Save Farms...
Improve the Environment...
Rejuvenate the Economy...
Legalize Industrial Hemp!
It is just a shame that trees are used for nearly all our planet's disposable paper products. Every day we throw acres and acres of trees away in the form of toilet paper, paper towels and plates, disposable diapers, newspapers and magazines, junk mail, office paper and supplies, books, stationary and more.
All of these items could all be made from annually renewable industrial hemp. These products would be of higher quality, require less toxic chemicals to produce, and would generate compost-able trimmings that could go back in to the ground to nourish the soil.
In addition, industrial hemp can be made into the softest, most durable fabric on the planet to make textiles for the home, clothing, and more. Rather than settling for material of inferior quality that creates disposable textiles that only last a year of daily use, we could bring back the pride of fabric and fashions Made in the USA.
Hemp biodiesel is an entirely renewable fuel option that would dramatically reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Unlike Ethanol, Hemp Biodeisel would not destroy the ecosystem as genetically modified corn products have been shown to do in recent years. Affecting honeybees and butterflies health, the GMO corn products that were pushed on farmers to go into Ethanol have not lived up to expectations. Their mutant pollen travels on the wind and contaminates heirloom corn crops, leading to genetically unnatural food products that distress our immune systems and cause a wide range of health problems.
All of these new industry sectors would lead to the creation of millions of new jobs. Farming, harvesting, delivery, processing, manufacturing, distribution, retailing sectors all would be invigorated with new life.
Trees, a slow growing resource that are hard to replace, should be allowed to grow back in tall, lush, well established forests with a tall canopy to improve the quality of the air we breathe.
Fields of fast growing hemp have many benefits. The hemp plant's deep root systems lead to healthier soil within just one growing season. Most of our current farms are suffering from generations of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. Year after year of planting the same few cash crops has drastically diminished the nutritional value of our soil, and as a result, our food.
Instead of the dark, black, alive soil that we should be growing our food in, most farms you see now have dead-looking light brown dust or clay that has had all the nutrition and life taken out of it over the years. Growing hemp and composting with the richly nutritious leaf trimmings could return farms to the vibrant soil quality we need to produce the healthiest fruits and vegetables possible.
The tall, fast growing stalks of hemp are literally overflowing with broad, dark green leaves which are superior oxygen producers that would help clean the damaging greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, out of the air. Using hemp to create all our paper needs would clean the air and let the overall tree population of the planet reach a healthy balance once more.
At the outset of the Industrial Revolution, the use of hemp for paper and fuel was shot down due to pressure from billionaire lumber barons and petrochemical industry leaders of the time who worried selfishly that hemp would reduce their profits. This shortsighted attitude neglected to consider the long term effects on human health and the environment a couple generations of uprooting healthy trees to create short lived disposable paper products would have! It takes fifteen or twenty years to grow one tree and to see that much effort torn down just to wipe our behinds and blow our noses is just a travesty. We can no longer afford to allow the materialistic financial interests of powerful industries to outweigh all common sense and the urgent needs of our environment.
The current federal budget deficit will never be reduced if taxes are considered the main source of income for the government. Instead, the government should form a new green industry cooperative using industrial hemp to pave the way to a more healthy, balanced future for generations to come.
Hemp could be grown on cooperative farms, giving meaningful employment to veterans and people with disabilities, as well as to the unemployed. The new manufacturing companies that would be created to make paper and textile products from hemp would create millions of new jobs, just what we need to reinvigorate the economy.
Due to the rapid growth of Industrial Hemp, benefits could be seen in just one growing season, rather than being delayed for multiple decades. The government should do everything possible to help get the Industrial Hemp sector started, rather than timidly backing the special interests' decisions made behind closed doors generations ago.
Imagine how great an impact just a few years worth of proceeds from products made from hemp could have towards helping us end poverty, improving education, health care, social security, and slowing the alarming damage rapid deforestation is causing our environment. With this one significant policy change it wouldn't be long before we could all breathe a sigh if relief!
Recommended Reading
Herer, Jack. The Emperor Wears No Clothes: Hemp and the Marijuana Conspiracy 12th Edition.
YouTube: watch Hemp for Victory
