Uses of Hemp

Hemp is an incredibly useful plant that can feed us, clothe us, house and medicate us. No only does hemp provide the essentials in life but it does it sustainably. It’s grown in most parts of the world with a minimum of resources, and improves soil health at the same time. It returns atmospheric carbon to the soil efficiently like no other plant. When we start to unpackage hemp the possibilities and potential are truly enormous.

25,000 uses and Counting…

Who has ever counted the different uses of hemp? It’s quoted to be 25,000. Even if you stop at 1000, that’s an enormously resourceful and useful plant to benefit mankind. What about 5000? We’re still only part way there. Hemp surrounds itself with innovation so it’s regularly making its way into new products. Think of technological advances such as deep cycle batteries and bioplastics. Hemp is being included. Wherever hemp appears there’s more than likely positive environmental spin-offs which give us a guilt-free feel good reason to use more of it. Remember the more hemp we grow, the more carbon is sequestered to help mother nature repair our planet.

Hemp Cleans the Mess.

A little known fact about hemp is its ability to clean up toxic and contaminated soils. Think of abandoned industrial sites where soil is polluted and poses a health risk. Planting hemp is a non-destructive tool used to cleanse the soil of unwanted chemical compounds and heavy metals. Don’t ask me how, but it works. You may think that nasty chemicals are still in the system somewhere and the problem simply gets relocated. Apparently not. Whatever happens hemp is well known for cleaning soils and returning them to health.

Bio-plastics.

The most exciting development around hemp is it’s potential to replace harmful plastics we’re surrounded with. Hemp plastic is a natural and non-toxic biodegradable material created from hemp fibre. It is lighter and sometimes stronger than it’s petrochemical cousins, and produced from a renewable resource. Why aren’t we using it more? The cost is higher (but getting cheaper) and the massive industry built around petroleum based plastics will take years to slow down. But hemp plastics are evolving and gaining momentum. Pressure from consumers will eventually turn the tide.

Nutritional Benefits of Hemp.

Ever heard a broken record playing? If you’ve grown up with an ipod then maybe not. If you don’t know, a broken record repeats itself over and over – like good nutritionists spruiking the huge health benefits of eating hemp foods. Simply put, it’s a complete and natural superfood, and mankind has known this for thousands of years. No other plant can give the huge beneficial results to your health and wellbeing like hemp does.

Hemp is Back – Again.

It’s crazy but a long time ago farmers in the USA were fined if they didn’t grow hemp on their land. Hemp was a vital crop for food, clothing, rope and other basic essentials for life. Fast forward to the 1970’s and American farmers were jailed if they grew any hemp at all! It seems that hemp was it’s own worst enemy. Innocent hemp was a threat to other industries and thus unfairly dealt with under the guise of “the war on drugs”. Hemp unjustly found itself on the wrong side of the law in most parts of the world.

Imagine the progress we could have achieved through 40 years of product development around hemp. But today hemp is in the spotlight for the right reasons. Advances in technology spurred on by environmental pressures mean that hemp is finding new ways to include itself into our everyday lives. Just like it used to be.