The global clothing industry is an environmental disaster
One of the biggest challenges we face as a planet is how to reduce carbon emissions and fresh water use, while still feeding and clothing 7 billion people. As we mentioned in our earlier blog on the cannabis’ industry’s need to be green ‘inside & out’ the fashion / clothing industry contributes an estimated 10% of global carbon emissions and is like a sponge for fresh water. One of the big positive side effects of the wave of global cannabis deregulation is that huge amounts of industrial hemp are now being farmed in the US, Europe and other cannabis progressive countries. Could this be an extra pillar in the conflicting fights against global poverty and climate change?
Hemp has a wide range of advantages as a clothing material:
- Mechanically processed: you just break the stem and manually extract the fibre
- Grows like a weed (very resistant to insects and diseases) and does not require the use of any insecticides or pesticides
- Very strong fiber so clothes last longer
- Only takes 11 weeks to mature
- Grows in a diverse range of global climates
- Hemp regenerates soil by transforming contaminating metals
- Perfect crop rotation for soybean and corn
- The whole hemp industry (building material, food, and many more) has almost infinite potential
- Is a biodegradable fiber
At the moment hemp is more expensive, partly due to economies of scale and also as a result of legal regulation and industry preference for cotton. However, this can change if there is sufficient consumer education and demand – as well as a globally deregulated hemp industry, as there is in the EU. Countries such as Pakistan that have both a need and a focus on addressing their ‘balance of payments’ could create a major export industry without having to traverse the hazardous landscape of CBD or cannabis legalization.
Mind Body Community Says:
As we discuss in our mission statement the objective of MBC is to drive a positive cannabis economy that can benefit us all, while meeting the global needs of the 21st century.
