SustainableHemp.Net
There is one thing that we all have in common: this tiny planet we share. Today the world is throwing around terms like "sustainability" and "green living" but what does that really mean? Hemp is one of the most diverse plants on the planet, and could literally supply most of humankinds needs for fuel, food, clothing, building products, and medicine.
Despite its usefulness, hemp is illegal to grow in the United States. This site is intended to be an avenue for the community to find sustainable hemp products to purchase, as well as a source of information about this diverse and wonderful plant called HEMP.
There is a truth that must be heard! That's what the Sustainable Hemp is all about.
The Restore Newsletter is an information service and moderated discussion group for efforts to end marijuana prohibition and promote industrial hemp.
"Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country." -Thomas Jefferson
The reason marijuana is illegal has very little to do with drugs, and is really about money and the continued centralization of economic and political control. Hemp seed oil is biodiesel and is three times more productive than any other seed oil crop, and hemp seed oil will run any diesel engine today with no modification. Hemp oil is the reason the petrochemical industry made up the "reefer madness" myth. They renamed hemp, using racist propaganda, calling it marijuana, and lied to make it illegal. There is a truth that must be heard! That's what the Hempstalk Festival is all about.
The cannabis sativa plant produces more protein, oil and fiber than any other plant on earth. Hempseed, for example, was an essential part of our ancestors' diet and is the source of "gruel," the porridge that is referred to in countless stories and books written before this century.
The longest, strongest, most elastic, and most durable fiber in nature, Hemp yields cloth, canvas, cordage, and other textiles. Hemp can be made into biodegradable plastics, more resistant to heavy blows than steel. Hemp has the most cellulose of any plant, and plastics are made from cellulose. Currently hemp cellulose is being used as a replacement for fiberglass car parts because hemp Biocomposites are lighter and safer than other alternatives.
Hemp can make virtually any building material including caulking, cement, fiberboard, flooring, insulation, paneling, particleboard, plaster, plywood, stucco, reinforced concrete, mortar, and biodegradable plastic. Hemp hurd can be compressed into foundations which are seven times stronger than concrete, half as heavy, and three times more elastic. Even under extreme pressure hemp-reinforced buildings will bend, but are less likely to break, and actually continue to get harder and stronger after they set.
Hemp seed oil can be used as fuel to drive cars and heat homes because Hemp produces biomass, which can be converted into charcoal for electricity, ethanol, methanol and other sources of fuel. Burning biomass for energy, instead of fossil fuels, helps keep the carbon dioxide cycle in balance, and thus helps to stop global warming, instead of contributing to it as the burning of fossil fuels does.
Hemp produces more biomass than any plant practical for farming, substantially more than corn, sugarcane, or kenaf. One acre of hemp can produce 10 tons of biomass every four months of growing season. Hemp fuel is the most cost effective and environmentally friendly reusable energy source on the planet, and could potentially make the U.S. less dependent on foreign petroleum.
An acre of hemp will produce from four to ten times as much paper pulp as will an acre of trees, over the period of time it takes pulp trees to grow to maturity, and hemp can be used to make paper more durable and environmentally friendly than wood. Changing to hemp-based paper could reduce deforestation by half. Hemp paper lasts hundreds of years longer than paper made from trees and doesn't require toxic bleaching chemicals.
