LINKS

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There are many resources available on the subject of hemp. Those listed below have been used in the construction of this web site. They contain links to many other valuable sources of information. Enjoy your reading ...

Links
Abel EJ, Marijuana Farmers the First Twelve Thousand Years at The American Hemp Industries Association at http://thehia.org/index.html - an organisation pushing for growth in industrial hemp industries.

Campaign to Legalize Cannabis International Association International - the experts on hemp and cannabis at This site includes an extensive and comprehensive list of suppliers of hemp products.

Hemphasis - a Canadian pro-hemp organisation can be found on the Industrial Hemp Webring at http://www.hemphasis.com/

and http://www.cannabis.com/hemp

The non-food Agro-Industrial Research Information Dissemination Network states the importance of hemp and can be found via http://www.paston.co.uk/users/webbooks/index.html.

Bibliography
Carson R, 1962, Silent Spring

CLCIA campaign leaflets available on request from The Legalise Cannabis Alliance, POo Box 198, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 2DE.

Columbia History of the World, Harper and Row, 1981.

Conrad C, Hemp - Lifeline to the Future

Crossby A, 1965, America, Russia, Hemp and Napoleon, State University Press

d'Oudney K and d'oudney J, 1997, Cannabis : The facts, Human Rights and the Law, FCDA

d'Oudney K, 1998, Green Solutions

Frazier J 1972, The Marijuana Farmers, Solar Age

The Herald, 28th May 1994.

Herer J, 1993, The Emperor Wears no Clothes, the Authoritative Record of the Cannabis Plant & How Hemp can still Save the World, Green Planet Company - an electric copy can be found on TOP OF PAGE NEXT

HEMP

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HELP RE-EDUCATE
Tell you friends and family about the potential of hemp as a sustainable plant, pass on the address of this web site and teach yourself the subject (see links)
Print off pages of this web site and pass amongst friends
Ask your local library to invest in your favourite books and articles
Set up a simple street campaign to help re-educate the public - generate some simple to the point leaflets.
The CLCIA may be willing to provide you with some leaflets for this purpose

WRITE TO YOUR MP
It would be better to write about single specific issues rather than asking 'why on earth is hemp illegal?' You might for example like to write expressing your concerns about global warming and the risks associated with nuclear energy. You could suggest that hemp biomass is a much safer and more economical means of producing electricity and recommend that your MP reads a copy of the FCDA report by d'Oudney and d'Oudney (1997)

START A PETITION
DEMAND the re-legalization of non-psychoactive hemp, outlining the main reasons why.

USE YOUR CONSUMER INFLUENCE
Purchase hemp products where possible. An increasing demand will stimulate an increase in supply. (The CLCIA have a long list of suppliers). To similar effect, try to boycott products produced by polluting industries.

ENTREPRENEURS
Consider obtaining a licence for growing hemp from the Home Office. There is much potential for business - there is a huge range of products you could consider producing (eco-industry).


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Wood-pulp paper sulphide production ......

Synthetic nylon ......

Fossil fuels ...

Chemical production - fertilizers, pesticides ....

Clear cut logging ....

Hardly a sustainable base for industry!

Think back to when these industries began. Which of all crops served to threaten the chances of making mega-bucks? - it was hemp!

What do businesses attempt to do with competitors?- beat them (at the least) but preferably eradicate them.

'Have we all been conned by money-motivated conspirators?' ask the Campaign to Legalize Cannabis International Association (CLCIA)

There are too many coincidences to out rule the conspiracy theory. Jack Herer notes that hemp was outlawed around the same time as nylon, plastics from coal derivatives and the wood-paper pulp sulphide process were patented by DuPont. This was also around the time that the first machinery for mechanical hemp fibre stripping had been developed. Timber and paper industries would have lost out and, if hemp remained legal, '80% of Du Pont's business would have never come to be; nor would the great majority of pollution'.

Similarly oil companies kept prices low and then increased them for big profits once hemp oil was outlawed. Hemp has also been written out of history - not many people know that it was the mainstay of human culture for centuries.

