To tackle today’s pressing challenges, genius isn’t always required; often, solutions lie in ancient practices. Let’s take our modern construction industry, which currently accounts for 40 percent of global carbon emissions. Yet, it has the potential to shift towards carbon capture simply by integrating ancient materials like hemp. In contrast to the standard materials on the market, hemp material boasts humidity regulation, energy efficiency, pest, mold and fire resistance and are impermeable to electromagnetic fields. The specific mixture of hemp-lime also has a negative carbon footprint, roughly taking up one hundred kilograms of CO2 per cubic meter. What’s even more remarkable is its historical precedence; the Roman Empire utilized this material in its construction already. So, what happened in the interim?
Shelter, crucial for human survival, has evolved from cave dwellings to Adobe, Stone, and Longhouses, all crafted from natural materials. However, the industrial revolution led to the dominance of oil-based materials such as polystyrene and styrofoam, worsening environmental degradation. Coupled with cement, concrete, and steel, these finite resources further strain our environment while global housing demands soar.
On February 6th, 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and north-western Syria, claiming thousands of lives and homes in just eighty seconds. One year prior, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began and wreaked similar devastation only in the first months of the war, underscoring the urgent need for resilient, sustainable rebuilding efforts aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Despite the war’s destruction, individuals in Ukraine are pioneering an ecological, carbon-negative construction practice using hemp-lime materials. Sergiy Kovalenkov, founder of Hempire, is spearheading this green rebuilding effort by rallying hemp farmers, processors, and home builders. He emphasizes the necessity of exchanging petrochemical materials for ecological alternatives to create healthier, sustainable living spaces.
Reviving Ukraine’s industrial hemp tradition serves as the foundation for this innovative, green industry, providing employment opportunities during wartime. The locally grown hemp undergoes processing in Cherkassy, where it is separated into fiber and hurds, which are then used to produce the building material, also known as hempcrete. (Not to be confused with concrete, which is made of different materials and used differently.) Utilizing hemp-lime in house construction resembles the ideal DIY approach. However, it falls within the premium segment of construction materials, potentially reshaping the narrative and ecological footprint of the entire industry. The question arises: why haven’t our modern building industries shifted from finite materials to sustainable alternatives derived from annually regrowing agricultural crops?
The answers vary, from poorly developed supply chains to the lack of grown hectares to meet the demand for raw material. However, the core problem can still be found in the global prohibition of cannabis. While hemp entrepreneurs throughout Europe have been pushing hemp insulation, blocks, and other hemp-derived building materials to market for over a decade, many countries still hold a prohibitionist attitude towards the plant, making it hard to adapt national building regulations to include hemp materials. Another tricky reason is often the lack of education of craftsmen on how to handle the hemp materials, length and strength of the fibers require special drills and different techniques, which are simple, but workers need to know them.
Hopefully, the hemp building industry developing amidst war in Ukraine will inspire and gently force those countries, at peace, to consider their own contributions to the global footprint through the construction sector and bravely embrace the Ukrainian model.
On a personal note:
As a recent participant in the United Nations’ Commission on Narcotic Drugs, I recommend Kenzi Riboulet-Zemouli’s “Sustainable Policy Cannabis Toolkit” for readers interested in sustainable practices centered around the plant. For insights into Ukraine’s green recovery efforts, my documentary film “Ukraine – Chance for a Green Recovery” provides further information.
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