Handy hemp
S PART OF the campaign to wean North Americans off old growth forests, environmentalists are starting to promote "treefree’ paper. The ideal fibre, they argue, is hemp (Cannabis sativa) which is claimed to have been the world’s largest agricultural crop until the 19th century. Among its different properties, hemp: e Uses the sun more efficiently than virtually any other plant on earth; © grows in virtually any climate or soil, even in marginal areas; @ does not require chemicals to combat insect pests. One hectare of hemp can produce four times as much pulp as a hectare of forest. Hemp also requires much less energy to convert into fibre than trees do, and the only chemical needed to bleach it is hydrogen peroxide, less of a concern than chlorine, the main chemical used to bleach fibre. Other alternatives to wood pulp are cotton, jute, flax, rice and wheat stubble. Source: Earth Island Journal
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Forest and Bird, Volume 22, Issue 2, 1 May 1991, Page 9
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153Handy hemp Forest and Bird, Volume 22, Issue 2, 1 May 1991, Page 9
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