The better question may honestly be, “why would you not?” which we are sure that you’ll agree with once you learn some facts about hemp. Let’s get straight to it.
What is Hemp?
Hemp is a plant that is part of the cannabis family. Industrialized hemp is used for creating fibers used in textiles, the plant is also used for creating supplements such as hemp seeds, CBD oil, and hemp seed oil. Hemp is also being used to create other products as well.
Hemp is a sturdy plant which thrives without a lot of care. It used one-third of the water to grow to maturity as cotton does, yet provides us with three times the fiber as cotton from the same amount of space. Hemp doesn’t require a lot of chemicals to be sprayed on it to reduce insects.
Hemp is its own insecticide, full of terpenes that smell strongly. Bugs hate the smell of hemp and don’t eat it or bother it.
That means that we don’t have to continuously spray harmful chemicals into the soil that find their way into our ground water, which we end-up drinking and bathing in. The chemicals kill wildlife, such as birds and bees, and threaten the very lives of mankind through cancer and environmental decimation.
Hemp is known as a soil remediator. It absorbs things from the soil it is grown in. The stalk it thick like celery. It pulls things up into it. If the soil has toxins or chemicals in it, hemp will pull this right up and absorb it. This cleans the soil and that hemp can’t be used as a food but is still suitable as building supplies, paper goods or biofuel.
How Can Hemp Be Used
Hemp has traditionally been used as a food source and therapeutic plant by the Chinese for more than 6,000 years. We know this as a piece of hemp was found in a pottery jar that was carbon dated to 6,000 years ago.
In fact, hemp may be one of the oldest plants on the planet. Mankind was using hemp for stomach aches and general pains for centuries before it was first criminalized in 1937, here in the United States. Many other countries around the world also criminalized all forms of cannabis.
It wasn’t until recently, in 2014, that some of the sanctions on cannabis were changed. In 2018, the signing of a new Farm Bill used more specific wording than ever before, effectively opening the doors wide for hemp again.
In the first three months of 2019, the applications to become growers of hemp had increased by 300%. Stocks in cannabis companies are being traded publicly, CBD oils and hemp products are literally everywhere you turn and hemp seeds are in every market and grocery store chain. The changes in the last six months have been astronomical but not as exciting as the potential.
Here are some of the ways that hemp can be used that we currently know of. More are being developed every single day.
· Biodiesel
· Ethanol fuel
· CBD oil
· Hemp seeds
· Ropes
· Clothing
· Paper
· Composite lumber
· Concrete substitute that weighs less with more strength
· Insect repellent
· Lamp oils
· Soil remediator
· Food sources
· Body care products
· Plastics that are biodegradable
Essentially, hemp can replace any product that is made of wood or plastic. Hemp plastic is biodegradable and will be full composted back to earth in a few short weeks. Hemp is capable of creating all the fuel needed for cars and trucks, regardless of the type of fuel they use.
Hemp is one of the most important crops of all time and it is playing a game of ‘catching up’ now as it was illegal to grow it for so very long.
In 1970, hemp was finally criminalized because of its association to marijuana. While they are both in the cannabis family, they are not the same plant and the United States left behind the potential to utilize it as a cash crop that might have changed the course of the entire world.
It’s possible that if we had gone the route of hemp, the world would not be experiencing the environmental tragedies that are happening right now. We are experiencing an increase in the speed of climate change as never before.
Storms have turned into super storms and we have greenhouse gases to thank. We’ve got plastics floating in the ocean in places so large that they are forming plastic islands. Whales and dolphins are washing up on shores with stomachs full of plastics, dead or dying. Could this all have been avoided?
We Can Still Create Positive Changes Now
It isn’t too late to begin working toward a clean environment if we start right now. Climate change can be halted and reversed if we set the right things into motion. Humans have go to admit their faults and begin letting go of dependence on petroleum products.
Hemp is a crop that can make everyone money, give everyone jobs, create a cleaner planet, reverse the soil damage that has been done, and make earth a great place to live again.
By reducing the pollution and waste, reducing emissions and greenhouse gases we can begin to slow the damage that is happening right now. In another thirty years the earth could be cleaner than it has in centuries. All it takes is making some changes now.
With hemp, sacrifices won’t even need to be made. Hemp is a new way of making things; things that are better for the planet. Sometimes we have a hard time changing our routines. We get used to things being the way we like them, but it is time we make changes if we want to have a planet that is still viable in fifty years.
Hemp is the key to this plan and many are lobbying now for the hemp plastics to become mandatory and for further funding of hemp fuels to replace the oil industry. These changes won’t happen without you. Raise your voice, use your vote, promote hemp every chance you get because the planet is depending on us.