Hemp can be used to make cars. There are companies in the U.S. and Europe who make door panels and dashboards by compressing hemp fibers and adding resin or plastic. Ford, Mercedes Benz and others have replaced more expensive and dangerous fiberglass with hemp. These cars are on the roads today!

You can build a house with hemp. Today it is being used to produce caulking, cement, fiberboard, flooring, insulation, paneling, particleboard, plaster, plywood, reinforced concrete and roofing. The hardened material is resistant to rotting, rodents, insects and fire. It is many times lighter than cement and provides both thermal and sound insulation. Concrete pipes reinforced with hemp fiber cost less than one third the price of conventional polypropylene (a material similar to plastic) reinforced concrete pipes and have greater flexibility and resistance to cracking. Fiberboard made from hemp is twice as strong and three times more elastic than fiberboard made from wood. Because of its superior strength and flexibility, it is resistant to cracking and breaking and therefore excellent for areas susceptible to hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes.

Henry Ford was fond of saying, "Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down if we can get the equivalent of forests and mineral products from the annual growth of the fields?" George Washington Carver had a response: "I believe that the great Creator has put ores and oil on this earth to give us a breathing spell. As we exhaust them, we must be prepared to fall back on our farms, which is God’Äôs true storehouse and can never be exhausted. We can learn to synthesize material for every human need from things that grow." That "breathing spell" ended 60 years ago when Henry Ford built his car. Since then, we have cut down half of the world’Äôs forests, a primary source of clean air. Only 3 percent of the U.S. original forests still remain. Much of Australia's old-growth forests are being cut down for wood chips. If we don’Äôt start using hemp to help build our societies, what will we use?

1. hemp building links coming here soon
   

2. For further information on Hemp Plastics visit www.hempplastic.com