Jean Lotus Trains an Eagle Eye on Hemp Building Worldwide

Episode • Mar 13, 2024 • 1h 1m

Jean Lotus is an award-winning investigative journalist and publisher of HempBuild Magazine.

She is based in Fort Collins, Colorado, where she has been covering the hemp industry since 2017, and is our guest on this week’s hemp podcast.

While she has written about various sectors of the hemp industry, her main area of interest is the hemp building sector.

“I thought, jeez, this is a technology that’s been in use successfully in Europe for 30 years,” she said. “They’ve already made all the mistakes, they’ve done all the testing. They know what works.”

“All we have to do is sort of turn a key and we could do it here,” Lotus said.

Lotus has become a well-respected voice in the hemp industry, not only because of her deep interest in the plant and the potential for its uses, but also because of her commitment as a journalist to getting the story straight.

“I was an investigative reporter in Chicago for many years,” she said, “and what I found when writing about hemp and researching hemp online is that there is this bizarre world of fabulosity.”

Wild claims about what hemp can do run rampant on the internet, and the dearth of accurate information spurred Lotus to start Hemp Build Magazine, to provide researched and fact-based information to anyone who wants it at HempBuildMag.com.

Last year, she co-founded a school in association with the US Hemp Building Association, called HempBuild School Masterminds.

The school has two tracks, one designed for the home owner.

“We have a lot of people who are dreaming about building their own house (out of hemp),” Lotus said.

The other track is for professional builders who want to learn the trade. The professional track covers building techniques as well as softer skills, such as talking to regulators, building inspectors, code enforcers and subs like the electricians and plumbers, who most likely have never worked with hempcrete before and will stare at you like an old mule looking at a new gate when you tell them what you need them to do.

Most recently, Lotus has published the “2024 Hemp Building Directory, A Guide to the International Hemp Building Industry.”

It’s a 138-page book, nearly double in size of the first edition of the directory she published in 2022.

The book provides contact information for businesses around the world that are connected to the hemp building industry.

“Everything from hemp wood to wallpaper to, you know, some kind of experimental stuff, hemp blowing insulation, hemp paints and stains,” she said.

Not just products, the directory also lists hemp builders, architects, engineers, designers, processors, decorticators, suppliers, and more.

“The idea is,” Lotus said, “at any stage you can find supplies that have hemp as a building material in them.”

For Lotus, her work is informed by a vision of a better world — a place where hemp construction is ubiquitous and boring. Houses are made from local agriculture-based materials and are accessible and affordable for everyone.

“That is sort of the vision that I see that when you say, what does success look like for this industry?” Lotus said.

Listen here:

Hemp Build Magazine

https://www.hempbuildmag.com/

2024 Hemp Building Directory

https://www.hempbuildmag.com/directory-2024

HempBuild School Masterminds

https://www.hempbuildmag.com/hemp-build-school

News Nuggets and Hemp Events

Oregon State receives $10 million grant to work with 13 Native American Tribes on hemp economic development

https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/oregon-state-receives-10-million-grant-work-13-native-american-tribes-hemp-economic-development

International groups join forces to expand standards for industrial hemp