Little long, great info...How we can save the Earth!

[StickyFingaZ 0]

The article below is from Delta Magazine.

"Hemp Will Save The Earth"

The earth, our beautiful planet, contains many life forms that have in many ways been blessings to human beings and contributed to the evolution of living things. If one considers the earth as one organism, all of its animals, plants, minerals and micro-organisms, constitute its ecological network, and they have contributed to our prosperity and shared the evolution of the network. Our civilization is, however, now endangered on a global scale by our shortsighted sectionalism, environmental degradation caused by our social systems that focus on the oil industry, and the ill effects that these problems have on our bodies and minds. It has formed competitive societies based on harmful oil resources and has brought about unavoidable dispossession, warfare and confilct. In contrast, a symbiotic society based on infinite hemp and other biomas resources can produce a world of peace and sharing. As a first step, hemp, a natural material with many uses in key industries, has recently been highly evaluated worldwide.

It cannot be said that hemp alone will solve all of our environmental problems. However, the use of hemp and other natural resources can serve as a warning against excessive use of fossil fuels and hazardous chemicals, and contributed greatly to our movement toward a sustainable society. If each one of us becomes conscious of the need for environmental preservation and starts with what is possible, we can once again have the type of harmonious, cyclical society that existed in ancient times.

Hemp Paper

If hemp is cultivated on 12% of the European landmass, it can meet the entire world demand for paper, and thus eradicate the need to cut trees for paper. Hemp pulp, from which hemp paper is made, is as durable as wood pulp, and it needs only one quarter of the land required for producing wood pulp. While chlorine is used for bleaching in the wood-pulp manufacturing process, hemp pulp can be produced using the ASA pulp method, which hardly produces any pollutants. Moreover, hemp paper is of such high quality and durability that it hardly deteriorates, even after 200 years.

Hemp Bio-Plastic

Hemp stems can be used to produce biodegradable plastic that does not produce harmful substances and is highly antibacterial. It can be freely molded and used for car bodies, building materials and all existing plastic products. Only a few of its many features are sufficient to prove that it has great potential as an ecological plastic that can solve the problems of environmental impact and waste disposal.

To give and example, the American company Ford started using hemp for automobile manufacturing in 1929. The results of their research were published in Popular Mechanics Magazine in 1941 along with the catch-phrase "Organic car born from the Earth". All of the parts except the frames were made of hemp, and hemp seed oil was used instead of light oil. The car had one-third the weight and ten times the impact tenacity of conventional cars of the same type.




Hemp, a Natural Resource

Hemp is a human-friendly natural resource - it can adjust the temperature and humidity of houses because walls made of hemp can breathe. Hemp houses provide a comfortable atmosphere - cool in summer and warm in winter. It is an all-weather composite building material that can save energy for air-conditioning. Hemp board bends and curves easily, and has the same strength as concrete. It is very light and resistant to fire. As it is a natural resource, it is biodegradable. Hemp can totally change our views about housing and make us switch to environment-friendly houses, because it can be grown for a half a year and lasts for 100 years. Its use can result in the preservation of forests and the protection of living things, as well as the restroration of cyclical ecological system that includes human beings.



Hemp Fuel

One of the main causes of global warming is the carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels such as petroleum and coal. Oil from hemp seeds and the cellulose of the hemp stem can produce methanol, ethanol and other kinds of fuel that have the same ignition temperature as diesel oil. Hemp fuel does not produce heavy metals or sulfur, so it does not cause acid rain or air pollution. As hemp is a plant, it reduces carbon dioxide to oxygen as it grows. It has three to four times the reducing power as a deciduous tree. If hemp is cultivated on only 6% of the North American landmass, it can meet all the fuel demand in the U.S.

A running test project of bio-diesel cars using hemp oil was established in the U.S. in July 2001. A car started from Washington on July 4, the anniversary of Independence Day, and was driven one thousand miles over a period of three months. In Japan, a car started from Takigawa City in Northern Hokkaido on April 29, 2002 and was driven 12, 500 km over a period of four months until September 11. The test used 2, 600 liters of hemp oil.



