
The Cheapest Way to Save the Planet Grows Like a Weed - chmaynard
https://truthout.org/articles/the-cheapest-way-to-save-the-planet-grows-like-a-weed/
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kilo_bravo_3
The widespread cultivation of an invasive non-native species of plant to solve
an environmental crisis is just another environmental crisis.

Hemp, and cannabis, should be legal.

But this fetishization has to stop.

Billions of people all over the world have never faced a prohibition on the
cultivation of hemp. Millions of tons of it are grown every year in China and
across the world and there are no restrictions on its importation. Right now
you can go on alibaba.com and get an entire shipping container of hemp
delivered to your loading dock practically anywhere in the world.

Growing hemp has been legal for decades in much of Europe, forever in China,
France, and Russia.

Articles like this only really lead to two possible conclusions:

1\. Hemp isn't a wonder substance, or

2\. All seven billion four hundred million people on Earth who aren't
Americans are so stupid that they can't figure out how to turn hemp into
miracle products and only the brave and skilled American men of science are
capable enough to tease out its reclusive secrets where Europeans, Indians,
Chinese, and others have failed after centuries of trying.

Yeah... I'm going to go with option 1. I've done a lot of traveling and there
are smart people all over the world.

Articles like this are just the worst:

"It can be grown on a wide scale on nutrient poor soils with very small
amounts of water and no fertilizers."

30 seconds talking to a Canadian or French hemp grower, or 15 seconds on your
search engine of choice proves this, with decades of research by university
and government agricultural department scientists to back it up (or hell just
perusing one back issue of High Times) to be false.

Hemp is a plant like any other, it takes energy from the sun, carbon from the
air, and material from the earth and turns them into plant matter.

In soils with poor nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur levels--
nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur must be added.

~~~
skrowl
Agreed!

"Reforest rural areas with fast-growing plants native to that region" seems
like a MUCH safer idea than "YOLO, HEMP ALL THE THINGS!"

We have no idea how regions in the world that don't have hemp would react to
suddenly having an abundance it.

~~~
jacobush
Agreed. It's short sighted. In Ireland apparently they PINE ALL THINGS!

(
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20380793](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20380793)
)

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blacksmith_tb
As much as I like hemp, this seems implausible. Trees sequester carbon for
longer (as wood). If I was looking for a quicker alternative I'd plant bamboo
(which also 'grows like a weed').

~~~
NikkiA
I suspect the best way is algae, but we'd likely destroy the oceans overusing
it given humanity's inability to do things in a metered and sensible way.

~~~
wysifnwyg
Why set it lose in the ocean when you could contain it and measure it in a
more controlled environment?

~~~
wjn0
It's not immediately clear to me that the energy involved in creating a "more
controlled environment" would make the investment a net positive.

~~~
wysifnwyg
In a contained setting it still will sequester carbon. It is more easily
monitored for expected behavior. It minimizes risk to other ecosystems.

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NeedMoreTea
Then having grown it, the government may well force you to destroy the plants:

[https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/30/oxfordshire-...](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/30/oxfordshire-
hemp-farmers-devastated-after-being-forced-to-destroy-crop)

There are some very silly, and inconsistent prejudices around hemp. I'd be
amazed to see consistent policy and use even if it can help the climate crisis
more than everything else.

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markvdb
Just today, a UK farm has had to destroy its entire hemp crop :

[https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/30/oxfordshire-...](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/30/oxfordshire-
hemp-farmers-devastated-after-being-forced-to-destroy-crop)

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ggm
I'd map this to a different expression of the same goal.

If we plant trees for long-term remediation, what other thing can we plant,
which achieves short-term remediation in local microclimate, has financial or
other upsides, displaces things like woodchip or other plant fibres for
commerce, can bootstrap an economy, and is easy to grow in marginal land?

Palm Oil is when it goes wrong: try and displace underground oil with biofuels
and you encourage people to cut down rainforest to plant oil palm. But at
reduced yield, re-foresting and re-planting lands with trees and hemp feels
like a mutually beneficial idea. The trees are the 20+ year work. the Hemp is
for smaller but immediate benefits.

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bovermyer
Sounds great, but I wouldn't exactly trust this particular source.

Also, keep in mind that something that grows like a weed needs to be
controlled carefully, or it _will_ crowd out other (necessary) species of
plant.

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malandrew
Based on the title, I was expecting this to be able Kudzu.

~~~
RenRav
Same, but secretly I was hoping someone found a way to exploit Azolla.

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pc2g4d
I found their call for donations at the bottom troubling:

 _Hate racists? You’ll want to read this.

Over the last few days Donald Trump and the GOP have doubled down on their
campaign of hate and destruction.

It’s not difficult to see that we all have to do more to stop it before it’s
too late.

That’s why we’re announcing our Make a Racist Cry campaign — where every
dollar you give to Truthout will go directly to our ongoing efforts to make
racists cry (because if there’s anything a racist hates it’s fearless
journalism).

1.3 million people read Truthout last month. If every one of you chipped in a
few bucks we’d all be swimming in racist tears. Imagine that!

Please, click the donate button and make a racist cry today._

Nothing ironic at all about hating people for hating people for their race :-|

EDIT: formatting

