What is Hemp?
Hemp, otherwise referred to as Cannabis sativa. This plant shares the same family and has a popular recreational and medicinal drug around the world, commonly known as Marijuana or Weed.
Hemp on the other hand is not the same as the marijuana plant and doesn’t have the THC and doesn’t have the psychoactive properties of other plants within its family.
This plant can be grown all around the world, including in countries like China, Canada, Pakistan, the USA, Chile, France and North Korea
What is sustainability?
Before we discuss whether Hemp is sustainable or not, we need to address what is meant by sustainability.
Sustainable refers to the ability it has to be grown and distributed, whilst doing so in a way that’s socially, economically and environmentally beneficial. This enables the practice to be maintained and expanded in the long term.
Is Hemp Sustainable?
The short answer is…. yes absolutely. In this article, we are going to go into further detail. why and address any concerns about Hemp in regards to its sustainability.
Benefits of Hemp
Carbon Neutral
Hemp is carbon neutral. This means it absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere during its growth than is emitted during the process of harvesting, processing and transporting the plant.
Time Efficient
Hemp grows significantly faster taking only 60 days to harvest, in comparison to trees which take 10-20 years. As a result of this, the profit margin is significantly higher.
Additionally, the plant requires significantly less space to grow, in contrast to trees, therefore slowing down the process of deforestation.
Versatility
Hemp is extremely versatile. It has over 10,000 applications. Whilst the whole plant can be used, different parts of the plant serve different purposes.
Its seeds can be used for:
- Food
- Flour
- Cooking oil
- Biofuel
Whereas, the stalk can be used for:
- Rope
- Clothing
- Construction
- Paper
Due to its versatility, hemp as a material can play a key role in plastic-free alternatives to packaging as its biodegradable material and has a significantly smaller environmental impact than plastic.
Water Efficient
The plant can absorb a significant amount of water and requires less water than, other plants that can be used for similar purposes. For example, 1kg cotton = 17,000 litres of water vs 1kg hemp = 700 litres. This makes Hemp 24x more water efficient than cotton
Improves Soil Fertility
Unlike many other crops, such as soy and corn. Hemp doesn’t strip away nutrients from the soil and can be grown on one part of the land for a longer time than most crops without causing issues to the health of the soil. This makes it ideal for crop rotation. Hemp also plays a role in depositing carbon and aerating the soil.
Easy To Grow
Hemp is very easy and fast to grow, whilst it doesn’t require the use of pesticides to grow. Pesticides can have a variety of health implications when consuming products that have used pesticides to grow. Pesticides contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals that can have significant health implications when ingested and can cause long-term health implications. If you want to know more about endocrine-disrupting chemicals and the health concerns surrounding them, click here for another one of my blog posts.
Downsides of Hemp
Hemp doesn’t appear to have any downsides to its use and growth. However, synthetic dyes on hemp clothing fabric can have some negative effects, such as synthetic dyes can be very water-intensive to produce and chemical waste is often dumped into bodies of water. This can have environmental impacts on ecosystems and lead to the loss of biodiversity.
Conclusion
Hemp is a really useful crop and sustainable crop. It has numerous benefits to the environment and has yet to be fully utilised on its potential as a staple plastic-free alternative. One of Hemp’s biggest obstacles is the misconceptions surrounding it, due to its common association with the drug marijuana. This production of this plant will be one to watch in the next 10-15 years as these misconceptions simmer and the production increases.
Found this post useful? You can buy me a virtual coffee to help support the site’s running costs.
You might also like
