You might recognize hemp as a clothing material or a relative of CBD, but did you know about its impressive environmental benefits? The flowering plant is a type of cannabis that’s bred to contain only trace amounts of THC. The market for it is poised to grow to $12.1 billion by 2028—which, it turns out, could be good news for the planet.
Hemp’s sustainable potential.
There are a few things that make hemp hot in the environmental space: For one, it’s a hardy plant that can grow in many different environments and conditions. Though it thrives in warm, humid climes, it can survive in colder areas as well. It’s also quick to grow; some forms are ready to be harvested just 60 days after planting.
In a relatively short amount of time, hemp develops a strong, deep root system. Equipped with this underground web, the plant is really effective at absorbing toxins and heavy metals from surrounding soil, so it’s known as a bioremediator.
Following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, hemp was planted to help clean up the area surrounding the nuclear site, and more recent research validates its ability to absorb and trap environmental contaminants like cadmium and selenium.
In addition to filtering out toxins, the quick-to-grow crop can help improve the quality of degraded soil, making it a promising option for land restoration and regenerative agriculture projects. In the future, it can be planted alongside other bioremediators like sunflowers, poplar trees, and mustard plants to restore farmland that has been degraded by industrial agriculture and make it suitable for growing again.
As it cleans the ground, hemp also filters the air and absorbs high amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere via photosynthesis. The crop’s ability to draw down carbon rivals that of plant and tree species that are much larger and more resource-intensive to grow.
A final point in hemp’s favor is the fact that it can be turned into many different products. While hemp that is planted to absorb heavy metals is a harder sell, cleaner varieties can be turned into consumer goods like food, clothing, building products, paper, and soothing nutritional supplements.*
As hemp cultivator, Gavin Stonehouse tells Rolling Stone, “If you can clean up the environment and still get a commercial product, you are killing two birds with one stone.”
The new hemp on the block: mbg’s calm+
Needless to say, the sustainability editor in me was excited to see hemp extract on the menu of mindbodygreen’s lineup of supplements.
The hemp oil in mbg’s calm+ is USDA- & E.U.-certified organic (as I previously reported, hemp’s bioremediation properties make it especially important to buy organic) and highly pure on the heavy metal front, per multiple rounds of product testing. It’s tested to contain below 0.2% THC (i.e., trace levels), meaning it won’t lead to the mental “high” of a marijuana product. What it will do, thanks to the 20 milligrams of hemp-derived CBD per gelcap, is promote relaxation and calm.*
The cannabinoids in hemp (CBD is one, but there are many others in a full-spectrum product like ours) have been shown to enhance stress relief and mood regulation in clinical trials.* We’ve combined them with two other calming botanicals—ashwagandha and lavender—to form a powerful holistic trio.*
I like to take calm+ at the start of the workday. I find that it helps me maintain a steadier mood in the face of my deadlines and to-do lists.* From this calmer and less stressed place, I also tend to feel more productive and on top of my workload.
Moral of the story: calm+ is a formula filled with ingredients that are as sustainable as they are functional—and that’s reason to rest easy.*
Industrial hemp plants are strong environmental remediators that can grow in many conditions and enhance a number of products, including calming supplements.*
