High Five for hemp
High Five for Hemp
Now when I mention hemp the first thing to come to mind is the high-inducing plant of marijuana; actually Hemp and marijuana appear different to the trained eye. Hemp does not contain large amounts of THC, the psychoactive ingredient that causes that alter state of mind. That’s the difference between hemp and marijuana. You would have to eat copious amounts of hemp but even then the effects would be too little too feel. However you would have gotten a huge serving of fiber! You can’t get high from Hemp; but I do give it a high five for all the wonderful things that can come from this sturdy plant. Over 25,000 products can be manufactured from Hemp!
Did you know that hemp at one point was required by farmers during WWII to be grown in an effort to help the war. President George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp; even the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp!
Hemp has gotten a bad rap over the years because this little plant is so misunderstood. Allowing farmers to grow hemp again will help our agriculture industry tremendously; considering the US is one of the largest importers of hemp products! Why the hell don’t we grow it ourselves! Hemp growing will not cause a proliferation of marijuana growers trying to hide their pot plants. If the two ever did meet in a field and cross pollinate you would get a very weak marijuana plant and not a high inducing hemp plant.
Hemp is sustainable in everyway. It takes only moderate amounts of water to grow. It grows quickly in most climates; hemp’s gestation period is 4 months, compare that to a tree. The very same fibers that are used to make paper can also be used to make cloth, plastics, fuel, food, building products, and at one point in Henry Ford’s time, a car! Hemp is excellent for the environment as well. You don’t need to douse hemp plants with pesticides and other harsh chemicals in order to grow it. It does quite well without them-unlike cotton which is grown with pesticides and other chemicals that are dangerous to the environment and its growers. Hemp is also useful in helping with global warming. By not having to cut down trees for paper pulp, and other wood products that hemp can replace, we are saving our forests for wildlife habitat, oxygen production, and for taking in excess carbon dioxide. One acre of hemp can produce as much paper as 4 acres of trees!
Think about it. We have a plant that can provide the three main things humans need for survival: food, shelter, and clothing. Most importantly it’s biodegradable. Hemp seeds have a lot of nutritious value. It contains the essential fatty acids so crucial to our diet and in greater quantities than flax seeds. The fibers make a very strong, lightweight fiber board. This is great for construction. Hemp fibers are also more absorbent and stronger than cotton.
Hemp is starting to see a resurgence in popularity thanks in part to concerned individuals, scientists, and politicians finally waking up to the importance of this special plant.
For more info on hemp check out these links:
So what can YOU do, well here’s what I did:
Greetings from the Organic Consumers Association. Please find below two important alerts for organic consumers. The California state legislature just reconvened and two very important bills, AB 1147 and SB1056, are up for vote. Please take action today.
1) Join OCA and ally Vote Hemp (http://www.votehemp.com) to pass the groundbreaking Industrial Hemp Farming Act. California could be the first state to grow industrial hemp in 50 years, if AB 1147, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act passes the state legislature this month. Used to make rope, build and insulate houses, form the interior panels of cars and even provide the fuel to power them, industrial hemp is also a popular ingredient in organic foods. Sales of industrial hemp foods in natural products supermarkets are growing by 50% each year. 77% of all sales of hemp food and body care products are earned by California companies, but California farmers are still out of the loop. Send a letter to your Senator and Assembly Member today!
http://alerts.organicconsumers.org/trk/click?ref=zqtbkk3um_0-31×174x374829&
Don’t forget to tell your friends!
Written by Arcadia Maximo
Republished with permission.
Uncle B Says:
June 29th, 2008 at 7:43 pmVisit Uncle B
Bio-diesel can be made from hemp, and methanol from hemp fiber. We can eat hemp seeds, and we can grow hemp on land that isn’t quite good enough for food-crops like corn. Hemp makes a good fallow crop and China is being very careful to culture it for great profits as a base resource source for their manufacturing. Hemp can be distinguished for absolute certain from that other stuff with a simple 21st Century lab test, making the 1930’s laws against it look foolish! We can feed hemp seed to chickens and get low cholesterol eggs and meat! It’s time to grow up America, Al Capone has been gon a long time, and its way past time for this law to go!