Why Hemp Is the Sustainable Material of the Future
Most anthropologists argue that hemp was the first plant domesticated by humankind. More than 12,000 years ago, hemp plants happily grew in the midden heaps of prehistoric human camps, and people eagerly harvested the plants for nutritious seeds, strong fibers —and occasionally psychoactive flowers.
In truth, hemp remained an invaluable resource for humans across Asia and into Europe for millennia, but increasingly harsh taboos against the plant in the 19th and 20th centuries eviscerated the cultural memory of hemp’s value and forced peoples around the world to find other, less sustainable solutions.
Fortunately, those taboos against hemp are beginning to lift, and humans everywhere are rediscovering hemp in major ways. In 2018, the U.S. Farm Bill legalized non-psychoactive hemp across the country, and already, dozens of hemp-based products are available for purchase.
Now, sustainability experts around the world are realizing once again how beneficial hemp can be — suggesting it could be the key to a sustainable future.
What Is Hemp?
Because it was domesticated so early in human history, hemp has a name unique to almost every culture on Earth. One of the oldest known names for the plant is ganja, but perhaps the most widely established name is cannabis.
When cannabis cultivation spread into Europe, Europeans began calling the plant hemp.
However, cannabis does not grow easily in much of the cold, damp territory of Eastern Europe, and as a result, most varieties of hemp were severely lacking in any psychoactive qualities.
Instead, those who raised hemp crops in Europe used them almost exclusively for fiber, which could be transformed into clothing, bedding, rope, ship sails and more.
As Europe gained more contact with the rest of the world, Europeans discovered the use of cannabis as a psychoactive substance in other cultures. Initially, hemp was categorized scientifically as a completely different plant, and even for many decades after botanists and taxonomers recognized the similarities between cannabis and hemp, the broader culture believed the plants to be distinct.
Hemp was cannabis cultivated expressly for fiber (or, less frequently, its nutrient-dense seeds), while other names for cannabis referred to a drug, most often used by non-white, non-Europeans for spiritual ritual or recreation.
Today, that old association between hemp and a lack of psychoactivity has stuck. The 2018 Farm Bill defines hemp as varieties of cannabis that maintain a THC level of .3 percent or lower, so deriving any psychoactive benefits from the plants is essentially impossible.
Thus, even in states where cannabis remains an illicit substance, hemp farming is a growing industry.
Why Is Hemp Sustainable?
The average time required for a hemp plant to grow from seed to mature plant is about eight weeks. Once mature, a plant will be harvested, cleaned and decorticated to strip out the valuable fiber.
This process is remarkably quick and easy, requiring minimal machinery and few natural resources to achieve. In fact, humankind has been harvesting and processing hemp for millennia with little more than a scythe and a bat.
What’s more, hemp can grow almost anywhere. Unlike cannabis cultivated for its psychoactive compounds, hemp does not require a carefully controlled greenhouse with grow lights and sprinklers on timers. The original hemp plants were happy to grow in prehistoric humans’ rubbish heaps, and hemp plants today require little more than soil, sunlight and the occasional drink.
Hemp fibers have the potential to replace all manner of other, less sustainable materials. Clothing and similar textiles are the most common example of hemp’s applications, and indeed, hemp uses fewer natural resources than other common sources of fabric, like cotton, flax, silks, wools or plastics.
Hemp can also easily create paper products, unlike trees which might demand decades to reach maturity. Hemp is so promising as a sustainable material that many researchers are striving to innovate using the plant’s fibers, creating construction materials, fuel and even batteries from hemp.
Conclusion
Considering hemp’s long history with humankind, it is astonishing that there are still people who ask, “What is hemp?” Hopefully, with more awareness of the outstanding benefits of this wonderful plant, we can move to unlocking the full potential of hemp and reducing humanity’s environmental impact into the future.
