It's true, some of the first American flags were made with hemp.
1. One acre of hemp can produce as much usable fiber as 4 acres of trees or two acres of cotton.
2. Hemp paper is longer lasting than wood pulp, stronger, acid-free, and chlorine free. (Chlorine is estimated to cause up to 10% of all Cancers.) Hemp paper can be recycled 7 times, wood pulp 4 times. Hemp fabric requires fewer chemicals than cotton and is stronger and longer lasting.
3. 5-10,000 Cancer related deaths are caused yearly from pesticide use. Cotton uses as much as 40% of all agricultural pesticides. Hemp uses no pesticides and crowds out weeds without herbicides.
4. Cotton has a drinking problem...extensive water subsidies. Hemp requires less water than cotton and grows in cooler climates.
5. Hemp should be worth $500 per acre if used for low end products such as particle board. If higher use products can be developed such as specialty paper and fabrics, the value could be even greater.
6. Hemp is an excellent rotation crop: it crowds out weeds and its deeptap roots break up hard pan soils.
7. Hemp particle board may be up to 2 times stronger than wood particleboard and holds nails better.
8. Low-THC fiber hemp varieties developed by the French and others have been available for over 20 years. It is impossible to get high from fiber hemp. Over 600,000 acres of hemp is grown worldwide with no drug misuse problem.
9. In 1941 Henry Ford built a plastic car made of fiber from hemp and wheat straw. Anything made from a hydrocarbon can be made from a carbohydrate. The 21st century should be the era of the carbohydrate (sustainable agricultural products.) Hemp plastic is biodegradable, synthetic plastic is not.
10. Hemp is the world's most versatile fiber. Almost any product that can be made from wood, cotton, or petroleum (including plastics) can be made from hemp. There are more than 25,000 known uses for hemp!
ACHIEVING A SUSTAINABLE PLANET!
* Hemp is among the earth's primary renewable resources: trees cut down to make paper take 50 to 500 years to grow back while hemp can be cultivated in as little as 100 days, and can yield 4 times more paper over a 20 year period.
* Hemp does not require pesticides: while half the pollutants in the U.S. today are sprayed on cotton plants, hemp is naturally mildew resistant, requires no pesticides, and maintains a healthy environment for the surrounding streams, air, flora and fauna.
* Hemp slows ozone depletion: the industrial use of fossil fuels, like petroleum, contributes to global warming by rapidly increasing the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere; however, hemp fuels, derived from the plant itself, maintain the earth's natural O2/CO2 balance.
* Hemp Paper Can Save the Forests! One acre of cannabis hemp, in annual rotation over a twenty year period would produce asmuch pulp for paper as 4.1 acres of trees being cut down over the same twenty year period. And while hemp reaches full growth and can be harvested every year, the trees which are cut down take hundreds of years to return. The process of making paper from hemp uses only 1/5 to 1/7 as much polluting, sulfer-based chemicals and does not require the use of any chlorine bleach.
* Hemp as an Ecological, Renewable Fuel Source. Hemp can also produce 10 times more methanol than corn,. the second best living fuelsource. Hemp as fuel is renewable whereas oil is not.
* Hemp as fuel is environmentally beneficial: It enriches and prevents erosions, it burns clean and sulfur-free while oil's sulfur content causes acid rain.
http://www.ecomall.com/biz/hemp.htmNo wonder our planet is going downhill so fast, there is a definate loss of hemp growth.
