Why Hemp?as long as you live, another paper or plastic bag? Because you can. Between 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide annually. U.S. consumers use more than 380 billion plastic bags annually; approximately 1200 per person per year. Of these billions of plastic bags only 1 to 7 percent are recycled. Plastic pollution causes more than 1 million seabirds, 100,000 marine mammals, and even more fish to die in the North Pacific alone, every year. A plastic "stew," twice the size of Texas and 20 feet thick has formed on the Pacific Ocean. Its volume is steadily growing. About paper bags: Producing a paper bag requires more than four times as much energy than it does to produce a plastic bag. The majority of paper comes from tree pulp. In 1999, 14 million trees were cut to produce the 10 billion paper grocery bags used by Americans that year. Only 10 to 15 percent of paper bags are recycled. So…why hemp? Hemp is good for the earth.  Hemp is the longest and strongest plant fiber. It is extremely resistant to abrasion or rot and was the primary source of canvas, sail, rope, twine, and webbing fiber for hundreds of years before nylon. Hemp has three times the tensile strength of cotton. As a fabric hemp is anti-bacterial.
And as a crop, unlike cotton, hemp can be grown in most climates and types of soil, requires little fertilizer or water and needs no pesticides or herbicides. Hemp anchors soil and protects it from run off. It preserves topsoil and subsoil structure. It is a fast yielding crop ready to harvest in 90-120 days. It is also ideal for use in a crop rotation system because its long root system conditions the soil for the crops that follow on afterwards. 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 comes from the plant Cannabis sativa L. Marijuana comes from this same plant genus as do broccoli and cauliflower. But the strains of hemp used in industrial and consumer products contain only a negligible level of the intoxicating substance delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. Thus, industrial grade hemp is not marijuana. Hemp is the most useful and beneficial plant in nature. Hemp is cultivated virtually everywhere in the world except for the United States. Go figure. |
