BAN THE BAGS!

Earlier posts on this blog talked about the bag mania that came in around 2007 when the Anya Hindmarch bags, made of cotton, were outed as being made in Chinese sweatshops...we then made a plain grey hemp bag which was the real thing, and held them up in protest outside the Hindmarch shop in London. Cotton, being a worldwide destructive monocrop, was used in those and other ecologically deastructiv bags worldwide. Here in New York these trendy bags are being recalled, as such bags, usually made in China, have been found to contain lead. Michael M. Grynbaum writes in yesterday's New York Times that consumers, such as Jen Bluestein, are finding out that it is fraud. Bluestein notes: "Green is a trend and people go with trends...People get them as fashion statements and they have, like, 50 of them. I don't think people know the real facts."

Duh. People don't, and the cotton industry is not letting on. So we now have these dangerous and idiotic bags when we could have had the real thing: Hemp. Plain hemp bags. Grynbaum notes, ironically, that "climate-change-conscious shoppers at one of Manhattan's culinary meccas on Sunday said they were chagrined that yet another good intention had gone awry." Shelley Kempner says "Bummer! We're still not doing the right thing", and asks if we might have to start using string bags. Actually, this is a good idea, less is more; we used these in Istanbul in the 1960s, and they were great. They were also biodegradable. But the problem with them is that no trendy lefty idiot shops get to print their name on them, so they are overlooked. Wholier-than-thou-Foods for instance has a big bag of its own, with its logo on it. But it is not hemp. Oh no, it is ecologically destructive cotton. Bluestein and Kempner were right. So when are we going to get it right?

BIN THE BAG

An article in the Epoch Times by Sharon Guynup on 17 December hit a chord; it talked about plastic bags and how they are destroying our environment. Funny, I see lots of FIT students walking around with these and as long as they are convenient or slick looking, they have no problem using them and destroying our environment. They have no problem using cottong and doing the same, but that's another story.

Guynup writes that the "ubiquitous presence of these petroleum-based polymers has altered our body chemistry. Most of us carry plastic chemical in our tissues. Our children carry far higher concentrations. Many of these substances mimic or disrupt normal hormone function. Researchers have found altered genital development in baby boys whose mothers were exposed to phthalates during pregnancy...Three quarters of American infants carry measurable levels."

She goes on to note Bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical used in clear plastic and canned food linings, as linked to type 2 diabetes, immune system disorders, abnormal penile development, and behavioural problems in toddlers. 93% 0f people tested by the US CDC had BDP in their urine.

But the American Chemistry Council lobbies against protection.

So next year, Guynup estimates, 300 million tons of dangerous plastics will be manufactured; enormous quantities of these will be dumped into the ocean. Much will go into landfill and leach into the soil.

A bit of good news in her piece is that Ireland has so heavily taxed the plastic bag that is has been basically axed. We might follow their lead; tax and axe.

What would we do instead of using plastic carrier bags? What people did for millenia before; they brought their own - I recall living in Istanbul in the '60s and I would go to the shops with a file - a string bag. These wore out ulitmately, but were cheap, and could be recycled into paper.

In London I developed the longer-lasting hemp bag, whilst trendy designers opted for the environmentally unfriendly cotton bag. That is better than plastic, but it too is a disaster, as we use too much cotton, and it is using up the water. It is also a monocrop and a tool in the hands of slimy global capitalists who pay low wages and exploit whole nations.

The hemp bag could be trendy too, it is just that I opted for a very basic model and was happy to go against the grain and use a grey, square bag to help conserve our resources. In Ireland and the UK there was demand for this. But sadly, here in New York, vile people would rather be trendy than make an effort to reduce waste and pollution. The mayor I especially loathe, he is the richest man in New York and takes the side of the rich. When, for instance, the UK taxed these ridiculous bankers' bonuses, he insisted that NY would not do that; let the rich get richer.

Me? If I were mayor I would tax every banker who used a plastic bag, at the rate of $10,000 per bag they used. Then I would use that money to develop hemp bags and phase out the plastic bags. This is not radical, or leftist, or socialist, or any of that; it is in fact quite conservative, it conserves our resources, protects our health.

All of which, of course, is a burden to the rich and trendy who sit here in NY setting a selfish and demonic tone and destroying our world.

TAMIL WEAVER NEEDS OUR SUPPORT

Bobby Pugh of The Hemp Shop emailed me a story about an award winning Indian weaver who is in trouble. Despite his being in the Guinness Book of Records for using the most number of natural fibres in a single woven yarn, the crippling economic times have gotten to him too, and he is under threat of eviction. His creations have included hemp, jute, viscose, banana, bamboo, pineapple, mesta, waterweeds, hessian, sisal and linen. Glad to see cotton is not on that list!

C Sekhar is his name. He is President of the Anakaputhur Jute Weavers' Association. Times are hard in his profession, recently six suicides have created a mood of despair. We can help him out! But as usual, lots of talk and no action - as he notes: "I have met big names, but could never benefit from their promises, which remain unfulfilled."

Next year is the Year of Natural Fibres. In anticipation of it, let's extend our hand to this man and get him back in the chips. It is people like him with experience we need to support, not idle dopers and trendy eco-wanna-bes who make lots of money exploiting cotton.