Although the British government and some American states are beginning to allow farmers to grow hemp under licence, there is still much resistance because of the powerful vested interests that be - notably:

Chemical Industry - providers of fertilizers and pesticides for the cotton industry
Plastics Industry
Timber Companies
Fuel Companies (oil and nuclear)




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Helping Earth's Sustainable Management with a Plant
ECO-INDUSTRY

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Hemp has the potential to be grown sustainably - it is a hardy, tolerant annual plant, and consistently produces high yields. Rather than harvesting other resources to extinction to fuel our industrial demands, at the expense of the environment, this resource could become the foundation of a pollution free eco-industry.

Textiles
Current demand for textiles is satisfied by the intensive production of cotton and synthetics. Both of these have associated environmental problems. To produce high yields, cotton crops require pesticides, fertilizers and much water. Over 50% of the world's agricultural chemicals are used in cotton production. Synthetic production on the other hand involves the creation of toxic by-products.

Hemp however, can be grown organically. Fibres are hand stripped from the stem rather than big factories with smoke stacks and hazardous chemicals. Riddlestone et al claim that the crop certainly 'merits consideration as a new linen-like, environmentally friendly , textile fabric'. It is similar to flax (the fibres which make linen) in texture and cost, although contains twice the amount of fibre and is stronger.
It could be successfully grown in the South of England and could be produced with adapted flax machinery.

Hemp even has street cred! Kathryn Hamnet, the famous British clothes designer has recently offered to design hemp-wear, and the first pair of Levi Strauss jeans were made from hempen cloth.

Clothing, upholstery, nappies and much more!

Paper
Forest clearing and paper and clearly related. Whilst many suppliers now claim to be using paper from sustainable tree plantations - can we really be sure? Most European and North American forests have already been cleared, and the paper industry clearly had a stake in it. Since the beginning of the 20th century, increasing demand has been used to build profitability, and timber has been regarded as a cheap and readily available resource. Clearing of forests is most unsustainable. Traditional chlorine paper bleaching and the use of sulphuric acid to break wood down into pulp are also particularly harmful.

WE NEED A SUSTAINABLE PAPER SOURCE, INVESTMENT AND TECHNOLOGY. What is the resource.....HEMP!

Hemp is an annual, fast-growing plant with 3-4 times the productivity of trees for paper production. Before 1900, paper was made from recycled rags which usually consisted of 75-90% hemp. Hemp paper is known to be durable and flexible and this has more recently been confirmed (Palni et al 1999). Pressures upon forests could be reduced and chemicals deposited into waterways would be reduced by up to 80% - sulphuric acids are not required to break hemp fibres into pulp and the product can be effectively bleached with the relatively harmless hydrogen peroxide rather than chlorine.

Plastics
Traditional plastic manufacture involves the use and creation of many toxins. Some plastics themselves are even declared to be toxic to humans. These include PCBs which disrupt hormones, PCTs - endocrime disrupters (which have now been outlawed, but not removed from the environment), non biodegradable phylates found in childrens' toys and PVC construction materials, and the hormonal disrupting Bisphenol a. Uugh!

The primary constituent (77%) of plastics is cellulose .... What's the highest cellulose content plant known to man? .... hemp! Cellulose can be extracted to produce non-toxic plastics!

Building Materials
The use of hard woods unless certified sustainable has become infamous and unpopular thanks to the work of charities like WWF. Hard woods have been all too often the result of large scale forest clearances from the world's richest and most precious resource - the rain forest. Is there a viable alternative for our building trade?

Hempen-plastic alternatives can be used to replace PVC window frames. The hurds from hemp stalks can be petrified by the addition of lime to form a mineral. Archaeologists have discovered a bridge built in Southern France between 500-751AD made by such means. There is a huge potential for all types of building materials to be created using this method - bricks, roofing tiles and plumbing pipes. Non-toxic paints, sealants and alternatives to bitumen can also be created.


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GLOBAL WARMING

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Whilst there is still some doubt that global warming is occurring, the possibility of it has been recognized for over a century. Reports including those from the Office of Technology of Assessment from the 1970s onwards indicate that warming IS occurring. Temperature records (1850-2000) indicate that there has been a fluctuating, gradual rate of increase in both temperature and energy - hence the increased occurrence of 'freak' weather incidents such as hurricanes and floods. Climatologists agree that greenhouse gases are responsible for warming the atmosphere and that 66% of greenhouse gases are caused by burning fossil fuel, deforestation and fertilizers.

