Homeowners returning to their burned-out homes in southern California are facing the painful consequences of the US construction industry’s reliance on cheap plastics and petroleum-based building materials: Not only are these materials easily combusted in a wildfire, but they leave behind a toxic soup that has polluted waterways and poisoned air quality.

The largest hemp project in the United States consisting of 12 duplex units in Newburyport, MA will open to residents next month. Builder David Hall and architect Keith Moskow of Hall and Moskow Corporation have been working since 2023 on the Hillside Center for Sustainable Living, an attainably-priced multi-family housing development, from their own design of hempcrete over steel frame panels. The new hempcrete development  will welcome its first residents on February 15.

Two hospitalized members of the hemp building community have received support from members of the industry through GoFundMe donations.

US Army-funded researchers in Pennsylvania achieved a one-hour fire resistance rating for a spray-applied hemplime (“hempcrete”) wall test panel in early July, moving hempcrete closer to acceptance as a US building material.