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Imagine one plant which grew quickly, restored top soil, needed no care and was able to be used for food, clothing, industrial products, personal hygene, construction, textiles and verious agricultural benefits. You could use it to wash your face in the morning, wear it as your outfit throughout the day, eat it for breakfast while reading a newspaper completely made of it, take notes on it at school, use it as a lunchbox, work in a skyscraper built of it, feed it to your pet, fertilize your garden with it, use it as a shopping bag or purse, insulate and paint your house and fuel your car, home and office… and that’s just the beginning.

One plant to be used for all of this? I must be kidding, but I’m not. Go ahead, share your guess.. Bamboo? Good guess,as it can do half of those things, but no. Cotton? When was the last time you tried to eat cotton? Algae? Another good guess and an amazing plant family, but no; we can’t built houses underwater- yet. I bet you have many preconcieved notions about the real answer. Hopefully the following will change them.

The magical, mysterious plant to which I’ve alluded is… drumroll please… HEMP!

“The most cultivatable, optimum dry biomass plant species on earth, uniquely and immediately capable of the economical replacement of all mankind’s use of high-pollutant costly fuels and uranium, for energy, petrochemical products, gasoline and plastics” -FCDA Europe

Hemp? You ask. Why yes, for hemp, Cannabis Sativa, is an incredibly fruitful, thriving and bountious crop which, if humans are resourceful enough to trample our authoritarian egos, will prove crucial to the continuance of life as we know it on this planet. In the environmentally’minded community, we often talk about reducing and cutting back on wastes, emmisions and poduction. This deal hasn’t sold to well to the general public, especially to the countries en route to development, where they want their own turn to climb atop the earth and use it as their economic soapbox. Thus, my ecologically-concerned readers, I popose not a cutting-back of sorts, but rather a building up, a continuation of the availability of the modern products and tools facilitating our life today and essentially characterizing us as a species, yet not in the same destructive way we have thus far. I cannot think of one product made from petroleum that canot be made from hemp. As a complete protein and one of the best nutrition sources found coindensed in one place, hemp cannot only feed our lifestyles, but can feed us and our domestic animal dependents as well.

Alright alright, I’ll talk to the white elephant standing in the corner. He’s no hookah-smoking catepillar, because he knows the grave difference between hemp the cropand marijuana, canabis sativas’ flower, which contains a powerful, mind-expanding chemical compound used for recreation as well as medicinally and sarcramentally. Industrial hemp contains less than 1 percent of THC, the psychoactive sunstance in marijuana. “Trying to get high on industrial hemp is akin to trying to get drunk on non alcohol beer” (hemporganic). Industrial hemp is bred to contain such a low level of THC that it cannot reasonably be considered a drug. “It is easily distinguished in fields from marijuana: marijuana plants are short and bushy, with many leaves and is harvested for its flowers and leaves; industrial hemp, tall and straight, with leaves at the top of the stalk, is harvested for its stalks before flowering occurs. There is virtually no possibility of marijuana being illicitly grown in the middle of a field of industrial hemp, because the cross-breeding between the two plants quickly eliminates the THC content in marijuana seeds. Despite these facts, and noting the genuine concern among many law enforcement agents about the effect of industrial hemp legalization on marijuana use and growing, the petitioners for industrial hemp legalization suggest a heavily regulated licensing scheme for industrial hemp seeds and growing permits that should satisfy residual law enforcement fears” (Lightparty). Once we can look past recreational drug use and put aside any judgements we have about it (positive or negative), we can come to see what an astounding plant this really is, and we can start to make some policy changes to reflect this (chemical-free) altered mindset.

Here are some of the uses and benefits of hemp in detail:

Hemp as rotation crop & soil rejuvenator

Hemp is an ideal rotation crop for farmers worldwide. It puts down a taproot twelve inches long in only thirty days, preventing topsoil erosion. Its water requirements are negligible, so it doesn’t require much irrigation and will grow in arid regions. It matures from seed in only 120 days, so it doesn’t need a long growing season. Hemp’s soil nutrients concentrate in the plant’s roots and leaves. After harvest, the roots remain and the leaves are returned to the fields. In this way, soil nutrients are preserved.

Hemp is also a beneficial crop for the Earth itself. It is very easy on the land. It doesn’t need many nutrients, so it doesn’t require chemical fertilizers. Hemp out-competes other weeds, so it doesn’t need herbicides to thrive. Even hemp strains that are 100% THC-free produce their own resins that make the crop naturally pest-free, so it doesn’t require toxic chemical pesticides. Hemp actually leaves the soil in better condition than before it was planted.

The environmental advantages of hemp

Hemp is an extremely fast growing crop, producing more fibre yield per acre than any other source. Hemp can produce 250% more fibre than cotton and 600% more fibre than flax using the same amount of land.