All though some 'experts' (most notably those with affiliation to greenhouse gas producing industries) remain sceptical over whether global warming is occurring or not, we should at least err on the side of caution. Freak weather incidents, and rising sea levels are likely to have significant negative effects upon human civilizations. The UK government is committed to increased reliance upon nuclear energy, which creates the additional risks associated with the storage of radioactive waste and radioactive emissions. Alternatives to the burning of fossil fuels, nuclear waste, deforestation and nitrate chemical fertilizers need to be developed. Hemp could have a vital role to play in the development of friendly alternatives.

Energy production
A report published by the FCDA of Europe outlines the Cannabis Biomass Energy Equation (CBEE), outlining a convincing case that hemp plants can be used to produce fuel energy CHEAPER per BtU than fossil fuels and uranium - WITHOUT PRODUCING GREENHOUSE GASES! Hemp plants have the highest known quantities of cellulose for annuals - with at least 4x (some suggest even 50-100x) the biomass potential of its closest rivals (cornstalks, sugarcane, kernaf and trees) (Omni, 1983). Biomass production still produces greenhouse gases, although the idea is that the excess of carbon dioxide will be used up by growing hemp plants - they are effective absorbers and thrive at high levels - Unlike fossil fuel energy which produces energy from plants which died millions of years ago.

On reading the report of the FCDA, Hon. Jonathon Porrit (ex-director of Friends of the Earth, currently on the Board of Forum for the Future) commented 'I DID enjoy reading it - the report should contribute much'. Three years later - authorities are still not taking the potential of this plant seriously. MAFF are currently engaging in supporting research into the biomass potential of poplar trees which they claim has the most scientific support for biomass energy production. H-E-M-P recommend use of the hemp plant if biomass energy production is to have any real impact in reducing carbon dioxide levels.

IT'S SO PRODUCTIVE! 1 acre of hemp = 1,000 gallons of methanol.

In fact, Henry Ford's first car ran on hemp-methanol! - and at just a fraction of the cost of petroleum alternatives. Alternatives to coal, fuel oil, acetone, ethyl, tar pitch and creosote can be derived - from this one single plant!

As regards depletion of the ozone layer - hemp actually withstands UV radiation. It absorbs UV light, whilst resisting damage to itself and providing protection for everything else.

Risk-free, pollution-free energy. No acid rain, and a reduction in airborne pollution of up to 80% ... There's further potential for the same in industry.

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If I came to post in my blog would I be wasting my time! And they want Dawn to start her blog too! lol Everyone has scoffed at what I said I learned from Free, but maybe it could just save your planet! I'll give you an example! Ecology
HEMP-REVOLUTION
CANNABIS HEMP IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT TOOL TO REVITALIZING OUR ENVIRONMENT AND PROMOTING NEW GLOBAL CONCERN

Many people know that Cannabis Hemp will be good for our environment. IT has been endorsed by various political & environmental groups. There are a variety of ways that Cannabis Hemp can promote environmental awareness and help restore our earth. Until now, however, Cannabis Hemp has been a low priority among environmental activists, especially due to its association with Marijuana. Here on this website are the summary uses of Cannabis Hemp for our environment. No one should doubt this vital information. There is no better solution to our ecological problems. The truth is as plain as day.

GLOBAL WARMING and CANNABIS HEMP:

Global warming is not a myth. Many people see Global Warming as the most threatening force of destruction on our planet. Global Warming is linked to a number of other environmental problems affecting the earth. Millions of people would die as a result of global warming if no changes were made.[i]

The threat of global warming has already prompted large money and time investments on the part of environmental watchdog groups like the Sierra Club.

Briefly summarized, global warming is the increasing buildup of Carbon Dioxide in our atmosphere. Carbon Dioxide is released when fossil fuels, such as coal or petroleum, are burned for energy. In the last 100 years alone we have increased our CO2 levels by 30%[ii], with a noticeable effect on the environment. Our sea levels are rising, the global temperature is increasing, our glaciers are melting, and scientists predict further and more massive levels of destruction in the coming years. The dependence on petroleum products and fossil fuels could potentially ruin the earth, making it possibly uninhabitable in the coming centuries.

Power plants release carbon dioxide when they produce energy. In 1998 electric utilities released about 550 million tons into the atmosphere.[iii] Because the carbon dioxide comes from energy that has been stored for millions of years, this adds an unexpected burden to the environment. While plants help a little by taking CO2 out of the atmosphere, there is far too much for the plants to take it all in.

