Facts The term “canvas” means hemp. It comes from Arabic term for hemp, which was Cannabis. Until recently canvas meant hemp cloth and was not associated with other materials.
In Bangladesh, “bang” means marijuana so bang-la-desh means marijuana-land-people. The U.S. decided to cropdust Bangladesh because of their disdain for the plant, killing the hemp root system. The root systems held together the hillsides, which subsequently eroded during storms, causing flooding and massive landslides.
Hemp can be used for many things other than shirts and paper, a few of which are mentioned above. Some other ways to use hemp are in nontoxic biodegradable inks, paints and varnishes, plant-based plastics such as cellophane and cellulose-based plastics. In construction, hemp can be used to make pressboard fiber, which usually come from immature trees. Hemp is superior in strength and quality to trees for this purpose. Also, panels, beams, studs and posts can be made out of hemp.
In France, entire houses are made out of hemp, as Madame France Perrier has demonstrated. Using an ancient Egyptian recipe for hemp-based concrete, Perrier mixes hemp hurds (the inner fiber) and limestone and water to form a substance stronger than cement with only 1/6th the weight. Because this hemp-based concrete is more flexible than regular concrete, these houses are better situated to withstand earthquakes.
In the 16th century, hemp was used to make maps, logs and Bibles because it outlasts wood-based paper. Even today, some bibles are made of hemp because they will withstand the tests of time.
For the body, hemp is a great source of vegetable protein. It has a full complement of essential amino acids and essential fatty-acids. It's also been shown to lower blood cholesterol and dissolve plaque in coronary studies. It can be ground into flower and used to bake breads, cookies and all sorts of protein rich foods. The seeds are extrememly nutritious and can also be pressed into edible oil like soybeans. Marijuana comes from the same plant as hemp (Cannibis sativa L.) but so do broccoli and cauliflower. Even the birds like the hemp, they eat the seeds and the seeds used to be included in retail bird-seed for years. Hemp was also used as animal bedding. The porridge used in the folk tales was often made form boiled hemp seeds which could be cooked alone or with other grains. Another name for this porridge was gruel.
Hemp has moisturizing elements that are good for hair and skin.
Between 1993 and 1997 in the US, over a half billion cannabis plants were found and destroyed by US drug agents. The shocking part is that only 14 million of those were marijuana plants. The rest were hemp.
Hemp has had an illustrious history. A few places you will find hemp products are on the coverings of Conestoga wagons. They were also used in the saddlebags and blankets used on Paul Revere's famous ‘midnight ride.'
Our friend hemp is a versatile plant and it also has a few heavy-weight titles. Hemp is the longest and strongest plant fiber. Because we are very concerned about our natural resource, water, it is heart-warming to know that hemp only uses 1/20th the amount of water to grow and process as regular cotton. Hemp is naturally less vulnerable to insects and crowds out other weeds so pesticides and fertilizers become obsolete when we deal with hemp.
Hemp can be worked into other materials like advanced composites which make everything from fast-food containers to skateboard decks to the body of a stealth fighter. The cellulose level of hemp is almost three times that of wood, which makes it a better choice for making paper and turns out four times as much pulp per acre than trees. It also uses less chemicals to process than regular paper, Making paper with hemp doesn't create any of the 2,000 chlorinated organic compounds that are by-products of the wood paper process. In the Upper Midwest and South, studies have shown that hemp fiber can be grown less expensively than wood fiber for paper. The long fibers in hemp let hemp be recycled seven times as opposed to wood-based papers which can only be recycled three times. hemp paper is naturally acid-free and can last up to 1,500 years, while wood papers only last 25-100 years. This is why bibles are often made with hemp paper so they will last longer.
Because of the low lignin content of hemp compared to wood, paper can be pulped with less chemicals. Hemp can be bleached with hydrogen peroxide rather than chlorine, which is better for the environment. Chlorine has been credited or discredited with helping pollute the Great Lakes. fish are still caught and sold for consumption out of waters polluted by mass amounts of chemicals.
Hemp is also quicker when it comes to growth. It's ready for harvest only 120 days after going to seed, whereas trees can take hundreds of years, and usually take more than ten years. Like bamboo, hemp can grow almost anywhere from the extremes of the Saharan desert all the way up to Scandinavia. The hemp plant prefers to live in tropical zones or moderately cool temperate climates, which would make the US a perfect growing zone for hemp.
But alas, hemp is illegal to grow in the United States. It has been mixed up and thought of as interchangeable with marijuana. The misconceptions about hemp have caused it to be banned, have resulted in mass sprayings with pesticides over countries that grow the plant. There are a few countries, despite the U.S. policies, that know the truth. China, England, France, Russia and even Canada all grow hemp. In Ontario, Canada, hemp was rotated as a crop with soybeans and ended up reducing cyst nematode infestation by 50-75%, reducing the need for more pesticides. In England, hemp is grown as a rotation crop with wheat, which has resulted in a 20% increase in wheat yield without any commensurate increase in chemicals. We can import hemp products into the US, but we can't grow and export for our own industrial purposes.
The roots of the hemp plant are like tentacles reaching out under the earth. They can grow to twelve inches long in only a month, which helps prevent erosion of topsoil. The roots can grow up to lengths of three feet or longer. They anchor into the soil and preserve the topsoil and subsoil, keeping them healthy for years without needing to rotate the crop, unlike cotton which depletes the soil of nutrients. Hemp can be grown consecutively for over twenty years without the soil being affected.
Hemp uses almost no water to grow and can usually be rain-fed. When the hemp plant is harvested, the roots remain and the leaves are returned to the fields to keep the soil rich. hemp leaves the soil in better condition than before it was planted.
This amazing plant gives four times as much fiber.the seeds can be eaten to help clean out your system and be used as a natural laxative, but the fiber yield is even higher than the fastest growing trees, and up to 600% more fiber than flax.
Like organic cotton, hemp is harvested and processed by hand, keeping people employed.
The differences between Hemp and marijuana is that the process of growing. Hemp is grown packed together for a strong stalk, where all the fiber is from hemp is derived and marijuana is grown spaced out for its flowering buds that produce the THC or psychoactive or medicinal properties. hemp only has a THC content of 0.05%, while marijuana's THC count is between 3-20%.
Another benefit is that every part of the hemp plant can be used by humans from the root to the stalk, the leaf, the flower, the seeds the pollen and even the resin. Some other uses for hemp are charcoal, tars, methane and other flammable gasses that could help heat homes, for cooking and for the generation of electricity.
Right now the government owns 90 million acres of farmland, where the government pays farmers not to grow crops. On a portion of this area alone, enough hemp could be grown to replace the use of fossil fuels and trees.
The average acre of farmland can provide ten tons (20,000 pounds) of hemp in four months. Because hemp is resistant to UV radiation, it is an excellent choice for sunscreen, body care products, hats, and clothing.
Another similarity to the bamboo, is that the hemp is used for healing. In the past, hemp has been found to reduce the intra-ocular pressure that causes blindness in glaucoma victims more safely and effectively than any other remedy. let's also take a look at marijuana. Marijuana provides relief from asthma, emphysema, anorexia, migraines, rheumatism, arthritis and insomnia as well as a host of other diseases and ailments. It also helps with the nausea that follows chemotherapy and with the wasting syndrome of AIDS.
(Information Courtesy of ONNO T-Shirt Company, Jack Herer)
