Monday, 4 June 2007

Did someone say hemp paper?


If you could save the environment and save money, whilst also keeping your standard of living the same, would you do it? If I told you the answer lay in hemp, would you believe me?
Friends will know that I advocate the use of hemp for making paper and a variety of other things. Unlike the wood we currently use, hemp paper would allow the rainforest to be saved and would mean we would give climate a sporting chance of sorting out some of the problems caused over 500 years of pollution. Hemp is also very cost effective. It will grow almost anywhere and takes just 120 days to grow to 8 metres, ready for harvest. Compare this with the 100 years of many trees! That is also before you consider the transportation costs of shipping much of the world’s wood half way across the world. Hemp can also be made into furniture and is considerably more durable than wood. Paper made from hemp is also far more recyclable than paper from trees, as the former can be reprocessed more times before breaking down.
Of course the various paper companies do not want you to know this. Where would the money be? For those who disbelieve this, I will quote a brief section from wikipedia on the subject of hemp and paper production

"In 1916, U.S. Department of Agriculture chief scientists Lyster H. Dewe, and Jason L. Merrill created paper made from hemp pulp, which they concluded was "favorable in comparison with those used with pulp wood."[3] Jack Herer, in the book "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" summarized the findings of Bulletion No. 404:[4]
"In 1916, USDA Bulletin No. 404, reported that one acre of cannabis hemp, in annual rotation over a 20-year period, would produce as much pulp for paper as 4.1 acres of trees being cut down over the same 20-year period. This process would use only 1/4 to 1/7 as much polluting sulfur-based acid chemicals to break down the glue-like lignin that binds the fibers of the pulp, or even none at all using soda ash. The problem of dioxin contamination of rivers is avoided in the hemp paper making process, which does not need to use chlorine bleach (as the wood pulp paper making process requires) but instead safely substitutes hydrogen peroxide in the bleaching process. ... If the new (1916) hemp pulp paper process were legal today, it would soon replace about 70% of all wood pulp paper, including computer printout paper, corrugated boxes and paper bags."

The decision of the United States Congress to pass the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act was based in part on testimony derived from articles in newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst, who had significant financial interests in the timber industry, which manufactured his newsprint. As a result of the Marijhuana Tax Act, the production and use of hemp discontinued.


If anyone could grow and harvest hemp, how would they continue to make the vast fortunes that big paper giants do today? Where would the taxes be for governments?

Things are changing however, I attach a link below to a hemp resource page. Enjoy, and remember smoking hemp does not cause you go get ‘high’. Let us hope that if we all push this agenda, we will see greener sources of paper becoming the standard in the future. As for me, I going to start getting green paper asap!

http://www.birminghamfoe.org.uk/newslet/news0898/story13.htm

my thanks to http://www.illuminati-news.com/graphics/hemp.gif for the use of image.

7 comments:

AndNowInStereo said...

Have you looked at that "Illuminati News" website? It looks a bit crazy to me!

Moto Fitzroi said...

Yes I did look at the illuminati news page and I will agree that credible presentation is not their forte. The main reason the page has a link is because they supplied the clip art picture. However, just because they do not present themselves well, it does not mean that their point about hemp is untrue. I believe that the use of hemp are so abundant that there should be a real drive towards using it in every day life.
I raise this parting question to you - were there any facts in the post about hemp that are wrong? Do you feel that hemp is such a useful material that it would revolutionise our efforts to preserve our world? Do you also agree that paper, clothe and chemical manufactures all have a vested interest in keeping this product out of the public eye and as limited as possible?
If you agree with the above points, then I think you will agree that the strength of the argument negates the dubious presentation of the facts on one, of the many, websites. Wikipedia has some pretty good information on the topic, which I called upon when writing this article.

Moto Fitzroi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Moto Fitzroi said...

Shall I put you down for a couple of packets if I can get hold of hemp paper - even if it requires making it myself?

AndNowInStereo said...

Maybe. Is it any good for printing on?

Moto Fitzroi said...

In a word yes.

Moto Fitzroi said...

I have already seen some hemp paper for sale, but at £7.50 for 100 sheets, I think I might be able to do it for less. Watch this space.