Burning Cannabis Hemp for energy would solve this problem. Cannabis Hemp is a plant, and gets its energy from the sun. This process, called photosynthesis, produces oxygen and takes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. An increase of plant growth both domestically and abroad would lower the CO2 levels in our atmosphere, and promote a healthy environment. Growing Cannabis for other goods (like fibers) would further decrease our excess CO2 burden.

It is possible to produce all of our energy with Cannabis Hemp. The unique growing properties of the plant make it the ideal crop for our energy needs. One acre of Cannabis Hemp can produce 1000 gallons of methanol in a single growing season. Any CO2 released from burning Cannabis Hemp would be the same CO2 the plant had already taken from the environment, creating what is called a closed carbon cycle. A closed carbon cycle system of energy production would slow down the effects of global warming, and with well-implemented plant growth could possibly stop global warming entirely.[iv] No other plant on earth could meet the needs of global energy consumption, but Cannabis Hemp could.

Our automobiles account for much of the CO2 released into the ecosystem. Already electric cars are available to the public to promote reduced gasoline consumption. But electric cars are inefficient, and the support structure for this type of automobile is not in place. In 1998 transportation fuels accounted for almost 500 million tons of CO2 emissions.[v] Meanwhile, our gas prices are skyrocketing, taking money directly from our pockets.

Cannabis Hemp can produce a clean-burning, energy efficient form of gasoline, with less cost to the consumer. Already, ethanol is added to gasoline to increase octane levels and efficiency. Henry Ford of Ford motors believed that eventually all cars would run entirely on ethanol. Cannabis Hemp can easily be fermented into alcohol in the form of ethanol. Small ethanol production stills from corn and other crops already exist in the United States. Making ethanol and gasoline from Cannabis Hemp would further reduce CO2 emissions and help regenerate our suffering planet. The National Renweable Energy Lab in Colorado, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Energy have all stated that to help the environment, we must produce biodiesel and bioethanol.

If ethanol production proves too daunting, and more immediate solutions are warranted, cannabis hemp can also be converted into fuel oils to produce gasoline directly. Cannabis gasoline would not contain other harmful emissions associated with automobiles (such as sulfur), but it would release carbon dioxide. Still, as mentioned earlier, this CO2 would be the same CO2 the cannabis plant had already absorbed, and so there would be no net increase. Either way, Cannabis Hemp fuels will be essential in the new century.

It is essential that Cannabis Hemp be used to produce energy. Our environment is precious and we have the potential to stop the destruction. Our global ecosystems cannot wait. Support Cannabis Hemp for renewable energy and help save our environment.

DEFORESTATION and CANNABIS HEMP:

The timber industry has long been essential to produce jobs and manufacture products in our country. This has been, alas, at great expense to our environment. Logging destroys forests, hurts streams, kills animals and plants, wipes out species, and pollutes our environment, to name just a few of its problems. Still, the resource has been essential through modern day and so we keep cutting down trees. Now it is time to stop, before we lose more of our precious heritage.

Today we make 93% of our paper from trees, including cardboard, printing paper, newspaper, etc. We use almost 40% of our forests for timber.[vi] This fills our water with nitrates, and that has terrible effects on the ecosystem. One quarter of our forests are critically imperiled, meaning they are vulnerable or unique. Many of these critically imperiled forests are not currently protected and could be destroyed any time. This problem even reaches into our wallets. We gave the Forest Service two billion dollars in subsidies from 1992-1997. This means we are actually paying taxes to destroy our own trees and heritage.[vii]

Cannabis Hemp can replace any of the products made from timber. No more forests would be needlessly wasted. This would save precious resources and renew the ecosystems. More importantly, it would mean more beautiful heritage to grow for our children.

All the paper we make from trees could be made better by using Cannabis Hemp. We would make more paper per acre. Each Cannabis plant grown saves 12 trees. Cannabis Hemp uses about 1/7 the chemicals in paper manufacture. Right now we cut down about 500 million cubic meters of forest every year.[ix]

Cannabis could be used for particleboards of any size, as well as insulation, drywall, cabinets, and furniture. We could build a house from Cannabis Hemp materials without excess pollution, and without cutting down a single tree.

