UNIQUE MOLECULAR QUALITIES OF HEMP FIBER CAN QUICKLY REVOLUTIONIZE DIAPERS AND ABSORBENTS, REPLACING TOXIC PETROLEUM-BASED FIBERS, SHIFTING PRODUCTION TOWARD LOCAL AGRICULTURE AND PROCESSING
Yet another sign that hemp is a solution for industry and environment is coming from Purdue University, which has proven that hemp fibers exceed synthetics and plastics to absorb moisture, which is the primary consumer value of companies such as Kimberly Clark. 2024 seems to be the year for hemp fiber to break through. You might ask, "Breaking through what?"
Innovation is at the heart of business, but quite often business forgets that, especially big business. For some reason it's the outsiders who flip the paradigm and begin to break established mind sets in the corporate world. It's never easy for these individuals. They will be either ignored, ridiculed or ripped off. Often all three
Take for example the Wright Brothers, today regarded as the heroes of aviation. But back in 1907, they were just bicycle mechanics. Meanwhile universities and the US and French governments were trying to figure out if sustained flight was even possible, and if it was, what was the value of flying? It was all unclear and controversial, potentially even immoral. So when these brothers from Dayton, OH actually demonstrated the solution, you'd think that was a good thing. Quite the contrary. First, the media coverage (no radio, TV, internet, only newspapers) after their Kitty Hawk flight was minimal and rather 'ho-hum'. The Powers that Be, (led by Sam Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian, the official exponent of defining 'Aviation') were not happy because powerful and educated egos hate to look stupid. So the battle against the Wright brothers began which led to years of torment, leading to the early death of Wilbur and capitulation by a broken Orville, who sold the company for a tidy sum, but learned the hard way about heroes of technology. It's about changing the mind sets, and it can't be done without a lot of money for PR, as the modern advertising age has proven. Minds are for sale.
Hemp is not a technology and its not patentable, rather it's a renewable natural resource, seeking to make its way into modern corporate industry, battling against 100 years of anti-hemp mind set, essentially an open conspiracy on the part of the plastic/petroleum industry, such as DuPont and a racist US government who saw the novel opportunity to torment people of color. Their campaign was a resounding success, and now we have a paper industry and rural economies in dire straits who may eventually realize that hemp (aka cannabis) is essentially a fiber and not a dangerous narcotic. So, we're now back in 1924, when it comes to hemp and the opportunity to heal the wreckage caused by greed and racism. Oh well.
Every month we encounter yet another hemp miracle, this time it's Purdue University and their proof of super-absorbancy by the fiber for diapers and anything else that is now being used to keep things dry, not just babies' butts. We write about it and we promote it with the assumption that someone will start writing big checks that might make into the pockets of small business, family farms and ordinary hemp innovators who have spent a long time in the nether world familiar to the Wright brothers, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs. James Dyson, the vacuum guy. Many, many others. Except those were inventions, with patents to be stolen or purchased. Hemp is just a weed, nearly free from its shackles, ready to go back to work.
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