>Mr. South, >Your research does not consider the use of herbicides, pesticides, etc, >to maintain these pine monocultures. Nor does it take into account the >dioxin that is produced by the making of tree based paper. Hemp paper >has been produced by the Chinese for about 2000 years. It lasts longer >than tree based paper (the Declaration of Independence was written on >hemp!!), it doesn't require all of the chemical treatments to be produced, >and it's more Earth friendly than Tree based paper. It also makes a >very fine cloth for clothing (our first American flag was made from >hemp!!). When are you industry supported academics and the "sawdust >heads" that are running corporations and the government going to wake >up? Our children and grandchildren are going to be living in an >environmental hell if you people don't start putting your short term >greed aside and start thinking about this planet's future. > > Charles Phillips Dear Mr. Phillips, Thankyou for your considered contribution to our discussions. Your missive implies to me that hemp monocultures will require no herbicides and pesticides, or perhaps only fewer than pine monocultures. Is that a correct inference? If so, would you demonstrate it with references please? My understanding is that dioxin is not a *necessary* side-product of tree-based paper, as it comes from the bleaching process which can also be done using the much friendlier hydroxides. Is that correct? If so, then your comment about dioxin loses its potency. I also assume that you intend to imply that hemp based paper does not require bleaching. Is that true? Will the population use it? Isn't this more of a sociological/political issue? Please explain how hemp-based paper is more Earth friendly than tree-based paper. Please explain why you feel that replacing tree monocultures with hemp monocultures will successfully avert the environmental hell you foresee so chillingly. Finally, please understand that many people in this forum do not consider themselves to be "industry-sponsored" or "sawdust heads". Your points will be made more effectively *here* when you choose to rely on evidence rather than invective. Thankyou for your consideration, Andrew. Andrew Robinson, Phone : + 1 612 625 5765 (work) Graduate student, + 1 612 644 5512 (home) Dept. of Forest Resources, FAX : + 1 612 625 5212 University of Minnesota, now hit d
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