The Green Living
4 min readMar 18, 2021
Green living (or sustainable living) is a lifestyle that attempts to reduce an individual’s or society’s use of the Earth’s natural resources and his or her own resources. Today, more and more companies are creating products that help us live a green lifestyle. Everything from cars, light bulbs, utensils, straws, cleaners, mattresses, and clothing is created with environmental preservation in mind. These products help us conserve water, energy and precious natural resources while also helping to curb pollution. The conveniences these products provide make it easier than ever to live sustainably. It is more important than ever to adopt a green lifestyle as our planet is in danger with all the global warming and pollution rising in the present times. These small changes can help reduce the pollution that threatens our health and our environment, while also protecting our natural resources. Fortunately, it has never been easier to live a sustainable lifestyle. When we all take small steps toward preserving our planet, we all reap big rewards.
The burning of fossil fuels for energy is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. This type of energy results in destructive carbon dioxide emissions that pollute our environment. One way individuals can help to combat climate change is to reduce our energy consumption. Research shows that switching to energy-efficient appliances could help to reduce carbon emissions by up to 19 percent. In 2017, recycling alone saved over 184 million tons of carbon dioxide from our environment. This is the equivalent of removing 39 million cars from the road in one year. Taking steps to conserve energy in our homes can go a long way in reducing carbon emissions and protecting our planet for future generations.
Living green has traditionally been in general reference to the environment and our impact on planet Earth. It’s a philosophy that recognizes humanity’s relationship to our environment. Earth is a support system. Our quality of food and shelter depends on how we treat the Earth. To live green is to sustain a healthy environment. When we take good care of the Earth, we help ourselves.
In the past, consumer goods such as bathroom and bed linen, clothing, and outdoor apparel were designed and manufactured to last, with both consumers and suppliers leaning towards quality rather than quantity. The trend now, for the most part, is to mass produce and consume items that will be disposed of in a matter of months and not years, providing yet another example of unsustainable consumerism.
Hemp promises to be the magical crop that can satiate human’s need for clothing, nutrition, packaging, and even housing; without hurting the sustenance of our planet. Hemp fabric is a sustainable textile made of fibres of a very high-yielding crop in the cannabis sativa plant family. Historically used for industrial purposes, like rope and sails, hemp is known as one of the most versatile and durable natural fibres. Hemp fabric is deliciously soft on the skin, and is known for growing softer with each wear. Hemp is naturally resistant to bacteria and provides natural UV protection.
If we look at it from a production standpoint, we’ll see that the growth of hemp is an inherently eco-friendly process. According to analysis by the Stockholm Environment Institute, the water required to produce 1kg of hemp is somewhere between 300 and 500 litres. We can compare that to the 10,000 litres required to produce the same 1kg of cotton. Hemp is high-yielding and produces much more product on much less land, without the need for any chemical pesticides. This, and the fact that it refill soil nutrients through growth gives it the ability to regenerate soil, a process known as phytoremediation (i.e. cleaning the soil and removing it of toxins). also reuse land every couple of years, something that takes much longer with flax or cotton.
Hemp fibre is collected from a plant in the species cannabis sativa. Hemp is kind of like a cousin of weed. Hemp contains 0.3% or less THC (which is the psychoactive bit of weed). The cannabis you’re thinking of usually has between 5%-20% THC. That’s a huge difference. But anyway, for some reason, the US still made cultivating hemp illegal in 1937. Just recently in 2014, President Obama signed a provision to remove hemp from the Controlled Substances Act allowing farmers to grow it for research only. And now, as of December 20, 2018, under the 2018 United States Farm Bill, hemp is again recognized as an agricultural commodity. Hemp is a lightweight fabric with a similar drape to linen. Hemp clothing is UV, mold, and mildew resistant, while being highly absorbent and breathable. It is an excellent fabric for outdoor gear.
Hemp fabric clothing is essentially a “self-offsetting crop” that actually absorbs more CO2 from the atmosphere than forests, which is why industrial hemp farms are an ideal “carbon sinks”. Additionally hemp’s growth is quick and it takes around just 120 days to become the stalk.
https://www.planetgreenonline.com/hemp-fabrics/
https://www.planetgreenonline.com/hemp-paper/
https://www.planetgreenonline.com/hemp-kitchen-and-dining-ware/
