Sunday, June 13, 2010

The Hemp Solution To The Oil Crisis In The Gulf


The hemp solution is simple.  Use nature's hemp plant as a tool to help with problem solving. It's that simple, not to be confused with easy.  The most difficult part is the legislation that makes this effective, self financing solution illegal to implement.  

The crude oil volcano in the Gulf of Mexico is a good place to start.  Research information can be found at the USA Hemp Museum, and other fine hemp related sites on the web.
Problem: Crude Oil and dispersant are flooding the Gulf of Mexico, expanding into the Atlantic portion of the ocean as a result of our addiction to toxic energy. This endangers all life on the planet.
Furthermore, as of this writing, the folks responsible for this situation are still in charge of the crime scene.  While almost a million people are sitting in jail for interacting with hemp, oil companies (BP, Halliburton, etc.) responsible for the deaths of 11 people are still in control.
Hemp Solution: Use hemp materials to help plug up the holes, sop up the oil, clean up the air and land like it did at Chernobyl, serve as a low cost food source and allow people access to hemp medicine to deal with the upcoming World Trade Center Illness type crisis going on with New Yorkers exposed to toxic material.  First responders to this oil disaster are already reporting health problems.
Here's some ideas on implementing the Hemp Solution with a call to action. Included are as many links for further research as I can fit in.

This crisis cannot be managed by greed.  It must be managed by wisdom, common sense and prayer.  Especially for damage this bad, we need to be talking to the Great Manufacturer of All, One who works at the levels of protons, neutrons and electrons, both above and below, the Lord.  Nothing is impossible.
     PROBLEM: Oil gushing 1 mile down in unknown, yet huge quantities. 

HEMP SOLUTION: Plug up the holes with hemp plastic

Hemp plastic
is 10 times stronger than steel according to Henry Ford.  Add a cover on top of the plastic made of hempcrete, a hemp based concrete. The entire bandage/cover should then have a real brass (not alloy) cap to reduce salt erosion on this biodegradable material, hemp.  Remember hemp sails and ropes have been used for centuries on our ocean. 

     PROBLEM: Soil & air pollution from exposed crude and dispersant.

HEMP SOLUTION: Institute a Hemp Phytoremediation Program

We all know that hemp was helpful in cleaning up the toxins around Chernobyl, and with a bit of planning by a hemp experienced mastermind alliance, can be used to clean up the environmental mess again.  

"Phytoremediation can be defined as the decontamination of soil, sediment or water using plant growth. Industrial hemp, Cannabis sativa L., is renowned for its ability to grow rapdily. In one growing season, fibre hemp can yield 250 to 400 plants per square metre, with each plant reaching up to 5 metres in height. As a result, hemp has been identified as a plant with the potential to serve as a phytoremediator."

The same way hemp was used to clean up the toxins around Chernobyl, we should be using hemp to clean up the toxins from the Gulf of Mexico "oil spill" (more like a volcano) and other environmental crisis situations., like the air pollution from the current oil burns on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

The McGraw-Hill Companies reported in 2000 "Overall, phytoremediation has great potential for cleaning up toxic metals, pesticides, solvents, gasoline, and explosives."

Here’s the above line in context as posted, linked above. February, 2000: Chernobyl (Ukraine)  - Using Plants To Clean Soil  "Phytoremediation is a process that takes advantage of the fact that green plants can extract and concentrate certain elements within their ecosystem. For example, some plants can grow in metal-laden soils, extract certain metals through their root systems, and accumulate them in their tissues without being damaged. In this way, pollutants are either removed from the soil and groundwater or rendered harmless."

"In 1998, Phytotech, along with Consolidated Growers and Processors (CGP) and the Ukraine's Institute of Bast Crops, planted industrial hemp, Cannabis sp., for the purpose of removing contaminants near the Chernobyl site. Cannabis is in the Cannabidaceae family and is valuable for its fiber, which is used in ropes and other products...

Overall, phytoremediation has great potential for cleaning up toxic metals, pesticides, solvents, gasoline, and explosives.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that more than 30,000 sites in the United States alone require hazardous waste treatment. Restoring these areas and their soil, as well as disposing of the wastes, are costly projects, but the costs are expected to be reduced drastically if plants provide the phytoremediation results everyone is hoping for."

To understand how to use hemp to solve our environmental problems, read the book HEMP FOR VICTORY: A GLOBAL WARMING HEMP SOLUTION by Richard M. Davis, founder and curator of the USA Hemp Museum.  I also found a quick two page report A Citizens Guide To Phytoremediation.

     PROBLEM: Massive amounts of crude on and in the Gulf.

HEMP SOLUTION: Use hemp textile booms to sop up the oil with hemp tow and fiber fluff in bags placed on (possibly in) the ocean, like what they were talking about doing with human hair.
  Re-cycle booms in hemp fields.  Use hemp fabrics for clothing that needs to be replaced as a result of toxic exposure. 
     PROBLEM: Food source from the Gulf is just about over.  There is no time to waste in politics. Hunger produces riots, and not the good kind.  Common sense says that BP and other companies who had a hand in this tragedy will go bankrupt before the bill comes due for the clean-up.

