Fun_People Archive
29 Nov
Drugs are bad for oil & timber companies...

Date: Mon, 29 Nov 93 21:07:01 PST
To: Fun_People
Subject: Drugs are bad for oil & timber companies...

 From: cls@truffula.sj.ca.us (Cameron L. Spitzer)

Page 7, Fall (Spring Down Under) 1993 issue of _Earth Island Journal_
carried this:

  *Tree-Free Paper Down Under*

Tasmania-- When the forests of Wesley Vale were targeted for pulping by a
large paper mill in 1990, local farmers formed the Hemp for Paper Consortium
and advocated planting hemp on clearcut lands.  Within three months, HPC
argued, hemp stalks could be out-supplying nearby forests as a source of
paper pulp.

Beginning with 4.5 pounds of seeds donated by a Hungarian research station,
HPC farmers managed to produce a ton of dried fiber with their second crop.
Hundreds of Australian farmers are now looking into hemp cropping for paper
and HPC predicts that 15,000 hectares (37,050 acres) will be under
cultivation within five years, yielding 150,000 tons of hemp annually.

According to Australia's _Simply Living_ magazine, "a hemp crop is not in
the interests of the oil industry," since hemp can also be used to make
rope, clothing, and plastics.  _Simply Living_ notes that synthetic chemical
manufacturers like Du Pont "are not keen on the re-emergence of natural
alternatives to their products."  Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, the Dutch
government is preparing to open a prototype hemp-paper mill later this year.
 -end-

_EIJ_ did not give an address for _Simply Living_ or HPC.
You can write _EIJ_ at 300 Broadway, Suite 28, San Francisco CA 94133 USA
or call (415)788-3666 or mail earthisland@igc.apc.org.

© 1993 Peter Langston