How Hemp Can Save the Environment

by Fu-ya

The environment is collectively the most important natural resource we have; well, it constitutes all natural resources. That is why we must protect the environment, not just for ourselves, but for all the animals who inhabit nature as well. Through the use of hemp, we can help the environment and make it better for current humans and future generations.

Of all the plants, why is hemp so good for the environment? The benefits from hemp come from many angles. The primary reason hemp can help is because it grows in such abundance. When growing, hemp removes massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and it also deposits some of it in to the ground, where it makes the soil richer and prevents it from escaping out again. Just one acre of farmland devoted to hemp can produce many tons of the plant, and that much hemp needs a lot of carbon dioxide to grow. The significance of this is that carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas responsible for causing global warming, so by removing the carbon dioxide, we can prevent and perhaps reverse the warming of this planet. Also, because of the beneficial effects that hemp has on the soil, it can repair barren land and make it ripe for other plants to grow. Very few plants actually improve the soil they grow in, and hemp is one of those plants.

The environmental advantages of hemp do not stop at its growth. No matter where you apply industrial hemp, it just seems to be greener. By making hemp in to paper, thousands of trees can be saved from being cut down. Not only can hemp enable our forests to exist for longer, but the paper made from hemp is much cleaner and easier on the environment than tree paper. This is because hemp does not use many of the harmful chemicals utilized in traditional paper processing, which are terrible for the environment. In dozens of other industries, hemp can provide a lower cost alternative to many materials, including those that are not easily renewable (like trees).

If hemp was allowed to be grown and used freely, then much of the environmental damage we humans have caused can be fixed. This will enable us to live in harmony on the Earth, as well as with other humans and animals.