Herb Fellow
New Member
The problem with government subsidized bio fuels has stirred my historical memory of when, 15 years ago this month, I along with a small group of well-meaning environmentalist/freedom seekers staged a few teach-ins to proclaim that "Hemp could save the world," at Stone Park in Ashland.
Our featured speaker was Jack Herer, author of "The Emperor Wears No Clothes." We spread out dozens of products: paper, health care products, building materials, cloth, food products, twine, oil, etc made from hemp which made the town leaders try to deny my access to Stone Park for a second time. That unconstitutional ignorance was halted in federal court and we had another event.
In March of this year, Skaidra Smith-Heisters, a policy analyst at Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank advancing free minds and free markets published a white paper "Illegally Green: Environmental costs of Hemp Prohibition".
Smith-Heisters' review of the facts surrounding hemp as fuel is summed up, "a more recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Energy claim: one billion dry tons of biomass could supply the equivalent of 30 percent of the nation's annual petroleum consumption for transportation." The report concludes, "Nations that followed the U.S. in prohibiting hemp cultivation have, for the most part, rescinded these laws - some more than a decade ago."
At the end of the day, if we had been growing hemp for the last 15 years, a loaf of bread today would not cost that much more, the billions in farm subsidies could have gone to better use and the hundreds of millions of tons of pollution produced by petro chemicals would have not been produced at all, and at least some of our energy needs would have been met.
I suggest all elected officials; environmentalists and everyone interested in the facts surrounding hemp, print out the Reason paper and read it.
Source: The Metro West Daily News
Copyright: 2008, The Metro West Daily News
Contact: JAMES M. PILLSBURY, Framingham
Website: Pillsbury: Hemp is more than just 'weed' - Framingham, MA - The MetroWest Daily News
Our featured speaker was Jack Herer, author of "The Emperor Wears No Clothes." We spread out dozens of products: paper, health care products, building materials, cloth, food products, twine, oil, etc made from hemp which made the town leaders try to deny my access to Stone Park for a second time. That unconstitutional ignorance was halted in federal court and we had another event.
In March of this year, Skaidra Smith-Heisters, a policy analyst at Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank advancing free minds and free markets published a white paper "Illegally Green: Environmental costs of Hemp Prohibition".
Smith-Heisters' review of the facts surrounding hemp as fuel is summed up, "a more recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Energy claim: one billion dry tons of biomass could supply the equivalent of 30 percent of the nation's annual petroleum consumption for transportation." The report concludes, "Nations that followed the U.S. in prohibiting hemp cultivation have, for the most part, rescinded these laws - some more than a decade ago."
At the end of the day, if we had been growing hemp for the last 15 years, a loaf of bread today would not cost that much more, the billions in farm subsidies could have gone to better use and the hundreds of millions of tons of pollution produced by petro chemicals would have not been produced at all, and at least some of our energy needs would have been met.
I suggest all elected officials; environmentalists and everyone interested in the facts surrounding hemp, print out the Reason paper and read it.
Source: The Metro West Daily News
Copyright: 2008, The Metro West Daily News
Contact: JAMES M. PILLSBURY, Framingham
Website: Pillsbury: Hemp is more than just 'weed' - Framingham, MA - The MetroWest Daily News