Environmental Benefits of Hemp Essay Example

Hemp can save the planet and reverse the effects of pollution.  We have seven years until the effects of climate change kill our home.  Our ecosystems are dying, the ice caps are melting, and animals are dying.  We need a solution, and a fast one.  Luckily, hemp is a simple solution which could save all of us.  

Hemp, better known as “Cannabis Sativa” has been around for centuries and can be traced all the way back to ancient India.  A common misconception is that hemp is marijuana, that statement is not true. Hemp and marijuana come from the same plant but are two different species. Marijuana contains 10% or more of CBD and 20% or more of THC (Love).  THC is the mood and mind altering chemical in marijuana that produces the high.  On the other hand, Hemp contains 20% or more of CBD and less than 0.3% of THC.  Hemp is a carbon-neutral material which means it does not emit carbon into our atmosphere.  Hemp also happens to grow to full maturity in just 4 months while on the other hand trees can take anywhere from 10-80 years to fully grow.  Hemp can be used for over 20,000+ items and all of them are biodegradable alternatives for our environment.  In fact, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington both grew hemp as a cash crop and it was often referred to as the “new billion-dollar crop”.  One billion dollars in 1938 is worth about 18.7 billion dollars today.  Some of the first laws surrounding hemp required farmers to grow it.  The U.S Department of Agriculture created a movie to educate farmers on how to grow hemp properly.  One of the biggest problems with pollution is air pollution.  Many toxins such as dioxins, furans, and mercury are just a few of the toxic chemicals we inhale everyday. These toxins have terrible side effects that affect everything around them including vegetation, animal health, and human health.  Dioxins are potentially lethal persistent organic pollutants that are linked to causing disrupted thyroid, respiratory issues, and cancer. 

Those are only some of the side effects of these dangerous toxins in our environment.  Burning materials such as plastic contaminates our air quality.  In fact, 22% percent of air pollution is from burning our plastic waste.  Burning plastics in our air can increase the risk of asthma, aggravate respiratory ailments, and heart disease.  It also causes nausea, headaches, rashes, and can damage your nervous system. Plastic burning into the air also creates soot which is a contributing factor to climate change and air pollution.