Hemp-Based Products and Their Environmental Impact: A Sustainable Alternative

With the expansion in knowledge and self-awareness, globally, people are concerned for their next generations. As a result, they have started opting for sustainable alternatives like Electric cars and Herbal products.

Hemp, an herb produced from Cannabis Plant, holds a huge amount of the herbal market due to its innumerable advantages and benefits. A healthier and environmentally feasible alternative to traditional cigarettes and many other products including oils has gained huge attention in recent years.

Understanding Hemp-Based Products

A large number of products are made using hemp instead of chemicals that could be harmful to the environment. It's a fact indeed worldwide that herbs have potential to cure human beings as well.

Benefits of hemp plant are -

• Improves Soil Health - Hemp is a deep-rooted plant which makes it a good option for prevention of soil erosion. It has the ability to reduce the compaction of soil and subsequently enhance the health of soil without the use of chemicals
• Promotes Biodiversity - Hemp cultivation method plays a big role in providing habitat to birds, insects and other animals.
• Sustainable farming - The growth cycle of hemp is comparatively shorter than other plants which results in an increased number of hemp per year. Hemp is usually grown using synthetic fertilizers which do not harm the soil.
• Economically feasible - Producing hemp is a cheap alternative. It could be grown using economically sustainable practices.

The Environmental Impact of Conventional Alternatives

Traditional oils such as palm oil, soybean oil and various vegetable oils include a high range of chemical usage which makes them unfit for environmental growth. Following are some environmental issues chemical made oil causes:

• Chemicals in food - There is a huge risk of finding chemical residue of pesticides in the final product. There are many elements used in the farming process which are not fit for human consumption.
• Effects on biodiversity - It leads to a very long term ecological impact as the chemicals used to make the soil more fertile contributes to the loss of biodiversity as it takes away nutrition's that different species of plants and animals need to survive.
• Carbon Emission - Trees present in forests have a huge amount of carbon, deforestation leads to release in the stored carbon in the form of greenhouse energy which significantly contributes to the changes in climate.

Hemp Seed Oil vs. Conventional Cooking oils

Hemp Oil - As the name suggests, the key ingredient is Hemp plant which possesses several advantages like nutrition, skin care, protein and fiber source for human beings and acts as a medium in sustainable farming, improving air quality etc. On the other hand other cooking oils are produced with the help of chemicals that degrade the soil quality and contribute to reducing biodiversity and climate change.

Key factors of differentiation:

• Sustainability - Hemp oils have a lower growth cycle which means multiple crop production per year which leads to sustainable use of large lands within less time. The hemp cultivation includes very less usage of synthetic farming methods which makes the soil more fertile in comparison to other cooking oil that needs chemicals in the production process which reduces the fertility of the soil and makes it unfit for species to survive on.

• Deforestation - Palm oil and many other cooking oils use lands in large amounts which leads to deforestation. The trees then release carbon dioxide which evolves in air particulars in the form of greenhouse energy resulting in climate change. On the other hand hemp oil does not require a large amount of land as they have a shorter growth cycle.

• Energy Efficiency - Hemp oil cultivation involves methods like cold pressing which is more efficient and also has a lower carbon footprint in comparison to other cooking oil alternatives.

CBD Oil vs. Pharmaceutical Medications

CBD or cannabidiol oil has gained popularity in recent years due to its increasing benefits to the environment and human body as well.

Following are some of the advantages of CBD oil over pharmaceutical medications.

• Natural Source - CBD is naturally grown from cannabis plants and hence is a natural remedy but medications are specifically designed according to dosage and formulation and hence comes under the category of artificial.
• Side effects - Pharmaceutical medications consist of chemicals and drugs which is potential of creating a wide range of side effects to both the society and human body whereas CBD comparatively does not have that many side effects.
• Psychoactive element - CBD does not have psychoactive elements similar to other cannabis elements like THC. It does not get you high but drugs that pharma medicines use can create a sense of dizziness.

Eco-Friendly Packaging

Eco-friendly packing means to reduce the inclusion of plastic in the making of packaging products. Using biodegradable products that do not pollute the environment and are disposed of in the environment.

• Plastic Usage - The usage of plastic, which disturbs the entire ecological cycle, reduces when hemp is used for packaging products. This shift saved the nation from long term environmental consequences.
• Recyclability - Hemp is a recyclable resource which means it can be reused if recycling facilities are available. Reusing the same resource helps us save more resources for future generations.
• Biodegradable - Plastic is not biodegradable is a fact we all have been listening to for years but hemp is a biodegradable plant. Hemp paper and hemp plastic composts in soil and fertilizes it.

The Future of Hemp-Based Sustainability

The rapid growth of hemp and its involvement in many products came out to be fruitful to the environment. Its sustainability is promising and reliable. Hemp has now even stepped into the construction industry making materials like hempcrete have reduced the utilization of traditional construction materials.

Clothes made from hemp are more comfortable, durable and fashionable. Hemp textile has started to make a revolution in the textile industry.

Along with that, Hemp has even contributed in making biofuel from biomass which reduces the reliability of fossil fuel and decreases carbon emission.

As the consumer is becoming more aware of the sustainability and benefits of hemp plants, they are rapidly shifting towards eco-friendly methods

Challenges or misconceptions related to hemp-based products

Every new innovation comes with a set of challenges that needs to be overcome in order to make it a sustainable resource for the environment as well as economy. Similarly hemp has also certain challenges to overcome:

• Quality - With the expansion in demand, the production and supply is also expanded. It is important to ensure the quality of hemp at the time or production as well as at the time of buying products.
• Cross Pollination - There are chancer that hemp could pollinate with marijuana's which could cause an issue for cultivators of both
• Gets You High - Hemp contains THC, the psychoactive compound found in cannabis, but in such minimal amounts that it is not capable of inducing a sensation of being high.

With the constant growth and development of the nation both environmentally and economically, it is important to focus on what we are consuming and its side effects on society.

To learn more about sustainability and hemp herbal products, please regularly check our blogs for informative journey.