Just like the rest of the world, climate constantly changes. How it changes is truly resulted by the activity of the human race, based on how we treat our environment. With global warming on the steady rise, there is a solution to completely reverse it and it involves hemp. First, let’s touch on the basis of the current climate crisis.
What is Causing Global Warming?
Most of the problem stems from the exceeding amount of carbon dioxide in our air. The more carbon dioxide in the air, the more energy from the sun becomes trapped in our atmosphere, which increases heat. As the temperature continually rises, so do the real consequences for every element of our climate system.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today remains at a higher level than it has been at any time in the past 3-5 million years.
In 2013, for the first time in recorded history, CO2 levels exceeded 400 parts per million (ppm). Within three years later, according to science, levels superior to that exigent standard presumably transformed into a permanent state.
How is Climate Change Affecting the World?
Temperature is a fundamental principle that affects all living things. With it on the rise, it is causing a multitude of constituents to be pushed out of balance.
How weather affects global warming
As the world becomes warmer, the weather becomes more extreme. Natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes become stronger and more destructive. “For a long time, we’ve understood, based on pretty simple physics, that as you warm the ocean’s surface, you’re going to get more intense hurricanes,” renowned climatologist Dr. Michael Mann explained to Climate Reality in a recent interview.
“Whether you get more or fewer hurricanes, the strongest storms will tend to become stronger. Within the last three years, when global sea surface temperatures have been at their highest, we have seen the strongest hurricane globally, the strongest hurricane in the northern hemisphere, the strongest hurricane in the southern hemisphere, and the strongest storms in both the Pacific and the open Atlantic, with [Hurricane] Irma.”
How global warming affects our food and water
The climate crisis also presents a threat to our food and water supply as a planet. The more we burn fossil fuels, the harder it will be to grow food in many places. And what does grow becomes less and less nutrient-dense. Water can become more scarce as polluted floodwater runoff corrupts lakes, rivers, and reservoirs. With droughts becoming more significant around the world, the water supply could potentially all dry up.
Health and global warming
Global warming also threatens public health. According to the World Health Organization, “Climate change is among the greatest health risks of the twenty-first century. Rising temperatures and more extreme weather events cost lives directly, increase transmission and spread of infectious diseases, and undermine the environmental determinants of health, including clean air and water, and sufficient food.”
Warmer climates give some vector-borne diseases a place multiply and expand, which leads to more people becoming ill. Global warming also increases the rate of death from illnesses such as heat stroke and heart attacks.
How can Hemp Reverse Global Warming?
As most of us are coming to understand, hemp is one of the world’s oldest and most versatile crops. One of its abilities is being a bio-accumulator, meaning it absorbs toxins and can clean up contaminated soil. Its deep root structure feeds organic matter, which is the basis of healthy soil. It also enhances soil health by shading out weeds. This way of farming can potentially insulate 100% of our current CO2 emissions.
Regenerative Agriculture
With these characteristics, hemp can play a huge role in what is known as regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that increase biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds and enhances the health of our ecosystems.
The principles of regenerative agriculture include no-till farming, planned livestock grazing, cover crops, composting and perennial crops. Tilling leaves soil vulnerable to erosion and depletes organic matter, so a more holistic approach would be necessary here.
Planned livestock grazing helps to deplete carbon levels and improves animal health. Cover crops protect the soil from erosion. Composting replenishes missing microbe populations in the soil. Perennial crops prevent erosion to reduce compaction and maintain healthy soil.
Healthy Soil, Healthy World
Regenerative agriculture improves soil health, primarily through the practices to increase soil organic matter. Not only does this contribute to an increase of soil biota diversity and health, but it also elevates biodiversity both above and below the soil surface, while accumulating both water holding capacity and depleting CO2 at larger amounts. This brings down climate-damaging levels of atmospheric CO2 while improving soil structure to reverse life-threatening soil loss.
Healthier soil means healthier oceans. Unhealthy soil and runoff from polluted floodwater create ocean “dead zones” and acidification. Acidification kills phytoplankton, which generates HALF of the oxygen we breathe. Healthier soil also means a healthier climate.
Healthy topsoil retains water and absorbs carbon from the Earth’s atmosphere. Nutrient-rich soil creates nutrient-dense food, which is the building block of healthy people. Overall, shifting to regenerative agriculture can result in a total reduction of 23.2 gigatons of carbon dioxide by 2050.
Imagine if all farms switched to regenerative agriculture… it could save not only humanity but the entire planet.