The LEAF March/April 2016 | Page 17

Oil is not a renewable resource, and it is a D E CLINING resource. Easy, cheap oil is on the decline. Countries are seeing a decline in oil extraction, and there is a rush to find either new oil fields or alternate sources of energy. Again, at this point, it is the EASY, CHEAP oil that is on the decline. Global oil production is declining at 8-10% per year. And what does this mean? Higher prices. For EVERYTHING . Now, this is not the end of the world, as we know it. There IS a solution, and that solution is H E MP. Hemp does everything that petroleum does, A N D B E TT E R! Extracting fossil fuels are harmful to the environment and to human health. Petroleum extracting and processing is a chemical-intensive, expensive process. Hemp oil for fuel is simply a matter of growing, harvesting, and processing. Petroleum-based plastics are not biodegradable. Hemp-based plastics are recyclable and biodegradable. Fuel for transportation can be replaced with hemp-based biofuels. Hemp fuel is clean, HIILFLHQW DQG«LI LW VSLOOV LW GRHV QRW KDUP the environment, it is more like a fertilizer. a clean, safe alternative, and every single factor in our lives when it comes to food, clothing, health, transportation, housing, etc. ± it would all be thanks to H EMP . Our economy would start to heal. The JRYHUQPHQW ZRXOGQ¶W QHHG WR SULQW QHZ money, causing more debt (which, by the way, is NOT the answer to reviving a sick economy). So, what do we do now? We keep speaking, we keep educating, and we work toward legalising industrial hemp farming. We put our energy into doing everything we can to rid ourselves of dependence on foreign and domestic fossil fuels. Will this hap [