How Industrial Hemp can Heal the Planet
This versatile and hardy plant is the remedy for many of the environmental problems plaguing the planet.
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Another positive impact of growing Industrial Hemp is that this would help keep the lungs of the planet, our forests, intact.
Industrial Hemp plants have been used with great success to replace wood products. The woody parts and fibers from the stems of the Industrial Hemp plant have been proven to be excellent wood replacement material. Hemp derived materials are stronger than their wood or metal counterparts, too.
Industrial Hemp can be used to make attractive wood-like flooring, building materials such as hempcrete and insulation and a replacement for plywood.
Since hemp does not contain any harmful chemicals, none are released in making wood-like products. This is an improvement over the harsh chemicals needed to make plywood that release noxious fumes.
Houses have been made completely from hemp derived products, including hempcrete, insulation,windows, inner finishings and interior decor ( flooring, fabrics, furniture). These houses are healthy and ‘breathable’ as well as impressively warm and soundproof.
They offer another healthy alternative for the constructive industry that currently uses many toxic materials.
Here is one example of an attractive house made entirely of hemp materials.
Breathable, anti-bacterial,. Highly soundproof, well insulated, pest resistant, non-toxic houses are a healthy alternative to conventional houses that don’t harm the planet and help humans live in healthier conditions.
Hemp plants produce more oxygen per acre than a mature forest growing in the same sized plot of land.
Napier University Associate Professor Bernardino D’Amica reported in his article about how hemp is more sustainable than trees, that hemp grows much faster than trees, growing up to four meters within four months. This gives it a greater capacity to absorb CO₂ per hectare of farmed land compared to any forest or commercial crop. He also calculated that Industrial hemp can absorb twice as much CO₂ compared to trees, with approximately one hectare of hemp estimated to sequester between eight to 22 tonnes of CO₂ in a year. Researcher Orhan Inik came to similar conclusions, calling hemp ‘an oxygen factory’ of a plant.
Another way Industrial Hemp helps heal the planet is that it can be used to produce plastic that doesn’t harm the planet or add to our pollution problems.
It helps the planet in a few different ways.
Since Industrial Hemp grows quickly, it crowds out other weeds, and as a result it does not require chemicals to kill weeds or help it grow. The Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania conducted a trial with Industrial hemp in 2016 and 2017, and praised it as a cover crop and confirmed it performed well as a cash crop.
They concluded that Industrial Hemp performed as well as, or better than other cover crops because it grew so quickly and did not require chemicals or much water. The crops that were grown in composted soil with nitrogen grew the best in their trials.
They also noted that it was resilient and that the bees loved it.
In the third year of the trial they tested the soil and found the hemp had removed all detectable traces of heavy metals from the soil, and deposited it in the hemp plant leaves and stems. From this data they suggested that Industrial Hemp worked well for soil remediation and phytoremediation.
But the biggest impact of Industrial Hemp has not yet been fully tapped into: hemp cellulose can be used as a replacement for all conventional plastics.
Hemp plastic is visually indistinguishable from plastics derived from petrochemicals, but are 4.5 times stronger (or more).
Making plastic from hemp cellulose is less destructive to the planet than petrochemical plastic making. Far fewer resources and harmful chemicals are used in the making of hemp plastic compared to conventional plastics since hemp does not contain any ENE compounds, or use any harmful chemicals such as polyfluorinated chemicals that are used and released into the atmosphere during conventional plastic production and decomposition.
In addition to all the jaw dropping advantages of growing and using Industrial Hemp listed so far, perhaps the biggest benefit to the planet is that Industrial Hemp plastics break down completely when composted. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is when you realize the implications worldwide.
Industrial Hemp plastics (if pure and not blended with other materials), break down completely within 90 days. Single use hemp plastic can break down in as little as 20 days once composted. This is a huge improvement over the composting rates of conventional plastics, which are estimated to take 500 or more years to decompose. In truth, 500 years is just a guess since they do not know in fact how long it will take. In fact, researchers Modi and his team noted that there is no evidence that conventional plastics are breaking down at all in landfills once buried and in anaerobic conditions..
Switching to hemp plastic would have a massively positive impact on the planet.
According to Statista, more than 350 million tons of plastic waste is produced each year, and it just hangs around, releasing toxic chemicals and leachate that seeps into our water table. There is an island of plastic floating between California and Hawaii called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch that has been measured to be twice the size of Texas and three times the size of France.
By switching to Industrial Hemp plastic and materials, we could stop contributing to the growing mountains of trash on land and floating out to sea. Practically overnight, this could stop an exponentially increasing, very toxic problem on the planet and in our oceans, affectingf all living creatures..
The industrial Hemp roots (all cannabis roots) were used for medicinal purposes, specifically as a tea to treat inflammation and pain, in ancient Greek and Roman times, but this has been ignored in modern times (Ryz et al, 2017).
What’s not to love about this humble plant?
Simply growing this one plant remedies many environmental problems, and reverses the damage done to our soils.
It seems to be a huge win for humanity and the planet to switch to using Industrial Hemp to usher in a new age of taking care of the planet and the living creatures on it and in it.
You can help speed this along by looking for, and buying hemp derived products, especially hemp plastics. It will be a relief to us all to have products we can feel good about using, knowing we are not harming the planet and ecosystems on it.
Sources
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Ahmad, R. et Al. ‘’Phytoremediation Potential of Hemp (CAnnabis sativa L.): Identification and characterization of Heavy Metals Responsive Genes.’’2015, August.CLEAN – Soil Air Water 44(2) DOI:10.1002/clen.201500117
Arscott, D.’What do Hemp Fibre, Soil Health and Water Quality have in Common?’’ Stroud Water Research Centre. 2020https://stroudcenter.org/news/hemp-fiber-soil-health-and-water-quality/
Bound, S. 2011. ‘’Hemp Compost as a Component for Potting Media’’.Researchgate.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275025979_Hemp_compost_as_a_component_for_potting_media/citation/download
D’Amico, B. “Hemp is more sustainable than Timber- Here’s How it CouldTransform Low Carbon Construction”. The Conversation. Napier University Edinburgh.
Deer. R. ‘’The History and Future of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch’’ Roadrunner Modern Waste Recycling.com. 3 June 2021. https://www.roadrunnerwm.com/blog/the-history-and-future-of-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch
Jadon, M.. “The Revolutionary Potential of Hemp Plastic”.
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Modi et al.’’Hemp is the Future of Plastic’’. 24 Aug 2018E3S Web of Conferences 4, 03002 (2018)
https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/20185103002
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‘’Industrial hemp root: Optimum infusion parameters for alternative extracted beverage products?’Food Chemistry Advances, Vol. 3,2023,
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Aytac,S. ”An Environmentally Friendly Plant in Terms of Oxygen Supply:Hemp”Sept.2018. 4thInternational Conference of Science and Technology. Kiev Ukraine. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329328155_An_Environmentally_Friendly_Plant_in_Terms_of_Oxygen_Supply_Hemp
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