Health

Hemp seeds and their oil are excellent foods that are good for human health. The oil can be used for cooking, massage, lubrication, cosmetics, and as dietary supplement. Hemp oil contains many elements that retail humidity, so it can be used for making soap, shampoo and environment-friendly cosmetics. Hemp seeds contain a protein similar to that of soy beans, which is easily digested and absorbed into the human body. They also contain eight kinds of essential amino acids that cannot be produced by the human body, so they are an ideal food that has perfectly balanced nutrients.
The nutrients in hemp seeds have many beneficial effects on human health. They balance and control cholesterol, purify blood and help it to flow smoothly in the body, thus preventing arteriosclerosis and increasing immunity. Hemp seeds can keep human bodies young and healthy, they are effective in preventing aging and promoting longevity.
Human bodies have many receptors that take in the medical components of hemp. When the components enter our bodies, melatonin, a beneficial hormone, is secreted, stimulating an auto-therapy mechanism. While melatonin is secreted, a-waves and c-waves occur in the brain, causing people to relax as if they were in a state of meditation. Hemp has long been used as a herb because of its medical effects, and it will gain importance in the future.



Textiles- Hemp and Cotton

Cotton requires the use of pesticide for its cultivation, and a huge volume of chemicls in its manufacturing process. Hemp, however, never requires the use of these harmful substances, a fact that makes it cheaper to produce. Hemp textile is four times more durable than cotton, and its productivity per unit of land area is three to five times higher than that of cotton. In France and Germany, insulation materials made of hemp and hemp board are already in use. Wooden buildings using oil resources have given rise to the so called "sick-house sydrome" that causes cancer and abnormal environmental hormones These building catch fire easily and do not decompose. Many buildings are constructed of wood that is several decades old and last only 30 years.



Hemp Technology for Healing

Hemp can be used to produce 25,000 to 50,000 kinds of industrial products. It is an annual grass that can be grown in 100 to 200 days. It is useful for preventing deforestation and global warming b ecause it has a high capacity for reducing carbon dioxide to oxygen. A very adaptable plant that can be grown in most environments other than deserts, snowfields and tundra zones, it does not require the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers or deplete the soil of nutrients.

Hemp fabric does not generate static electricity. Since it is highly resistant to insects and has an antimicrobial effect, herbicides and insecticides are not required for its cultivation. Accordingly, the soil can be improved and it is possible to prevent ground water from being contaminated It has been reported if one root of hemp is planted, the surrounding 30 meter area becomes electrically neutral.
From the energy perspective, hemp is a healing plant that harmonizes with the environment. It has been attracting a great deal of attention because of its potential to neutralize electromagnetic waves, radioactive rays, ultraviolet rays, etc. Hemp fabric neutralizes electromagnect waves generated from electrical products and toxic substances. The material and its technology shall be required in many fields, such as architectural materials and health care products.

Traditional Arts

Hemp fabric has been used in Japan for imperial rituals, traditional events, Shinto religious services, shrines etc. since ancient times. In the same way, it has been used for rituals and traditional ceremonies in other countries all over the world.

In ancient times, the Japanese grew hemp as part of a lifestyle based on coexistence with nature. Hemp is an annual plant, and thus fits into the earths basic one-year environmental cycle. Cultivated every year, it is part of an ecosystem in which everything is connected, like a circular, harmonious society with no beginning or end. Hemp can help us to remember what we have forgotten about the wonder of the natural world. It is generally known that hemp can be used effectively in various industries and that it is an environment-and human friendly material. Whether we will use hemp and take advantage of its features depends on our attitude and our way of life. Japan is a nation that has strong connections to hemp in every aspect. Through our study of hemp we have come to understand why it is a plant that Japanese people have loved from ancient times - it represents a spirit of harmony.

For more information and to receive Delta contact: [email protected].
-Walk Gently on the Earth.

[ExAFO 0]

...But you really just want it so you can get stoned, right?

Illinois needs a CCW Law. NOW.

[StickyFingaZ 0]

Can't get stoned off of hemp. Could smoke a joint the size of a telephone pole and you'd get a headache and a sore throat. Now, not saying that there isn't a place for medical cannabis, but that's almost another story completely. Hell, leave that illegal. I just want hemp. They are different plants. It's just that big money corporations(Oil, textile, pharmaceutical, etc) have kept cannabis/hemp illegal fearing that it would put them out of business or take money from their pockets...

[nanook 1]

Meh. . .hemp has been falling out of favor since the late 1800's to early 1900's. Highly inefficient compared to cotton and (at the time), jute. It's easier spinning cotton and a lot cheaper too. And with all the other different fibers that were coming out at the time, hemp was becoming obsolete. But today, only fad and nostalgia brings it back. . .by workhorse of the very people that are not synomynous with progress and practicality: hippies. They couldn't see past their artificial causes to realize that the popularity of hemp phased out over decades, not instantaneously, to meet conspiracy needs. By the time it was (accidentally?) banned in '37, hemp was in it's death throes. Before the 30's, imports decreased by 75% since the beginning of the century and home grown stuff decreased by half.

