Every Material Has an Afterlife

My interest in hemp did not begin with hemp. It began with microplastics.

After encountering microplastics research on a lake in Italy, I started wondering what might be happening closer to home in Beaver Lake in northwest Arkansas. That question eventually became a funded research project through my former employer, and the research is still ongoing today.

That experience changed how I think about materials. Products do not disappear when we are done with them. They shed, fragment, biodegrade, persist, weather, compost, or enter waterways, soils, sediments, and bodies.

A rope is not only a tool in the hand. It is also a future residue.

Synthetic fibers and plant fibers have different afterlives. Hemp is not impact-free, and natural does not automatically mean regenerative. But a plant-based fiber, grown and processed with care, belongs to a different material pathway than petroleum-based synthetics.

A Living Fiber from a Living System

Hemp is one of the most promising natural fibers available, but I do not believe in hemp hype.

Hemp is not automatically sustainable just because it is hemp. Hemp is not automatically regenerative just because it is organic. A hemp field can still be a monocrop. It can still be grown poorly. It can still be processed with chemicals. It can still become a disposable product with a green label.

So the better question is not simply: “Is this hemp?”

The better question is: “What kind of hemp system is this?”

When grown well, hemp can grow quickly, produce strong fiber, suppress weeds through dense growth, fit into crop rotations, and become a biodegradable plant-based material at the end of its useful life.

But hemp becomes truly meaningful when it is part of a larger living system: organic cultivation, crop rotation, healthy soil, careful retting, mechanical processing, low chemical burden, durable use, and honest end-of-life thinking.

What We Know About Our Hemp Rope

The hemp rope currently used in EcoLSD™ flow ropes and maces is sourced through Rawganique, using hemp grown on small farms in Romania.

Based on supplier communication so far, the hemp is:

• Organically grown

• Grown on small farms in Romania

• Grown in crop rotation to support soil health and fertility

• Dew-retted

• Mechanically decorticated

• Processed without chemicals

• Made into true hemp rope — not synthetic rope and not a hemp-like substitute

That combination matters. Organic cultivation reduces chemical burden. Crop rotation addresses one of the biggest concerns with hemp: treating it as just another monocrop. Dew retting means the harvested hemp is transformed through field moisture, weather, fungi, bacteria, time, and farmer judgment. Mechanical decortication means the fiber is separated physically rather than through chemical processing.

This is why I currently describe the rope as high-integrity, organically grown, regenerative-compatible hemp rope.

I do not describe it as “verified regenerative” yet, because that requires more farm-level evidence: specific rotation sequences, cover crops, fertility sources, habitat context, soil outcomes, water practices, and full traceability.

The goal is not to make the biggest claim possible. The goal is to make the most honest claim possible.

Movement, Material, and Meaning

EcoLSD™ is not just about making tools. It is about relationship: relationship to the body, the land, craft, time, materials, and the living systems behind the object.

This is where the idea of sympoiesis matters. Sympoiesis means “making-with.” Nothing is made alone. A hemp rope is made-with hemp plants, soil, farmers, crop rotations, dew, microbes, weather, mechanical tools, hands, bodies, movement, care, wear, and eventual decomposition.

That is what I mean when I say EcoLSD™ tools are living-system tools. Not because the rope itself is alive in a literal sense, but because it carries living relationships.

Why Hemp Works for Flow

Beyond sustainability, hemp is simply a powerful performance material.

It offers natural weight and spatial feedback, excellent grip, progressive break-in, gentle damping, subtle vibration and sound cues, temperature-neutral feel, and a tactile presence that keeps the rope alive in the hands.

Synthetic ropes often disappear in the hand. Hemp stays present. It teaches timing, tension, release, and awareness in a different way.

Because hemp fibers have natural texture and mass, they give clear feedback through the body. You can feel the arc, the drag, the timing, the transition, and the correction. That makes hemp especially powerful for slower tempos, pattern-based flow, coordination work, and embodied practice.

Hemp does not demand speed. It invites clarity.

Not Anti-Synthetic, Pro-Choice

This is not about rejecting modern materials. Synthetic ropes are durable, affordable, consistent, weather-resistant, accessible, and useful for many styles of practice.

Hemp simply serves a different intention.

It is for people who care about where materials come from, how they are grown, how tools age, how movement feels when the object itself has presence, and what happens to materials after use.

Synthetic rope is a valid tool. Hemp rope is a different relationship.

A Different Direction

Many synthetic ropes prioritize uniformity, durability, weather resistance, and immediate snap. Hemp moves in a different direction.

Because of its natural fibers, hemp provides clear tactile feedback and gentle damping. Subtle changes in tension, timing, and direction can be felt more easily through the hands. This supports rhythm, coordination, spatial awareness, and long-form refinement.

Rather than pulling the practitioner toward speed, hemp encourages attention.

Over time, hemp changes with use. As the fibers break in, the rope becomes more supple and expressive. It develops a feel that reflects how it has been practiced with.

Hemp is not about doing more, faster. It is about feeling more clearly, so movement can evolve on its own terms.

For Those Who Want to Go Deeper

I have created a deeper research paper exploring hemp, microplastics, material honesty, sympoiesis, (bio)plurality, Romanian hemp sourcing, Rawganique’s rope system, and the difference between sustainability and greenwashing.

For most people, this page is enough. For those who want the full source dossier and deeper ecological reasoning, the research paper is available here:

Final Thought

Hemp is not magic. Hemp is not automatically regenerative. Hemp is not perfect.

But when grown organically, rotated with care, dew-retted, mechanically processed, left chemical-free, and used in durable movement tools, hemp can become something rare: a material that still feels connected to the living world.

That is why I choose hemp.

EcoLSD™ tools are not just made from materials. They are made-with living systems.