Here is a little about hemp (the marijuana plant) from a textile type website:
The first use of hemp fibre dates well back into the mists of time and is one of the first plants known to have been cultivated. About 10,000 years ago, hemp industries appeared simultaneously in China and Eurasia for the production of a textile fibre. One of the oldest known relics of human industry is a trace of hemp fabric from about 8000BC in the “Cradle of Civilisation” at Catal Huyuk (Ancient Mesopotamia).
Hemp has played a vital role for humanity for many thousands of years, supplying the worlds strongest natural fibre, used for rope, clothing, sail cloth, and many other uses including being a vital food source - the seed oil is very high in the nutritionally valuable omega 3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).
The United States of America’s founding fathers were strong advocates of a hemp-based economy for their new country. In fact, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were hemp farmers. In 1871 Thomas Jefferson said, “Hemp is of first necessity to commerce and marine”. In other words, to the wealth and protection of the country, today few people realise that hemp was once so vital to world commerce.
The first two drafts of the Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper, as were most of the books of the time. The first Levi’s were constructed of recycled hemp sailcloth for the California '49ers with steel rivets so that the pockets would not rip when filled with gold. Many famous artists such as Van Gogh also painted some of their greatest works on hemp canvas.
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| Industrial hemp is cultivated to minimize the THC. |
A pretty good article on hemp/marijuana and its uses is located here. The following are a few random extracts:
One important potential use for hemp is the production of paper. From 75 to 90 percent of all paper in the world was made with hemp fiber until 1883: the Gutenberg bible (15th century), Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (19th century) and just about everything in between was printed on hemp paper.
An acre of hemp produces 4.1 times as much paper as an acre of trees. Hemp can also be harvested every year while trees take 20 years or more to grow to harvest. Since hemp builds topsoil, it can be grown on the same acre of land year after year. Many acres of forest could be saved by industrial cultivation of hemp for paper alone.
Practical, inexpensive fire-resistant construction material, with excellent thermal and sound-insulating qualities, can be made by heating and compressing plant fibers to create strong construction paneling. This paneling could replace dry wall and plywood. Hemp is a logical choice for such a purpose. C&S Specialty Builder's Supply near Eugene, Oregon, in conjunction with Washington State University, has demonstrated the superior strength flexibility and economy of hemp composite building materials compared to wood fiber - even in the production of beams.
On another front, using hemp as a biomass fuel could eliminate our dependence on imported fossil fuels. A study completed in the early l990s at the University of Hawaii found that biomass gasification could meet 90 percent of that state's energy needs. Biomass can be converted into virtually every form of energy used, including methanol to power automobiles. Since methanol is a cleaner fuel than petro-based fuels, this would lead to reduced auto emissions.
According to the UNICEF report State of the World's Children, a child dies every 2.3 seconds as a result of malnutrition. According to the Institute for Food and Development Policy, twenty million children die of malnutrition every year. These numbers are staggering, and are on the rise. Here again, hemp can come to the rescue.
When hemp is grown for seed, half the weight of the mature, harvested female plant is seed! Hemp is also a hearty plant that flourishes in almost all climates and in marginal soils. This means it could be grown in poor countries to provide food where it is most needed. Australians survived two prolonged famines in the 19th century using almost nothing except hemp seeds for protein and hemp leaves for roughage.
No other single plant source can compare with the nutritional value of hemp seeds. Both the complete protein and essential oils contained in hemp seeds are in ideal ratios for human nutrition.
Hemp is a disease-resistant weed and grows easily compared to other crops. Food crops are disrupted by drought but hemp actually helps soils alleviate droughts. It sets the standard in retaining topsoil and re-foliating arid land.
Hemp can also be used for the production of cloth spun from its fiber. Hemp cloth is softer, warmer, more water absorbent, stronger and more durable than cotton. The well-known clothing manufacturer Patagonia has found that hemp has eight times the tensile strength and has four times the durability of cotton.
The possibilities represented by hemp cultivation are tantalizing: reduce or eliminate deforestation, free us from dependence on fossil fuel and their damaging by-products, and provide a positive impact on chronic world hunger.
You have seen what damage a tornado or hurricane can do to a house made of wood (well, in the States they use a sort of light wood mix of something or the other - it is so light that if you walk through one of their mass produced houses you can feel wooden boards in the house creek and walls shake with your footsteps). Most houses are built to be cost effective and then insurance is expected to cover expected statistical damages in times of good weather or bad weather (a cycle which tends to go up and down, [see the graphs/actuary tables]).
Hemp/low THC marijuana, is easy AND fast to grow.
The best part is you can make a plastic lighter and stronger than steel. If you made a properly secured house of proper building materials, a tree hitting the house will simply fall down after hitting it. And depending of the level of strength of the house, most tornados and hurricanes will have no effect.
Here is some old technology developed by Ford:
And here is a modern reinvention of some ancient technology:
We can literally makes houses, cars and planes made of weed! Imagine how much cheaper it would be to be able to grow our cars and planes. Plus, there may even be a way to replace every metal in an object, such as a plane, so electrical storms won't be able to affect the circuitry or the lives of the pilots/passengers.[not too sure on this, a bit behind on my plant and quatum tech science] - [Note - 27 May '11 - In any new tech you have to keep in mind that electricity and magnetism can do both, cause damage to aircraft and passengers, and so both must be blocked - and they have to be considered together as electricity can create magnetism and magnetism can create electricity]
This isn't just for people with arable farmland.
Hemp is literally a weed.
That means it grows like a weed as well.
So the amount of work that would be needed for a productive crop would be less than that needed for crops that are NOT weeds.
How to easily create arable land for hemp:
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