#SaveTheTrees
I feel like an important message is trying to be communicated to me but I have no idea what it is
Our forests are being cut down 3x faster than they can grow! One acre of hemp produces as much cellulose fiber pulp as 4.1 acres of trees!!! This is super useful for so many things, especially paper production! In addition, hemp takes in carbon dioxide 4x as fast as trees do, which makes it especially valuable in the act of reducing CO2 emissions/greenhouse gases! 🌲🌲🌲 source
#the scope of the anti-hemp conspiracy in the united states is terrifying once you start doing research tbh#like it was initially smeared/banned bc lumber lobbyists pushed for it to be…#and a major smear tactic was to associate it with black people#who now a hundred years later are the ones primarily being imprisoned for it#and the plant itself has now been inextricably linked to the drug so people won’t even allow for it to be grown for commercial purposes#like paper making (via literallyfuckeveryone)
Important reminder that industrial hemp can’t be used as a recreational drug, so if anyone tries to pull that card you can just stop them then and there. There are no real arguments against using industrial hemp, even if you’re rigidly against the legalization of any recreational drugs.
AYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY I never see pro-hemp on my dash, woo!
Usually the argument on why you can’t have hemp is because then people will hide marijuana in it.
yeah, sure…. if they want shitty, shitty marijuana.
It would be like growing sweet corn and dent corn together. Yeah, they look similar at a distance and they’re closely related, but you don’t want them next to each other as they’ll cross pollinate and you’ll end up with bad versions of both.
Same deal here. a patch of marijuana grown in an open field of hemp IS going to get contaminated and it’ll lower quality of BOTH crops. Your hemp farmer doesn’t want that and if likely going rip out any patches trespassers try to add for same reason.
and the big issue is not even the THC content. Because most quality marijuana is intended to be grown indoors or greenhouses, its a dwarf variety. Short. Fiber hemp is bred for height so as to maximize fiber production. super tall. It’s going to be really obvious, really fast if you’ve got both in the same field even before you get to the point of pollination. what’s this runty bullshit doing in my field?
They also have different growing needs with regards to spacing, harvest time, etc. so the argument that you can hide marijuana in industrial hemp fields are basically bullshit.
anyway… aside from paper, hemp fiber can also be used to make earthquake resistant concrete that’s actually LIGHTER than conventional concrete while being stronger. It’s better at resisting flexing or warping, so ideal for stuff like bridges and highway supports as it’ll better resist large temperature swings and vibration. (”hempcrete” is slightly different, but makes great fire resistant insulation)
You can also use the waste after fiber harvest for animal fodder, including silage. Comparable to corn. and remember, that’s the waste after you’ve harvested for fiber!
Just to add, it can be used for paper, concrete, insulation, cloth and rope (both rough like sack cloth and smooth like cotton), bio degradable plastics (oddly same for banana trees I believe) and then of course for things like fishing lines and nets etc.
It’s a very versatile and useful plant that has been used for hundreds or maybe even thousands of years for material uses, and with modern advances is becoming even more useful thanks to chemical engineering and similar.
