products that can be manufactured out of it is suntan lotion. Oh, really? Yes. So it could replace copper tone. It protects the skin and it doesn't have that horrible stuff in it that kills the reef. Wow. So that in itself. Equally as effective? Yes. I did not know this. I would love to learn more about that. Yes. And just take that, for instance, and not kill the reef. Please, let's not kill the reef any more than we have. Let's bring it back to life. Let's bring it up. So that to me is one of those products that for Hawaii would be wonderful. Have you been to Waikiki lately? I have, yes. And you know when you walk along the beach, you smell copper tone? Yes, absolutely. You smell copper tone and then you look across the street and you see high-end merchandise stores. Yes. It's all gone. Well, listen, God, it's a pleasure to be with you. Thank you very much. I always enjoy spending this time with you. And you will come back. Yes, I will. Now that you've got this big time job and all this. I know about big time, but no, I appreciate the opportunity to come and talk about hemp and its aspects and how it comes together with the bioeconomy. I'm happy to talk about our bioeconomy trade organization. So anytime, and as we go through and develop, whether it's legislation or projects, I'd be very happy to let you know. Okay, great. Thank you. Aloha. This has been a real pleasure to be with you and we'll see you next time. Aloha.