_____________________________

"The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never know if they are genuine" - Abraham Lincoln

[dorbie 0]

Just for you ExAFO, "Hemp for Victory":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkroOQT-84Q

AFAIK you can't grow hemp because of the need for a federal regstration and tax stamp mentioned in this video, the issuance of which they now abuse to stop production.

It is rank bullshit.

[Royd 0]

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Hemp Paper

If hemp is cultivated on 12% of the European landmass, it can meet the entire world demand for paper, and thus eradicate the need to cut trees for paper.

Will the world need that many rolling papers?

[StickyFingaZ 0]

Highly inefficient compared to cotton and (at the time), jute. It's easier spinning cotton and a lot cheaper too.

??? How's that ???

Textiles- Hemp and Cotton

Cotton requires the use of pesticide for its cultivation, and a huge volume of chemicls in its manufacturing process. Hemp, however, never requires the use of these harmful substances, a fact that makes it cheaper to produce. Hemp textile is four times more durable than cotton, and its productivity per unit of land area is three to five times higher than that of cotton.

[freethefly 6]

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Highly inefficient compared to cotton and (at the time), jute. It's easier spinning cotton and a lot cheaper too.

??? How's that ???

Textiles- Hemp and Cotton

Cotton requires the use of pesticide for its cultivation, and a huge volume of chemicls in its manufacturing process. Hemp, however, never requires the use of these harmful substances, a fact that makes it cheaper to produce. Hemp textile is four times more durable than cotton, and its productivity per unit of land area is three to five times higher than that of cotton.

Not to mention that a farmer could get three to four harvest each growing season making it far moore profitable for farmers. Dow Chemical, Monsanto and other like companies have taken noticed of the rise in hemp production abroad and the eventual production in the U.S. and have been developing hybrid hemp seeds.

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

[nanook 1]

True. Cotton requires more TLC to grow. But it cost way more to process hemp. Cotton produces less waste when it is spun and was way cheaper to manufacture regardless of harmful substances. Look into the growing and/or manufacturing processing. . .just because there are more steps involved doesn't neccessairly mean inefficiency.

Also, beware of the consumer. In the U. S. the mighty buck talks. It more than likely will all have to be exported to foreign countries to be made into finnished goods before it's cheaper for any consumer to buy it here. That means we have to compete with europe canada and other countries in export.

I'm all for legalizing it. I think it's silly banning something out of similarities, but it won't be commercially grown. . .unless those European studies prove fruitful.

_____________________________

"The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never know if they are genuine" - Abraham Lincoln

[ExAFO 0]

I find it amusing that only stoners advocate the legalization of hemp. Could it be that legalizing hemp may be seen as a first step towards something else?? Coincidence? I think not...

Ulterior motives are a funny thing...

Illinois needs a CCW Law. NOW.

[freethefly 6]

Problems with conventional cotton production

http://www.panna.org/
The following is excerpted from PANNA’s Organic Cotton Briefing Kit
Conventionally grown cotton uses more insecticides than any other single crop and epitomizes the worst effects of chemically dependent agriculture. Each year cotton producers around the world use nearly $2.6 billion worth of pesticides -- more than 10% of the world's pesticides and nearly 25% of the world's insecticides.

Cotton growers typically use many of the most hazardous pesticides on the market including aldicarb, phorate, methamidophos and endosulfan. Cotton pesticides are often broad spectrum organophosphates--pesticides originally developed as toxic nerve agents during World War II--and carbamate pesticides.

Pesticides used on cotton–even when used according to instructions–harm people, wildlife and the environment. These pesticides can poison farm workers, drift into neighboring communities, contaminate ground and surface water and kill beneficial insects and soil micro-organisms.

Farmers and Farmworkers
In many developing countries, farmers and farmworkers work in cotton fields with few if any safety precautions to protect them from pesticides. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, farmers in many developing countries use antiquated and dangerous pesticide application equipment, resulting in spills and poisonings. In Pakistan, one of the top five cotton producing countries, approximately 50% of applied pesticides are wasted due to poor spraying machinery and inappropriate application. A 1997 Danish television documentary showed methyl parathion being sprayed on cotton fields in Nicaragua and Guatemala while children played in and beside the fields. It also documented numerous cases of methyl parathion poisonings in cotton production. Pesticide poisoning remains a daily reality among agricultural workers in developing countries, where up to 14% of all occupational injuries in the agricultural sector and 10% of all fatal injuries can be attributed to pesticides.

