Saturday, October 11, 2014
Hemp: The Most Miraculous Material on Earth
Have you ever heard of Hemp? Hemp is the fibrous material found in the stalks of cannabis plants. Hemp has been used for thousands of years in weaving, building and cultural exploits. Hemp is stronger and lighter than steel, cheeper to produce, and environmentally friendly. Henry ford used to make the bodies of some of his cars out of hemp. He demonstrated that these cars were more resistant to blows than his traditional steel-bodied cars. The future of plastics and fuels is hemp. Hemp is a plant based cellulose, which can be used to make plastics that are stronger than traditional petroleum based plastics, and are 100% biodegradable. Hemp can also replace the gasoline in our cars. Usually, biofuel cars need a special engine to process the biological matter into something usable. However, hemp can be used to fill up any gas car and does not require any modifications to the engine. Hemp fuel is much better for the air, and is much less toxic than traditional exhaust fumes. Sounds too good to be true right? Its true. The only thing preventing this from being a reality is the fact that cannabis (in any form) is illegal in the united states by federal law. The oil companies are trying to lobby against legalisation because if hemp is legalised, billions of dollars will be shifted to producing hemp fuels, rather than petroleum fuels. In a sense, the future of our environment and our plastics is reliant of the legalisation of hemp.
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Not to be a downer, but this almost sounds too good to be true. There have to be some downsides to using this. There cant be too many good things without having a drawback of some sort.
ReplyDeleteYes, there are some downsides. The only downsides are that the oil companies will loose a lot of money and may try to sabotage hemp industries. Also, more trees might be cut down to make space for hemp farms, which might increase deforestation. It's a pretty "dope" plant isn't it? ;)
DeleteYou stated that hemp can be used to replace gasoline in cars. Do you think that this will be more efficient that creating cars that run only on electricity?
ReplyDeleteNo I do not. Electric cars are the way of the future. Hemp could be a viable alternative for large trucks trains that ship supplies which would not be able to realistically run on electric power. However, electric cars are super efficient and continue to gain efficiency. The size of a car is perfect for Electric drive.
DeleteJust out of curiosity, if hemp was used as car fuel, would that mean that wherever there is a car with hemp, the air around it could potentially get people high? If so, then this might be a medical problem that needs to be addressed, in my opinion.
ReplyDeletethis is a common misconception. Hemp and Cannabis Sativa are not the same plant. Cannabis sativa (Marajuana) contains THC, which will get you high if burned. Hemp contains no THC, meaning there is no possible way it can get you high. Hemp is very closely related to and looks exactly like the Cannabis sativa plant, and is illegal in the United States for that reason (and because the oil companies don't want it to be legal). However, hemp is legal in many countries in Europe and Asia. More information on hemp can be found here:
Deletehttp://www.collective-evolution.com/2012/04/01/5-ways-hemp-will-change-our-world/
Since hemp is legal in other countries, are there any foreign countries that use hemp as an oil alternative for cars? Is this idea that you speak of happening anywhere else around the world?
ReplyDelete