|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
Canada: Hemp The Key To Island Eco Village
Hubert Beyer Grand Forks Gazette (CN BC)
Tuesday 16 Oct 2001 While British Columbia's forest industry is mired in the worst slump in years, Brian Johnson of Victoria offers an alternative to make up for the dwindling forestry revenues. Johnson sees hemp as a viable product that can relieve British Columbia at least in part of its traditional reliance on trees. To that end, proposes to build an industrial park and eco village in Duncan on Vancouver Island. "This eco-village is to contain a modern industrial core, based on the processing of industrial hemp materials and other similar eco-commercial activities," he says. "A modern residential housing subdivision will be developed to support workers and others who may wish to reside in such surroundings." The proposed eco-village would be Canada's first truly sustainable industrial, commercial and residential development. Typically industrial processes tend to be one-way: extracting raw materials and energy, shipping them vast distances to exploit cheap labour, manufacturing mass-produced goods or services, and releasing, either treated or untreated, various wastes and by-products into the environment. Johnson sees this process not only as wasteful and inefficient, he says it undermines the very life-support system upon which the economy it creates rests. The proposed eco-village concept is modeled after nature's cycle of material and energy use and continuing reuse, where the by-products of one process become the raw materials of another. "The concept for the eco-village acknowledges that it is contained within the natural world and that it must function as an entity integrated with its surrounding ecosystems. As well it will advance the principles of 'industrial ecology' to also incorporate the concepts of social sustainability, where lasting employment is based on profitable, local, renewable industry," Johnson says. The core process that would make all this possible is the processing of industrial hemp seed into oil and cake. In this process, hemp seeds are mechanically pressed to extract a oil and a fibre-rich cake. The amount of oil yielded, Johnson says, amounts to 60 per cent of the raw material and would fetch up to $8 a kilogram. and virtually no process waste. The cake is useful as a healthful supplement to flour. In addition, industrial hemp could be used in industrial and consumer products ranging from building materials, such as wall-board, carpeting, oriented strand board, to cosmetics as well as pulp, paper, textiles, rope and canvas. Johnson believes the hemp seed press and processing would give rise to a number of secondary industries clustered around the main processes. These could include a flour mill or bakery, brewery for hemp beer, and various oil-utilizing industries ranging from art supplies, to soaps, to organic cleaners. Adding to this mix will be a variety of tourism-oriented commercial outlets providing natural fibre clothing, restaurant and cafe, wine shop, art gallery, museum, and other outlets of like nature. The whole village, he says, will have an architectural theme such as 1920's or 1940's style creating a tourism attraction over and above its sustainability concepts. "Together these themes could be replicated and marketed across Western Canada, the Pacific Northwest and abroad. In the longer term such a village could be developed as an ideal location for the very profitable high tech industries where quality of life is paramount to keeping staff," he says. "Residences providing accommodation to the workers, retail personnel, retirees, and tourists attracted to see first-hand an example of sustainability, will be attracted to the community." Johnson says other provinces have already taken advantage of the growing of industrial hemp with Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan being the leaders. Every other province except Newfoundland is presently growing and harvesting more hemp than British Columbia. "There are many companies using hemp in their products including Domtar Pulp and Paper, Calvin Klein, Bowen Island Brewery, Shaftsbury Brewery, Body Shop, Levi's, Spinnakers (a pub), and the list continues to grow as industrial hemp once again demonstrates its usefulness." One of the partners in the project is Transglobal Hemp Products Corp., incorporated in February, 1994 with a mandate to commercialize industrial hemp on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. Another is Earth Tech Canada Inc., a full service engineering company, located in Victoria, that will provide the engineering, architectural and land use planning services for the Eco-village master plan, architectural and engineering design standards, infrastructure development, waste management as well as the concept of operation for industrial ecology in the industrial park. The financing, Johnson says, is already partly in place. And if his enthusiasm is any indication, he will bring it off.
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!