Logging our trees is without cause. There is no more need to waste our land when Cannabis Hemp could easily replace our timber. This destruction reaches into the homes and pockets of every taxpayer, and meanwhile our children cannot play in the streams and the logging industry gets another needless government refund. Now it is time to turn to the future. Hemp is our solution.

ACID RAIN and CANNABIS HEMP:

Acid Rain comes from byproducts released in the fumes when we burn fossil fuels (petroleum, coal, etc.). Acid rain affects our environment in several ways, and can harm humans as well. Acid rain is also damaging to buildings and structures; it decays unprotected monuments and statues important to our cultural heritage.[x]

The primary ingredients for acid rain are sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. We release these compounds into our atmosphere when we burn fuel. They mingle with water and oxygen particles in our atmosphere and create compounds. The compounds have an acidic pH level, and when they eventually fall this affects the earth in a variety of manners.

Last year we released 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the environment. When acid rain changes the pH of a lake or stream, the plants and animals can be harmed. Small food species like the mayfly cannot handle the change and will die out. Larger species that consume bugs like the mayfly (frogs, in this case) will also be affected. The whole ecosystem is in jeopardy. Animals like the clam cannot handle lower than pH 6. Meanwhile our lakes and streams are gradually getting more acidic. Little Echo Pond in New York has a pH of 4.2. If we continue this pace in the coming years, more of our precious resources will die out. There are already mounting levels of sulfur in our streams, lakes, and forests. Some lakes have no fish left at all.[xi]

When acid rain falls onto a forest floor the soil pH lowers. The whole ecosystem grows more slowly. While acid rain does not seem to affect trees directly, it can heavily damage roots and poison them. The sulfur dioxides can prevent vital nutrients from absorption. Acid rain releases aluminum and other toxic substances into the soil. Once the trees are weakened, they are more vulnerable to disease or insects, and even cold weather.

Acid rain affects more than our natural environment. Our statues and monuments, our buildings and houses, all deteriorate over time, and acid rain speeds this process. Statues like the Parthenon lose their features and will never be replaced. Acid rain decays the marble on our steps and columns, and the metal on our buildings. Replacing damage from acid rain can cost billions of dollars.[xii]

There is no reason for us to poison our own planet. Clean energy from Cannabis Hemp would totally solve this problem. Cannabis Hemp does not contain high levels of nitrogen or sulfur. If we burned Cannabis Hemp for electricity and gasoline we would stop releasing sulfur compounds. Because Cannabis Hemp grows very rapidly and is easily harvestable, we could produce all the energy and gasoline we needed from Cannabis Hemp. When that happens, we can start to rebuild our decaying forests and structures without fear that they will be destroyed again.

There are a number of problems caused by needless fossil fuel use. Cannabis Hemp for energy is the necessity of the future and will soon be in place all over the world. When acid rain goes away the forests will become healthy again. Nature will begin to resume its balance
[i] I am speculating. People die every year as a result of heat waves, tropical storms, and extreme weather. If we keep taking resources from fossil fuels we will totally destroy the environment, and then we would all die. The EPA and the DOE both state the need for renewable fuels in the coming century, and Cannabis Hemp will provide us with all our energy needs
[ii]
According to the Sierra Club
[iii]
Department of Energy Annual Review 1999
[iv]
Chris Conrad, Lifeline to the Future
[v]
Department of Energy Annual Review 1999
[vi]
39% according to The State of the Nation's Ecosystems, www.us-ecosystems.org/forests/index.html
[vii]
According to the Sierra Club
[ix]
55 million cubic metres per year every year, and a 40% increase by 2040, US Forestry Service
[x]
According to the Environmental Protection Agency
[xi]
According to the Environmental Protection Agency
[xii]
According to the Environmental Protection Agency
TOXIC CHEMICALS and CANNABIS HEMP:
EXTINCTION and CANNABIS HEMP:
PLASTIC and CANNABIS HEMP:
ECONOMY and CANNABIS HEMP:
WORLD HUNGER and CANNABIS HEMP:
THIRD WORLD DEVELOPMENT and CANNABIS HEMP:
CORAL REEFS and CANNABIS HEMP:
POACHING and CANNABIS HEMP:
THE AGRARIAN SOCIETY and CANNABIS HEMP:

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