Hemp our environmental saviour

[Applause]

i want to tell you all a secret

i’m scared

i’m scared to be living in a world where

a forest the size of 20 football fields

is cut down every minute

i’m scared to be living in a world where

rising greenhouse gas emissions

are causing a change in our climate that

we are completely

and utterly unprepared

and i’m scared to be living in a world

where so many of the people

in the highest positions of power

globally simply don’t care enough to

change

there is unprecedented pressure on our

planet to provide

its growing population which is

predicted to hit 9 billion

by 2050. the challenges that we’re

facing as a result of this

are so large and so staggering in their

nature

that business simply cannot go on as

usual

the status quo is no longer an option we

need to adapt

to change to innovate

i’m 17 years old for so many people

my age environmental activism is

ingrained

in their dna but that’s largely because

we have no other choice

the burden is on us to change the way

that we treat the environment

for not only ourselves but also the

future generations

so the question then comes what do we do

and how do we do it well here’s my name

jason

we harness the power of what we’ve

already been given in nature

in order to save it specifically we use

hemp is a plant or any part of a plant

including the seed from the cavity

that has been specifically bred to have

a minimum hydrocarbon

levels or thc levels in the leaves and

flowering hairs

meaning that it cannot produce the

psychoactive effects

essentially you can’t get higher

now before i continue i want to do a bit

of myth-busting

whenever someone mentions the word hemp

our minds we will more often than not

wander to its psychoactive counterpart

marijuana

and before i knew more about him i

thought the exact same thing

but it’s this harmful association that

prevents him from being capitalized on

for its abundance of commercial and

environmental purposes

you see the important thing to recognize

here is that while hemp and marijuana

come from the same family

they’re two completely different crops

it’s like people

take yourselves for example you each

have a family and you come from two

parents

and if you have a sibling then your

brother or sister comes from the same

parents too

but you’re both completely different

people with different purposes skills

abilities that exact same logic applies

to the relationship between heft and

marijuana

same parent different purpose

now once i learned a bit more about this

distinction between two i started

researching more and more into hemp

and i was astounded with what i found

not only could hemp be incredibly

beneficial for a number of industries

in fact it has over 25 000 commercial

uses

but there was research and statistics

and studies to show

that hep could have a hugely beneficial

impact on our environment

but what is it exactly that makes hemp

such a unique vector for climate action

well one of the industrial uses of hemp

is as an alternative material for paper

fun fact some incredibly important

historic texts like the gutenberg bible

and the american declaration of

independence

were written on hemp paper now to give

you all some context

when hemp is grown for fibre it grows

incredibly fast

in around three to four months meaning

that it produces a huge biomass

now because it matures so fast this

means that we need

less land less water and less time to

get the exact same amount of pulp that

we get from traditional forestry

in fact for traditional paper you’d need

four acres of land

and 20 to 30 years to get pulp whereas

hemp

with hemp you’d need one acre of land

and three months to get that exact same

amount of pulp

and what’s more is that hemp can be

pulped for paper with far fewer

chemicals than wood due to its low

lignan content

reducing the need for bleaching which

contaminates the environment especially

waterways now to put this all into

perspective for you

in 2016 statistics show that paper and

cardboard consumption

totaled up 413 million metric tons

that year and what’s more is that for

each tonne of wood pulp paper produced

950 kilograms of carbon dioxide

are released into the atmosphere now

brace yourselves because this is quite

confronting because theoretically

if we do the maths then that means that

there’s about 39.4

billion kilograms of carbon dioxide

being pumped

into our atmosphere each year as a

direct result of the paper and cardboard

industry alone

39.4 billion

these increased carbon dioxide emissions

exacerbate climate change

now climate change is a term that’s

thrown around a lot lately

especially by the media but what does it

actually mean for us

climate change looks like an increase in

extreme weather of

events like hurricanes floods and

droughts

that will wreak havoc on communities

across the globe

it looks like the air that you and i

bring becoming dirtier

because rising temperatures increase air

pollution through creating ground level

ozone

it looks like vertebrate species like

mammals and birds going extinct at a

rate

114 times faster than they naturally

should

be it looks like our oceans becoming

more acidic

because they are absorbing our excess

emissions

it looks like highly populated cities

like new york l.a

sydney rio de janeiro mumbai all at risk

due to rising sea levels now let’s take

a step back

let’s consider that perhaps instead of

using wood pulp for paper

we tried hemp not only would we get rid

of

all those carbon dioxide emissions but

given that hemp is a natural carbon

sequester

we’d actually be absorbing carbon

dioxide from the atmosphere

and significant amounts of it in fact

for each tonne of hemp harvested

1.62 tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide

are absorbed

stored in its fiber hemp could transform

this industry

from from one of the most harmful global

industries

into a carbon neutral or even carbon

negative industry

incredible and the really unique part

about all of this

is is that that’s just one example of an

industry

that could revolutionize hemp could be

used in construction

for concrete insulation paint to create

carbon negative

buildings it could be used in the

fashion industry

to eradicate all the water wastage that

we see from modern cotton production

it could be used to improve the health

food industry because hemp is considered

an up and coming superfood

and in fact it’s one of only two parcels

of both omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids

now with all of this in mind it is

observed that so many people still

believe

that the notion of using commercially is

new

untested unsafe

there couldn’t be more wrong

it’s becoming abundantly clear that we

need to rethink our mindset towards hemp

hoping and praying for a clean greener

and safer future

simply isn’t enough we need to actively

work towards creating and implementing

sustainable practices

into our leading industries hemp

could trigger an environmental

revolution

we just need to nurture it and allow it

to fulfill its purpose

we’re our precarious tipping point with

the environment where our actions and

decisions today directly affect tomorrow

and we need to make a decision about

what we want

our future to look like so let’s do it

let’s decide is this the life we want to

live

is this the way we should be treating

our planet

is this the best we can be can we be

better

smarter more sustainable

let’s decide the clock is ticking

thank you