Farmworkers are also threatened by hazardous pesticides in industrialized countries. In one study of pesticide illnesses in California, cotton ranked third among California crops for total number of worker illnesses caused by pesticides. In September 1996, approximately 250 farmworkers in California were accidentally sprayed with a mixture of highly toxic pesticides when a crop dusting plane applied the chemicals to a cotton field adjacent to a field where workers were harvesting grapes. Twenty-two workers were rushed to hospitals with symptoms of acute pesticide poisoning. According to the crop dusting company, the pilot was experienced and followed regulations. County officials stated that the chemicals are registered for use on cotton and that the duster was not required to notify workers in the grape field prior to spraying.

Wildlife & Domestic Animals
Fish killed by pesticide run-off: In 1995, pesticide-contaminated runoff from cotton fields killed at least 240,000 fish in Alabama. Shortly after farmers had applied pesticides containing endosulfan and methyl parathion to cotton fields, heavy rains washed them into the water. The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries stated that there was no indication that the pesticides were applied in an illegal manner.

Livestock: Meat and milk contaminated by pesticide-laden cotton straw. In 1994, Australian beef was found to be contaminated with the cotton insecticide Helix® (chlorfluazuron), most likely because cattle had been fed contaminated cotton straw. In response, several countries suspended beef imports from Australia. One year later, farmers were alarmed to discover that newborn calves were also contaminated with Helix, apparently because it was passed through their mother's milk. In a similar case, 23 farms in New South Wales and Queensland were placed in quarantine after inspectors discovered high levels of endosulfan in beef cattle, possibly due to endosulfan spray drift contaminating grazing land. Since 1987, Australian beef exporters have lost millions of dollars due to concerns about chemical contamination.

Birds: It has been estimated that pesticides unintentionally kill at least 67 million birds in the U.S. each year, and it’s likely they kill many more. Estimates of bird kills from pesticides are notoriously low because many birds remain hidden in brush, are carried away by scavengers or die away from treated areas where they won’t be counted. In one case, a breeding colony of laughing gulls near Corpus Christi, Texas, was devastated when methyl parathion was applied to cotton three miles away. More than 100 dead adults were found and 25% of the colony’s chicks were killed.

Ecological Disasters & Crop Failure
Texas, U.S.A.: Massive pesticide spraying causes massive pest outbreaks. The boll weevil has been a major cotton pest longer and is reported to have caused greater cash losses than any other insect in the history of agriculture. Since the mid-twentieth century, there have been many attempts to eliminate boll weevils with synthetic pesticides, including DDT, toxaphene and methyl parathion. Many of these attempts have led to major ecosystem imbalances and resulting crop failures.

In 1995, farmers in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas lost $150 million worth of cotton due to extensive malathion spraying that led to massive secondary pest outbreaks. The U.S. government recommended the spraying program as an attempt to eradicate boll weevils from the state, and the majority of farmers voted to go with the plan in 1994. The next year, malathion destroyed not only boll weevils, but spiders, wasps and other beneficial insects, allowing beet army worms and aphids to flourish as never before. One cotton gin operator ginned only 354 bales of cotton in 1995 after contracting for 12,500.

Similar problems have occurred in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee, where the eradication program has also been tried. Farmers in eastern Mississippi voted to end the eradication program due to crop losses in 1995, and in 1996, Rio Grande Valley farmers voted three to one to end the boll weevil program.

Nicaragua: In the 1977/1978 season, at the height of Nicaragua’s cotton boom, cotton was grown on 463,000 hectares. But massive quantities of toxic insecticides were used in the process, leading to a range of new problems. Several previously minor pests became major problems as pesticides eliminated the beneficial insects that held them in check. In addition, insect resistance to pesticides seriously weakened the efficacy of many chemicals. In response, farmers applied so many chemicals that by the late 1980s pesticides accounted for approximately 50% of production costs. Besides making cotton production financially unviable, pesticides also introduced serious health and environmental problems, including farm worker poisonings, fish kills and deep well contamination. By 1990, Nicaragua’s cotton production had declined to 35,000 hectares, less than one fifth its previous level. One UN study estimated that the social and environmental costs of insecticide use in Nicaragua during the cotton boom approached $200 million per year (compared to $141 million in cotton income at the peak of Nicaragua’s cotton boom).

