Could Hemp save the planet?

By Yucatan Times
Source: theyucatantimes.com


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With the capability to produce vital resources such as rope, clothing, and paper, the hemp plant has played a crucial role throughout our history. Archeological evidence suggests that we’ve been using hemp since as early as 8,000 B.C., making it the first plant ever cultivated.

While hemp is very famous for its healing properties and for the creation of fibres, it is also famous for the environment, as some experts believe that its cultivation could help reduce pollution in different ways.

Hemp roots help to remove heavy metals from the soil, thus helping its regeneration and decontamination, therefore, its cultivation would benefit the regeneration of the environment, in addition it perfectly favours the cleaning of soils.

Hemp can be used to produce a steel alternative that is 10 times stronger than steel and 6 times more efficient at mending and bending than steel. The use of hemp steel will also reduce the negative impacts of steel production such as harmful emissions into the air and water, waste, and energy usage.

Not only can hemp help preserve our planet and improve our manufacturing, it can help fuel us forward and decrease our dependence on fossil fuels.

According to the National Hemp Association, hemp can be used to produce two types of fuels:

• Biodiesel — produced from the oil of the pressed hemp seed
• Ethanol/Methanol — produced from the fermented hemp stalk

A study published in 2015 estimated that we cut down an astronomical 15 billion trees every year, and since the rise of human civilization, the population of trees has decreased 46%, now what if we told you hemp could do a better job at purifying air than trees.

Their cultivation is even more efficient than trees in transforming carbon dioxide into oxygen. A quarter of a hectare of hemp does what a whole hectare of trees would do.