Hemp is a superhero :
It can nourish us, clothe us, house us and heal us and it can do all this and more without creating an even greater problem than it is meant to resolve. In fact, although they are members of the cannabis family, non-psychotropic hemp varieties contain a maximum of only 0.2% THC and so have no psychoactive effect.
Moreover, once we become more aware of its many uses and its numerous benefits for the environment it could well start turning heads. Cultivated for thousands of years all around the world, hemp was banned, first in the US and then in the rest of the world, to give way to cotton, petroleum derivatives and so on.
Luckily, it has been making a strong comeback for some years now to our great delight and that of our planet. Since 1988, Europe has been subsidising the cultivation of non-psychotropic varieties of hemp.
The hemp culture: natural, simple and productive.
Hemp has the amazing capacity to be cultivated without the use of herbicides, pesticides or fungicides. Naturally robust, it is resistant to a wide range of diseases.
Hemp can be cultivated anywhere and can adapt to any condition, even droughts, it consumes very little water and doesn’t even need watering.Hemp can grow at a very fast pace and reach maturity in just 4 months.
This means it not only has an excellent yield, but this rapid growth also means the plant is an excellent weed-suppressant.
Hemp, the chance of a lifetime for saving the planet.
Hemp is incredibly respectful of the soils in which it grows. It has the capacity to detoxify and to absorb and eliminate chemical and toxic products. To such an extent that hemp was sown en masse around the Chernobyl nuclear power station after the 1986 disaster so as to decontaminate the area.
And what’s more, it also actively contributes to purifying the air we breathe. In fact, hemp absorbs 4 times more CO2 than a tree and so greatly contributes to reducing greenhouse gases.
Everything is good in hemp.
Every part of this multi-faceted plant, from the seeds to the leaves, can be used. For example, its fibre has applications in, amongst other industries, textiles, bioplastics and paper.
Or the seeds which, being rich in protein, lipids and fibres, are the ‘nuggets’ for producing food and cosmetic products. And the leaves and the flowers for their therapeutic properties...
For the players in the building industry who are concerned about the environment, like IsoHemp, hemp shives are of particular interest. This internal part of the stem of the hemp plant makes for fabulous thermal and acoustic insulation.
Did you know ?
In the 1930s, Henry Ford created a car that used a hemp-based bio-fuel.
In 1450, the first bible in history was printed by Gutenberg on hemp-based paper.
In 1492, it was hemp that allowed Christopher Columbus to cross the Atlantic and reach America. His ships’ sails and ropes were made of very hard-wearing hemp.
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