Hemp grows best in warm tropical zones or in moderately cool, temperate climates. Hemp leaves the soil in excellent condition for any succeeding crop, especially when weeds may otherwise be troublesome. Hemp’s strong roots descend for three feet or more. The roots anchor and protect the soil from runoff, building and preserving topsoil and subsoil structures similar to those of forests. Moreover, Hemp does not exhaust the soil. Hemp plants shed their leaves all through the growing season; adding rich organic matter to the topsoil and helping it retain moisture. Farmers have reported excellent Hemp growth on land that had been cultivated steadily for nearly 100 years.

Concern about deforestation and the impact of pollution from industry continues, the time has come when we can no longer afford to ignore the plant that from early human history until only this century was a mainstay of existence.
Hemp S.S.Boyce

The Hemp plant is the most simple and the most widely adapted to cultivation in all climates, the most susceptible to the manipulations of chemical and mechanical processes.

Hemp as Food: Hemp Seed is the most nutritious and easily digestible food on the planet, the only complete source of all the following: protein, essential amino acids (all 20, including the 9 the body cannot produce) and essential fatty acids. Hemp is the only food which supplies all man’s dietary needs in one source – the only food which can sustain human life without any other source of nutrition. Hemp foods contain 35% carbohydrates, 30% fat, 35% Fibre, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, C, D and in particular vitamin E and only 8% saturated fat, or less. Hemp Seed Oil is being called “Nature’s most perfectly balanced oil.” It is truly a nutritional wonder.

Hemp for Body Care: Hemp seed oil is perfectly suited for hair and skin care. Its nutritional value, combined with its moisturizing and replenishing EFA’s, make it one of the best vegetable body care foundations.

Hemp as Clothing: The bark of the hemp stalk contains bast fibres which are among the Earth’s longest natural soft fibres and are also rich in cellulose. Hemp fibre is longer, stronger, more absorbent and more insulative than cotton fibre. The possibilities for Hemp fabrics are immense. It is likely that they will eventually supersede cotton, linen, and polyester in numerous areas. With so many uses and the potential to be produced cheaply, Hemp textiles are the wave of the future! Hemp may be known for its durability, but its comfort and style are second to none. The more Hemp is used, the softer it gets. Hemp doesn’t wear out, it wears in. Hemp is also naturally resistant to mould and ultraviolet light.

Hemp as Fuel: Eco-Friendly Hemp as a biomass fuel producer requires the least specialized growing and processing procedures of all hemp products. The hydrocarbons in hemp can be processed into a wide range of biomass energy sources, from fuel pellets to liquid fuels and gas.

Hemp as Paper: Hemp produces more pulp per acre than timber on a sustainable basis, and can be used for every quality of paper. Hemp paper manufacturing can reduce wastewater contamination. Hemp’s low lignin content reduces the need for acids used in pulping, and its creamy colour lends itself to environmentally friendly bleaching instead of harsh chlorine compounds. Less bleaching results in less dioxin and fewer chemical by-products. Hemp paper more than 1,500 years old has been found. It can also be recycled more times.

Hemp as Paint & Plastic: Hemp oil extract can also be used as an ingredient in non-toxic, biodegradable inks, paints, and varnishes. It is an ideal raw material for plant-based plastics such as cellophane as well as more recently developed cellulose-based plastics. Henry Ford himself manufactured the body of an automobile from hemp-based plastic in 1941. The plastic was much lighter than steel and could withstand ten times the impact without denting. The car was even fuelled by clean-burning hemp-based ethanol fuel.

Concrete from Hemp: Hemp hurds mixed with limestone and water causes the hemp to harden into a substance stronger than cement and only one sixth the weight. More flexible than concrete, it has a major advantage over conventional building materials, especially in areas throughout the world that are prone to earthquakes.”

I hope this article has provided a safe place in which you can take the time to think for yourself and come to see that regardless of government-driven propaganda parades and preconcieved notions, that the hemp plant is necessary for maintence of industrailized standards of living, and it will be a crucial way to bridge a comprimise between those who truly rally for a better human presence on earth and those who are indifferent to the current path we’re on as a species.

For more information and to put this new perspective into action, please see www.votehemp.org, https://supportyourlocalhempfarmer.com/Home_Page.html, or http://www.legalization.net/ for more information and policy advocation.

For now, try to get out and support a local hemp clothing store or look into other versitile plants (like bamboo) to take advantage of their many abilities! The problem is us. Nature is the answer.

Sources:

http://www.hempcompany.ie/node/187

http://hemporganic.com/whyhemp.html

http://www.lightparty.com/Energy/Hemp6.html