HEMP SOLUTION: Invest in growing hemp foods
to fill in the gap caused by the loss of sea food from the Gulf, possibly the entire east coast by the end of this year's hurricane season.  Empower the family farmers to begin the hemp for food and medicine task now.   Provide grants for chefs to adapt hemp into traditional and cutting edge uplifting culinary experiences.

From the USA Hemp Museum’s Hemp Foods room - “Hemp Seed Oil contains significantly more EFA's (Essential Fatty Acids) than Flax seed oil (80% vs. 64%).  The fatty acid composition of hemp seed oil (68.5% linoleic, 13.4% linolenic) meets human nutritional requirements (linoleic : linolenic ratio 3:1) much better than flax seed oil (linoleic 13.4%, linolenic 50.8%).”  Other hemp foods include flour, leaves, milk and seeds, all of which is being incorporated into all cuisines.
     PROBLEM: Energy from the Gulf source disrupted.

HEMP SOLUTION: Shift our dominant energy to hemp biofuel and biomass, solar, hydro, magnetic and other clean and/or free energy sources.  If we were not on toxic energy, our ocean would not be in this toxic emergency.
     PROBLEM: Economic foundation, the family farm/fishermen, is in shatters.

HEMP SOLUTION:
Use the economic empowerment tool of the trillion dollar crop, hemp, to provide the funds for the clean up, and so much more.  Hemp can empower our economy from its very foundation.

Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid is a good place to begin empowering family farmers, including those who work the ocean, farming the ocean.

Like in the successful World War II program, for many reasons, we must begin to grow HEMP FOR VICTORYPlant hemp along the coastline (including up the Mississippi River) and on unused federal land by re-financed family farmers to: (a) clean the air from the oil burns and other toxins, (b) use as an alternate food source offering many small business opportunities for home based businesses, (c) to help clean the soil. (d) to distill for clean drinking water. (e) low cost resource material to fill import voids, i.e. growing ones way out of poverty, like the founders intended.  Hemp helps make money move in the direction of accomplishment for the highest good.
     PROBLEM: Large populations may have to be moved from the ocean to escape the effects of toxic chemicals in the crude.  The people along wherever this oil lands will need new housing inland. 

HEMP SOLUTION: Build homes, office and other industrial buildings,  and roads from hemp building materials to build strong, low cost structures.
  Construct water treatment plants to clean drinking water using distillers powered by hydro or hemp biomass.
     PROBLEM: People are already getting sick from exposure to the toxins from both the oil and the chemical dispersant used to push the oil under the surface.

HEMP SOLUTION: Stop endangering the planet and/or humanity in the name of greed. As recommended for World Trade Center Illness, use effective hemp medicine to deal with respiratory and digestive problems.  Stress kills. Medical & recreational grades of hemp reduces stress.   The book HEMP FOR VICTORY: THE WONDER HERB is a great source of material that makes the case for the immediate incorporation of self ministered hemp medicine into traditional medical therapies where helpful.
     PROBLEM: Poor crisis leadership. The same technology and management team that created this crisis is allowed to continue to operate in our precious oceans. As of this writing, given all of hemp’s benefits, this solution is still illegal, with almost a million souls living without their freedom, jailed for interacting with a plant.  We’ve made nature illegal and wonder why we have problems with the environment.

HEMP SOLUTION: Apply justice. Create a hemp mastermind alliance to apply The Hemp Solution. Since this oil spill will eventually affect the entire ocean if not stopped in time, we need to call on the best minds throughout the world on the subject of hemp as a problem solving tool. I recommend that the USA Hemp Museum and others involved in or as hemp and marijuana organizations/activists co-host on line gatherings of hemp experts i.e. Chris Conrad, Mikki Norris, Dr. Jeri Rose, Steve Kubby, Willie Nelson, Jeannie Herer, Denis Perone, Jay Greathouse, Tommy Chong, Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Marc Emery, R.W. Akile, Charles Lynch, Dana Beal, Liz O'Garvey, Tom Leighton, Woody Harrelson, NORML, Vote Hemp, Cannabis College, Oaksterdam, and others to create and implement the best plan to use this dynamic plant, this powerful, as Willie Nelson calls it, A Peaceful Solution.

Pray and end hemp prohibition now. Make it illegal to create a crisis and pretend to solve it.
 
Visit the USA Hemp Museum, and learn more about how hemp can help us save ourselves.  The museum's founder and curator Richard M. Davis is an awesome source of 'hempformation'. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I never have thought of this aspect of hemp, i knew that it can be user as oil too but i was focused on it's drug use all the time and second it's use of as fabric for hemp cloths. Thanks for such a great review. A great step to go organic.

Thanks
Mina @ Hemp Pants