Hemp is one of the few plants that can replace wood products saving our forests, it is medicinal, it can either be eaten, sat on, written on, worn, painted on a wall or squirted into a machine and reaps great benefits for the earth per the Hempsters: Plant the Seed video and Hemp: Historic Fiber Remains Controversial article.
The only reason hemp is not grown in the U.S. is because of the confusion, Hempsters: Plant the Seed. At this very moment, hemp is illegal to grow in the United States because it looks too much like the marijuana plant, but it does not grow the same type of foliage (the part you can smoke) and if you do try to smoke hemp, you can end up getting sick. There are also ways to determine the difference in the growing, by looking how close together it is grown, hemp being grown close together and growing taller while marijuana needs space in order to grow.
There are several benefits in choosing hemp over the other products. The ”Are you Being Bamboozled” pamphlet emphasizes that most bamboo textile products are actually rayon, a manufactured polymer, so that shows that bamboo textile products are not what we really think they are, eliminating that choice. In the Hempster’s video, it showed that simply pushing the seed into the ground would be enough germination for the plant to grow. It is also naturally resistant to mold, bacteria and pests, giving it an edge over cotton because cotton requires pesticides to resist those and pesticides hurts us and the earth that we live on. Hemp’s other eco-friendly aspect to cotton is that its dense growth makes it a prime contributor to weed control and elimination, matures in an average of 120 days, and can re-grow on the same land in a matter of two to three years. The entire plant, from the seed to the foliage, can be used for products such as building materials, paper and foods and also helps deplete the forestation
In a test, 100% hemp beat cotton every time because it had 62% greater tear strength and 102% greater tensile strength. This will help clothes last longer like some people desire. Hemp has also showna result of being eight times the tensile strength and four times the durability of other natural fibers, giving hemp the upper hand. Hemp can also be made into carpets, sweaters and t-shirts and even shoes! Per Kevin Webster, vice president of marketing in the Hemp: Historic Fiber Remains Controversial article says that if hemp can be spun fine enough, it can compete against cotton fairly successfully.
Since most small farmers do not like the inherent expense and paperwork required to grow organic cotton, organic cotton is not an option to them, per the Controversy Broiling article. The Hemp: Historic Fiber Remains Controversial article specifies that in a matter of five years, the U.S. will legalize hemp and I believe that when this happens, there will need to be control over it and monitoring. Since we have only been able to import the material, we will be behind on processing it, but we can learn to adapt and research for what is better for the world. Also, by being only able to import hemp, it has given hemp a higher price over cotton, making consumers choosing the cheaper material, but once we are able to legally grow it on our own land, that will cut the costs of hemp and give hemp the advantage over cotton.
Meagen,
ReplyDeleteHemp does seem like it would be a very effective and environmentally friendly alternative fiber! There are surely ways to regulate its growth in the United States, and it seems that we should definitely explore it in our country. Perhaps these crops could be regulated or monitored regularly in order to ensure the crops are being legitimately grown. You mentioned that bamboo would be a less effective product due to the fact that many products are being marketed as bamboo when they are actually rayon. This seems like a major problem, but it does not really explore the reasons why actual bamboo products would not be a good alternative. Are there any other things you found out about bamboo that would make it inferior to hemp as an alternative fiber? Overall your argument is pretty solid, and I am definitely convinced that we should be exploring domestically growing hemp for products.
Beth, in the pamphlet it said that most articles of clothing labeled bamboo are really rayon, making the product rayon and hardly any, if any bamboo so therefore we are not actually experiencing bamboo, it's just the thought they have put in our heads. An article in "Good Housekeeping" states that after all the chemical processing that bamboo goes through to become a viable fiber, it is no different from rayon and loses the antimicrobial and breathability properties of the bamboo plant, making bamboo not the eco-friendly choice.
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DeleteMaegan, I enjoyed reading your blog and the specific information that you pulled from the given articles. The Hempsters: Plant the Seed video provided great information on the farmers perspectives of growing hemp. They reassured me that hemp was the solution, just like you had addressed. I also agree with you when you say that there will need to be a monitoring system on the farmers who grow this fiber because it can be do dangerous for the human body. I believe that hemp is the fiber of choice over bamboo and cotton for many people and legalizing it will reduce our import costs and build more money for our own economy.
ReplyDeleteMaegen,
ReplyDeleteThanks for clarifying about the bamboo/rayon issue. I can see how the process of getting bamboo from its natural state into a usable fiber could strip it of its natural properties and leave us with an end product that is not what we would expect from the bamboo plant. I also agree with Grace that hemp is the most viable and sustainable alternative to cotton. I am curious how large the movement is becoming to legalize hemp in the United States, and what kind of timeline we can expect for this to happen. I hope this industry is realized sooner rather than later!