As we surf around the web, we see many companies selling apparel, specifically t-shirts. Some of them attract an audience with humor, others use pop-culture and topical commentary. Here at Herb & Bamboo, we feel that we not only cover all of the bases, but we hit a grand slam home run when it comes to the actual shirts we use. Our shirts themselves are as much of a focal point as the designs printed on them. You see, all of our shirts are made from 100% organic blends of hemp and organic cotton, or bamboo and organic cotton. You may ask yourself, "Isn't hemp just an excuse for stoners and hippies to grow marijuana?" The answer to that question is an emphatic NO, and here's why:
While hemp and marijuana are both types of cannabis, the hemp variety has a different chemical make-up from its illegal cousin. Hemp has a low THC level (the substance that gets you high) of 0.05%, while marijuana's THC count is between 3-20%. Hemp cannot be used for a high like marijuana, but smoking hemp can get you "moving", being that it does act as a laxative. To answer the question "How did America come to favor cotton and trees over hemp, when hemp is superior in so many ways?", one of the reasons is, the American govenment says they can't tell the difference between the hemp plants and marijuana plants. There is a huge difference. Marijuana plants are grown in widely spaced areas to maximize the leaf growth, while hemp plants are grown close together to maximize the stalk, which is where all the great hemp fibers come from.
The usefulness of hemp far exceeds the AWESOME shirts that we provide. Another benefit is that every part of the hemp plant can be used by humans from the root to the stalk, the leaf, the flower, the seeds the pollen and even the resin. Some other uses for hemp are as charcoal, tars, methane and other flammable gasses that could help heat homes, for cooking and for the generation of electricity. Right now the government owns 90 million acres of farmland, where they pay farmers to NOT grow crops. On a portion of this area alone, enough hemp could be grown to replace the use of fossil fuels and trees. The average acre of farmland can provide ten tons of hemp in four months. Because it's resistant to UV radiation, this plant is a shoe-in for success after we deplete the ozone layer.
Hemp helps to clean our air by breathing in 4x the carbon dioxide (CO2) of trees during it's quick 12-14 week growing cycle. Our forests are being cut down 3x faster than they can grow, and trees take 20 years to mature vs 4 months for Industrial Hemp. One acre of hemp produces as much cellulose fiber pulp as 4.1 acres of trees. (Dewey & Merrill. Bulletin #404. U.S. Dept. of Age. 1916)
Centuries of history has provided us with hundreds of examples demonstrating the usefulness of hemp. These are just a few:
• Hemp sails & rope carried Columbus to the Americas in 1492. Columbus boat carried hemp seed for use in case of shipwreck to grow crops for raw materials & as a source of nutrition.
• George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers GREW HEMP; (Washington and Jefferson Diaries). Jefferson smuggled hemp seeds from China to France then to America. Hemp was in such demand in the colonies that taxes could be paid in hemp & fines were levied against farmers who did not grow hemp!
• Benjamin Franklin owned one of the first paper mills in America and it processed hemp
• Also, the War of 1812 was fought over hemp. Napoleon wanted to cut off Moscow's export to England (Emperor Wears No Clothes, Jack Herer)
• For thousands of years, 90% of all ships' sails and rope were made from hemp. The word 'canvas' is Dutch for cannabis; (Webster's New World Dictionary).
• 80% of all textiles, fabrics, clothes, linen, drapes, bed sheets, etc. were made from hemp until the 1820s with the introduction of the cotton gin.
• Until 1883 more than 3/4 of the world's paper was made from hemp fiber. Hemp crops produce nearly 4 times as much raw fiber than equivalent tree plantations! Hemp paper is finer, stronger & lasts longer than wood-based papers. Bank notes & archival papers are made from hemp paper.
• The first Bibles, maps, charts, Betsy Ross's flag, the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were made from hemp (U.S. Government Archives).
• Oldest known records of hemp farming go back 5000 years in China. For more than 1000 years before the time of Christ until 1883 AD Cannabis Sativa was our planet's most important industry for thousands of products & enterprises producing the overall majority of the earth's fiber, fabric, lighting oil, incense, fiberglass replacement, lightweight sandwich boards, composite woods, kitty litter, potting mix, nappies, feminine care products, fuel, medicines & paper, as well as a primary source of protein for humans & animals.
• Rembrandts, Gainsboroughs, Van Goghs as well as most early canvas paintings were principally painted on hemp linen.
• The Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Reactor 4 in the Ukraine caused severe radioactive contamination in April 1986. Industrial Hemp has been used to remove contaminants from the soils by way of a process called Phytoremediation.
Has your mind been completely blown? Ours sure were. Hopefully this has been an educational and informative read. As you can see, hemp is a pretty powerful plant. In addition to all of the amazing facts above, hemp has been spun into some of the awesome shirts you can find here at Herb & Bamboo.
Thank you for your continued support,
~Herb & Bamboo
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