Uzbekistan: Cotton has left a severe scar on the once-fertile steppes of Uzbekistan, formerly a Soviet state. Early this century, government planners decided that the Soviet Union should be self-sufficient in cotton and began draining the Aral Sea to irrigate millions of acres for cotton production.

Uzbekistan eventually became the source of 90% of the Soviet Union’s cotton crop and remains one of the top five cotton producing countries worldwide. But the price of this production has been deadly. Intense pesticide use combined with poor irrigation practices have left fields barren, too contaminated with pesticides and salt to grow anything. Drinking water supplies over vast areas are dangerously polluted. In Kzyl-Orda, the largest city in the Aral region, there has been a frightening increase in childhood illnesses, including blood diseases and birth defects. Pesticide residues in women’s breast milk, first measured in 1975, are now detected with increasing frequency. In addition, water diversion has reduced the Aral Sea to 60% its original surface area–some 11,000 square miles once under water are now dry and saline, and villages once dependent on fishing are now stranded miles from the shore. Thanks to conventional cotton production, the Aral Sea, once the world’s fourth largest body of fresh water, is too saline and polluted with pesticides to support fish.

One solution; http://www.sustainablecotton.org/


http://www.diaperpin.com/clothdiapers/article_hemp.asp

Another solution is 50/50 cotton-hemp blended fabrics. Hemp provides another viable crop while reducing the need for greater cotton production. This means less pesticides, less erosion, less leaching as hemp does not require what cotton does. Hemp is a natural erosion barrier, does not leach the soil and requires no pesticides and can provide 3-4 harvest each year as opposed to one for cotton.

As for cost, the high cost to process hemp is due to lack of technological advancement in processing equipment. Which is changing due to increase in demand for hemp.
http://www.hemphasis.com/indisty5.htm

http://www.tex.in/fiber/fiber.html

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

[skydyvr 0]

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By the time it was (accidentally?) banned in '37 . . .

Hmm . . same year Dupont "accidently" patented a new invention . . . nylon.

. . =(_8^(1)

[narcimund 0]

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I find it amusing that only stoners advocate the legalization of hemp. Could it be that legalizing hemp may be seen as a first step towards something else?? Coincidence? I think not...

I find it amusing that as soon as someone advocates for the legalization of hemp it's automatically presumed they're a stoner. Coincidence? I think not...

Ulterior motives are indeed a funny thing...

First Class Citizen Twice Over

[kallend 1,644]

Quote

Quote

I find it amusing that only stoners advocate the legalization of hemp. Could it be that legalizing hemp may be seen as a first step towards something else?? Coincidence? I think not...

I find it amusing that as soon as someone advocates for the legalization of hemp it's automatically presumed they're a stoner. Coincidence? I think not...

Ulterior motives are indeed a funny thing...

I advocate the legalization of hemp and I've never used it, nor have I ever smoked pot. I advocate it on the grounds that the government shouldn't be banning stuff in general.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[nanook 1]

did nylon really replace hemp? It was already on a major decline before that patent. U.S Hemp's major killer was Phillipine Hemp and other types of fibers. I figured the illegalization was pushed by loggers. Anyone know if DuPont could have supplied hydrogen peroxide (to hemp producers) vs. chlorine bleach( to logging industry)?

_____________________________

"The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never know if they are genuine" - Abraham Lincoln

[nanook 1]

I say legalize it too. It won't create a slippery slope to MJ legalization. Now, it's illegalization has already caused permanent damage to it as a resource. Maybe research will show other uses in the future. . .

_____________________________

"The trouble with quotes on the internet is that you can never know if they are genuine" - Abraham Lincoln

[dorbie 0]

Quote

I find it amusing that only stoners advocate the legalization of hemp. Could it be that legalizing hemp may be seen as a first step towards something else?? Coincidence? I think not...

Ulterior motives are a funny thing...

Rubbish,

didn't you watch the video? I posted it for you.

Hemp is NOT illegal, you just need to register and get a tax stamp.

It's as illegal as driving a car. Now imagine some fascist stopped issuing driving licenses on some misguided and unrelated political crusade.....

It is ridiculous to outlaw a raw material for NO reason, Hemp is not the pot producing plant it is merely a related one. It's like banning house cats because tigers can kill people. Aren't you ashamed to be taking the side you are?

You're the one who should have to justify your position not the other way around, but all you can do is call people names. What's wrong with the free market for this commodity?

[ExAFO 0]

If it's not illegal, STFU and do it.

Illinois needs a CCW Law. NOW.

[dorbie 0]

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If it's not illegal, STFU and do it.

Can't you read?