Natural and Sustainable

Hemp was the first plant known to have been domestically cultivated. The oldest relic of human history is hemp fabric dated to 8,000 BC from ancient Mesopotamia, an area in present-day Turkey. It has been grown as long as recorded history for food, fuel, fiber, and for another legitimate use, which is not even discussed here for the sake of brevity medicine. So, with all these uses and benefits, why is cannabis cultivation illegal in the United States today?

When using hemp within the means of making clothing or textiles, there isn’t a THC worry, but when hemp is smoked in drug-form there is the worry of THC ingestion. With all the THC and drug issues aside, hemp is great for the environment when it’s used in an environmentally friendly way.

Here’s uses for hemp today:

• Hemp helps clean the soil. Rather than deplete the earth’s natural chemical and mineral balance, crops of hemp actually leave the soil BETTER than it was before planting.

• Hemp leaves can be brewed to make tea.

• Hemp seeds can be roasted and eaten, ground into flour or pressed to get hemp oil.
The stalk is pressed to make fiber for any number of uses… including paper. Switching to hemp paper could reduce deforestation significantly. For every 4 acres of trees that are required annually to make paper, only an acre of hemp would be required. Furthermore, because hemp paper can be recycled so many times (up to 7 or 8 times), much less is needed. In comparison, paper from wood pulp can only be recycled around 3 times. This means even more trees are required.

The “hurd” (or inside of the stalk) is used for animal bedding or mixed with mineral compound and blown into walls as loose insulation.

• Hemp can even fuel a car. For a cleaners, more natural burn. Also, one of Germany’s largest car manufacturers uses hemp to insulate the insides of the cars they produce.

• Clothing and textiles made from hemp have no residual chemicals that could affect our health (as many other fabrics do). Hemp based fabrics block the sun’s UV rays more effectively than other fabrics. This is true, even if it’s only a 50% blend with another fabric.

• Hemp oil is the richest known source of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids (the “good” fats). (Source: Everything Green 2007)

*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Conserve energy by using power strips throughout your house and office. Many electronics suck the power even when they are shut off. When you go to bed at night or leave the office for the day, hit the power strip off switch to shut down your electronics completely.