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Summary Picture this: a building material that is carbon-negative and water, mold, insect and fire-resistant. A building material that could cut your energy bills in half. A building material that could make the air you breathe in your home cleaner. Now, what if I told you this building material was made from hemp? An easily grown and […]

Picture this: a building material that is carbon-negative and water, mold, insect and fire-resistant. A building material that could cut your energy bills in half. A building material that could make the air you breathe in your home cleaner. Now, what if I told you this building material was made from hemp? An easily grown and harvested resource, hemp, is illegal in the United States. Hemp is the base of the building material Hempcrete. As hemp is a derivative of the cannabis sativa plant, it is federally banned by its association with .

Definitive building blocks that can be used for homes are illegal in a country where freedom is the native language and the American Dream is the national ethos.

Over 30 countries produce hemp. The United States of America is not one of them. Aside from Colorado being given permission to grow and harvest hemp per the state’s legalization of marijuana, it cannot be utilized. Colorado, Vermont, California and North Dakota have passed laws enabling hemp licensure, however, they await permission to actually grow and proceed to use it from the DEA.

No THC Here

Hempcrete is simply a mixture of water, lime and hemp. No, you cannot smoke it. Mostly used in retrofitting processes like coating existing homes, Hempcrete is found in a handful of construction jobs across America. However, the ability to source hemp from another country is expensive – making a powerful, versatile and sustainable solution anything but readily available. Some homeowners can see the bigger picture by taking possible costs into account. For example, think about how much money you will spend on possible misfortunes like flooding, mold, fires, and pest control, all while increasing our carbon footprint on this planet.

Instead of having your home built with walls that have space between exterior walls to fill with insulation, a Hempcrete wall would would suffice. Humidity is taken in from the external environment, and the Hempcrete wall would release this humidity again when the climate becomes dry or simply less humid. Thus, decreasing energy use.

Eliminate our Carbon Footprint

If we grew hemp in our backyard, it would be affordable and yield a decrease in our carbon footprint. Not too long ago, our country was extremely worried about global warming and making our planet ‘green’. We need to keep in mind that our choice to eat gluten-free, organic diets may make us ‘healthier’ between smoke breaks, but the constant blame we place on the automotive industry and packaging manufacturers do not give us an excuse to deny our responsibility for our own actions. Our own footprint. Our decision to spend $10 on a glorified, bright green kale juice every morning doesn’t translate to exuding a green impression on our atmosphere.

Building a home out of Hempcrete could save about 20,000 lbs. of carbon per home. Through the average building process with concrete, the supplier would need to industrially create concrete, resulting in a substantial amount of energy use and carbon emission. In hemp’s growing life cycle alone, it sequesters or absorbs carbon, and doesn’t allow the carbon to be released back into our atmosphere. Your Hempcrete home could lock up over 242 pounds of carbon per cubic foot.

When you imagine a hemp-based home, I doubt you picture modern architecture. You probably imagine a thatched hut, a shinier version of a mud house. Nope! Bevan Architects in Northern Ireland, built this Hempcrete retreat for under $170,000. Cutting out the middle-man and shipping costs, hemp-based homes are affordable. Yes, please. Thank you.

Image courtesy of Inhabitat.com

The American Dream

Hemp could change the way we build everything. From the roofs over our heads and the cars parked in your driveway to the preparation of every meal we put on the table. That is the American Dream, now isn’t it? The hemp seed can be harvested as a nutritious food rich in Omega-3 oil, amino acids, protein and fiber. It is considered a ‘super food‘. Hemp’s outer fibers can be used to make clothes, paper, skin care products and more. This truly is a very powerful plant and should be a no-brainer when it comes to it being used in a very mainstream way. The plant’s oils can even yield biofuels.

America’s Leaders in Hemp

Although we do not have licensure or approval from the DEA, there are workarounds of sourcing that have been maximized by few leaders in hemp. Namely, builders and lobbyists.

An American company working with Hempcrete is Hemp Technologies, a construction company based in North Carolina. They are adamant about Hempcrete’s advantages, but they do not receive the financial support necessary to build as much as they would like to in the US. They have built houses in Hawaii, Texas, Idaho and North Carolina, under their project known as NauHaus.

We introduced you to Ben Droz. Droz is the American hemp industry’s main man in Washington, D.C. As a registered lobbyist for Vote Hemp, an advocacy group that works to loosen hemp laws. Ben is the one-man team at the moment, but things are slowly looking up. In June 2013 an amendment to the Farm Bill passed. This amendment authorized hemp research in states where hemp farming is legal. Droz is working to raise support for the Industrial Hemp Farming Act, which would amend the Controlled Substance Act by disjoining hemp from marijuana.

Whether you have the ability to have a new Hempcrete home built, invest in hemp research, or show your support for the Industrial Hemp Farming Act through Vote Hemp, every bit counts.

The benefits of hemp and its derivatives are unsurpassed and we are giving the rest of the world yet another reason to dub us an Ignorant America. I don’t blame ’em.

Learn more about the uses of hemp here.

Sources: The Huffington Post, The Collective Evolution