We’ve all seen the big headline solutions to climate change: reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and switching to renewable energy, improving farming practices or reducing cars on the roads. These are monumental tasks that require big changes.
But what if an effective solution came in a much smaller package: the humble hemp seed?
Hemp can do a lot to help our growing climate crisis and reduce your carbon footprint, and all that’s required is a commitment to making the greener choice.
The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Problem
For most of human history, the “greenhouse effect” has been a good thing. The term simply describes the process of gasses in the atmosphere trapping heat from the sun, making Earth livable by regulating temperatures. Without it, the planet would be an uninhabitable frozen rock.
About 70% of solar energy gets through the atmosphere to reach the earth’s surface, where it’s absorbed by oceans, land and the atmosphere. It heats the planet, then is radiated back into space in the form of infrared light. As much as 90% of that light gets absorbed by atmospheric gasses, more familiarly known as greenhouse gasses. The light is redirected back toward the earth, leading to more warming.
Until the last 200 years, the concentration of greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere was manageable, typically hovering between 200 and 280 parts per million. As the growth of industry caused a rapid uptick in deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels, the concentration of greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere has doubled, trapping extra heat and causing a rise in global temperatures.
The increase of greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide and methane in our atmosphere over the last two centuries is largely due to electricity and heat production, agriculture and land use changes, transportation changes and the growth of industry.
The production of plastic in particular has driven a rapid increase in greenhouse gasses. Nearly every single piece of conventional plastic begins as a fossil fuel, and each stage of its lifecycle emits greenhouse gasses, from the extraction of fossil fuels to its waste cycle. According to the Center for International Environmental Law, greenhouse gas emissions from plastic threaten our ability to meet carbon emissions targets and will add more than 850 million metric tons of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere each year.
The Hemp Plastic Solution to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
The greenhouse gas problem is complex and requires multi-pronged solutions, but we must begin making changes today. The climate crisis is here now, and we need solutions that can be implemented in volume today in order to slow the rate of climate change.
The Hemp Plastic Company’s hemp biocomposites and bioplastics are a readily available, immediate solution to reduce the carbon footprints of many manufacturing industries.
Hemp plastic immediately and significantly reduces plastic use. Our customers can achieve a 25% to 100% reduction in fossil fuel plastic by switching to our more sustainable hemp plastics. This immediate reduction in the amount of plastic used to create anything from packaging materials to automotive components is significantly beneficial to the environment.
Secondly, hemp is a carbon-negative renewable resource that actually consumes far more greenhouse gasses than are emitted in its production. According to the European Industrial Hemp Association, just one tonne of industrial hemp stems contains 0.445 tonnes of carbon absorbed from the atmosphere. Converting carbon to CO2, this represents 1.6 tonnes of CO2 absorption per tonne of hemp. On a land use basis, using a yield average of 5.5 to 8 t/ha, this represents 9 to 13 tonnes of CO2 absorption per hectare harvested.
By immediately reducing the amount of plastic used in manufacturing and promoting the growth of hemp as nature’s greatest carbon absorber, The Hemp Plastic Company offers a significant solution for reducing your carbon footprint. All you have to do is make the greener choice. Contact us today at [email protected] to learn more.
