International Hemp Day is a day in which we can all take a step back and celebrate hemp for all that it has given us.
No seriously, it has given humanity so much for about the past…6000 years! If you don’t believe us, why not hear it from our friends at the little institution MIT?
International Hemp Day is a real thing, it’s April 21st each and every time our earth on its axis revolves around the sun.
But don’t think for a moment that it was selected at random by a few stoners thinking about paying homage for their favorite plant – in which case that would have been the day prior or national pot smoking day (20th of April).
International Hemp Day was selected as it is the day after 4-20 also known as ‘Cannabis Day’ or ‘National Pot Smoking Day’ and the rather more significant and internationally recognized 4-22, being Earth Day.
Why is hemp so important?
If you are reading this post, surely by know with the hundreds of other articles we have posted on the subject you would be well aware of all the functions, features, advantages and benefits of hemp.
But for those who have been living under a rock, let’s take a moment to relive all the great things about hemp.
Three words…. food, fiber, and fuel. Hemp is the world’s most sustainable product – period. It has a cultivation period from seed through to harvest of between 90-180 days and can be grown in just about any condition. This coupled with the small amount of water required during this time in its growing cycle provide one hell of a plant.
Unlike the alternative products that it can realistically replace – cotton (for clothing), oak (for wood), pine (for paper) and many other products, hemp is easily grown, sustainable and has very little by-products thanks to constant innovation and usage over the past, well 6000+ years.
What can hemp be used in?
Hemp is a super plant, in fact for starters it is a superfood! The seeds of the plant are in fact one of the best sources of essential fatty amino acids, minerals, vitamins, protein, low in carbs – you name it.
They are absolutely fantastic in salads, blended in shakes, not to mention pressed into hemp oil which is used to infuse vodka, in skincare products, toothpaste – you name it.
Next, let’s look at the more practical implications than providing sustenance and nutrients to the global population.
Practical implications for hemp
Hemp for thousands of years has been used in clothing, bags, sacks, tents, hats and is truly one of the most versatile and strong materials out there.
We are not just talking about hippy shirts and hemp hats, we are talking about the sacks that have transported the worlds food and most valuable commodities around the globe for thousands of years.
The hurd, or the waste products – once the stingy fibers have been taken away for processing into materials and the seeds have been taken for processing into food stocks – are processed into none other than wood and paper!
Firstly paper, the hurd can be processed easily with hot water and natural resin and created into the paper. Now, to something that in 2019 became a fantastic reality – hemp floorboards.
Over 20 times stronger and taking 100 years less to grow! There is a wide range of manufacturers out there today that can produce them around the USA and the world – so why not take a look?
Why is hemp not more mainstream if it is so useful?
Great question. There are not many industries today that haven’t experienced sabotage from powerful, external, internal or government forces – despite being 100% untrue. This is not just the hippy movement speaking, this is common sense. The fact is, that hemp and weed/dope/gunge/skunk are not the same thing – period.
So, why was hemp tared with the brush of its infamous brother? It comes down to ‘misinformation’, also known by many as ‘propaganda’ by the conservatives amongst us in the US of A and their “Reefer Madness” campaigns of the 1930s, which led to the criminalization of all forms of cannabis, including hemp. This was financed by industrialists who wished to discredit hemp, as it was threatening their profits from cotton and other textiles.
So, in large part thanks to this pre-WWII misinformation, the world – not just the US – essentially banned a plant and its associated products that had been used as a solution for thousands of years, for more than its fair share of real-world issues, thanks to a bunch of pipe smoking, tweed jacket waring folk – you know the ones.
However, as the world slowly starts to see the light – on so many issues, not just hemp – in large part thanks to movements created through social media and alternative networks, the world has woken up to hemp, even celebrated it.
No longer are people looking at you funny as you ask “where are the hemp seeds?” No, you are not looking to cultivate some buds for sale in the carpark of your local Walmart, you are actually taking care of yourself – and your family.
So, what to do on International Hemp Day?
Well, as hemp is not bud, it isn’t a day simply to sit around and smoke weed. If you read our article property, you would have realized that that was the day prior.
Depending on which state you reside in, you may need to attend a march, a rally of sorts to ensure that you as a tax-paying, law-abiding citizen of your great state has the right to purchase, use and promote hemp-based products.
As of July 2019, only 35-states had legalized hemp production! Are they serious? If anyone of these states and their legislators looked at the facts, the THC levels – or Tetrahydrocannabinol which is essentially what gets you high – in hemp is less than 0.3% of the dried product. While in comparison to marijuana it is 20% – 30%+, so it’s a little different!
Meanwhile, you can most certainly smoke the buds of the hemp plant. They look & smell similar to that of their notorious cousin. With one glaringly obvious difference, you can’t and won’t get high – you just relax.
For suffers of anxiety, for example, this is a great alternative. You will not be impaired, simply relaxed – if you don’t believe us, speak to your physician!
Why should I support International Hemp Day?
That being said, if you are not someone who needs to march in protest, then why not go out on International Hemp Day and support the industry.
If you don’t know about hemp as a product, go out and support the industry. Head to your local natural skincare retailer and check out what all the fuss about the new hemp skincare ranges.
Speak to your local contractor about your new DIY or renovation project and want to at least look at hemp flooring due to its longevity and carbon footprint – or lack thereof.
Head to your local surf or clothing store and check out the wide range of hemp backpacks, clothing, shoes and more – you never know, you may love them – we do.
Where to from here for hemp?
What is fascinating and exhilarating to see all at the same time is the rate at which hemp is rising through the ranks as a universally accepted fuel, food, and fiber.
As the world struggles with everything from sustainable food sources for third world nations, clothes for the backs of those who most need them not to mentioned fuels – such as ethanol fuel production, sorry we forgot to mention that too – which can fuel the cars, trucks and motorbikes of the world, the real question is, why are we not here already in a big way?
Celebrate International Hemp Day
Well if you are like the majority of people and haven’t yet cottoned on – pardon the pun – you need to.
Hemp is the world’s most sustainable, durable, useful and cost-effective plants. So on the 21st of April each and every year, you like the world should be celebrating a few things.
Firstly, you should be celebrating how exceptional this plant is, its health benefits to people with chronic illnesses, skin disorders or inflammatory conditions.
Next, you should celebrate how durable and useful the product is as your water-absorbing hemp backpack doesn’t leak during your rush to the subway in the rain, despite getting drenched in the downpour.
Next, you can celebrate how hemp could provide sustenance to the third world, often starving populations, put clothes on their backs, not to mention provide potential income from cultivation.
And if that is not enough, celebrate International Hemp Day because you simply understand that hemp, unlike its infamous cousin – as much as you do or don’t love them – is quite simply one of the most important natural ingredients of our planet and the future of it.
While the scientists around the world continually seek for new, synthetic ways to solve problems through technology and innovation, as those (fairly smart) people of MIT outlined, for over 6000 years hemp has been a product used, applied, processed, worn, eaten, trodden on and loved.