WATER WATER EVERYWHERE

But not enought to drink...such is the scenario. Here today and gone tomorrow. A story by Nathan Jafay in the Jewish Chronicle spells it out; water is at the lowest level on record. The Kinneret, known to most as the Sea of Galilee, the body of H2o on which Christ walked and the disciples fished, is about to go. It is the lowest fresh-water lake in the world, 33 x 13 miles. It provides a third of the country's water; the Talmud asserted that God chose it as his special delight. But the Knesset must not see eye to eye with the Creator; they have allowed it to be pumped to dangerous levels. Jafay points out that at the same time there has been an all-round failure top invest adequately in desalination plants (note comments to follow), which stands at a third of the target set by the government in 2002. Aquifers and wells have not been properly rehabilitated. Toilets are flushed with drinking water because rainwater harvesting is almost unheard of. There are virtually no public campaigns to save water. Now get this; agriculture uses 30% of water. Well, make the farming sector reinvest so that there is no net loss to the country. As Jafay notes, "exporting fruit and vegetables is akin to exporting water."

And what about cotton, one of the most water intensive plants in the world - even more water intensive if the trendy Katherine Hamnett crowd gets their expensive organic cotton shirts from an organic cotton plantation - how much water can the country afford to lose to this monocrop? Anti-Semites never had it so good; Israel is about to run dry of water because of this plant. And to add to irony, it is not Ahmadinejad who is behind this crazy policy, it is the likes of nice Jewish guy Philip Green who is benefitting from the misery of the cotton industry. But do you expect him to care for Israel? Mishling material I say; his name is an irony.

Israel desperately needs to get rid of cotton and conserve water. If it grows textiles, let it grow desert plants such as sisal, and less water intensive plants such as hemp. The former can be grown in the Negev, and the latter as well, if desalination plants are put in. These can be a by-product to the solar power industry - large towers full of water heated with mirrors. Salt water turned to steam, with fresh water as a by product. It is so simple it cannot be rebutted. And cheap too, glass and water. So what are we waiting for?

KILLER THREADS

Belsize Park now has a new piece of merchandise with which to identify. It is a Belsize Ban Bag shopping bag. Is it made of hemp? No. Jute, bamboo, or flax? No, no and no. It is not made of cotton, is it? Unfortunately, yes. The trendy and foolish went and got themselves a piece of the bag war action and now want to parade around in a cotton bag. Bear in mind that a good number of residents here drive 4x4s. This is not an environmentally friendly neighbourhood. It is a good place to buy drugs or run into George Michael, Kate Moss, Pete Doherty or other drug users, and lots of rich people trying to be very cool indeed. But not so affluent that they could afford a real hemp bag, which only cost £10 or less from The Hemp Shop. And for that you get a long-lasting 100% organic hemp bag, the one which the Ecologist picked up on last year and which I used for my protests againt the Anya Hindmarch bag and other cotton atrocities.

So I am not going to make many friends in trendy Belsize Park. Not that I was ever anxious to waste my time with the likes of Moss and Michaels. Better things to do, like draw attention to the coming water crisis. For more information on this and why cotton is a threat to humanity, see related posts on this blog by clicking on the tags below.

In the meantime take a tour of Belsize Park and look for the Real Eco Bags are Made of Hemp bag- if you correctly spot me with it, and email me at hemppaperproject@yahoo.com, I will send you a prize, something made of hemp, or maybe even a copy of Hemp for Victory. Hint: I am very untrendy. Very uncool. That is my image.

CAMELIA NOTES ON HEMP AND COTTON

In the August issue of Camelia Jilly Cholmondeley and her hemp bedsheets are featured. Gill Dexter writes about Jilly's interest in hemp which started when she was working in PR for environmental charities. Looking at the destruction of the Aral Sea, which came about as a result of cotton production, she realised we needed to start using a better textile. Dexter notes"...cotton is one of the thirstiest crops on the planet. - Unesco estimates that to produce enough cotton for an average t-shirt weighing 500g, 4,100 litres of water are required. Sadly, organic cotton, hailed by many as an ecologically sound alternative is even worse - the absence of pesticides means the yield is lower, so the water consumption for an organic t-shirt is higher still. Yet by contrast, the World Wildlife Fund say that a t-shirt produced using 55% hemp and 45 % cotton would use just 1,600 litres of water in its production."

The article then goes into the history of hemp and the reasons for hemp suppression, especially in the US where it is still illegal to grow. This means that the likes of Jilly Cholmondeley must source their hemp from China and Italy. She was able to find suppliers after visiting the Premiere Vision Textile Fair in Paris, where she met someone who supplied hemp to Giorgio Armani. Hemp's wicking and anti-microbial qualities were of interest to her, and the latter she had tested by the Jodrell laboratory at Kew Gardens, which confirmed that it did indeed contain anti-microbial qualities. On a tangential, more personal note, I have noticed over the years that hemp leaves left in water have not attracted the usual foetid smells that other leaves do, and that when moths attacked my rice and wheat flour, the hemp flour was untouched. This may not be a scientific conclusion, but it is worth noting and following up. Will do, one of these days...

But getting back to the article, and again on a personal note, I have had the pleasure of meeting Jilly and can see she is quite sincere and knowledgeable. She sells her wares on the net at www.jillycholmondeley.com and also in shops such as Eco, at 213 Chiswick High Street, W4 - www.eco-age.com

For other posts on this blog about Jilly Cholmondeley, Eco, or cotton, click on tags below

NEW NEWS IS OLD NEWS

Image left is a copy of a magazine from 1937, the year the Marihuana Tax Act came into effect which ultimately led to the suppression of hemp in the US. A quite recent article in the New Republic picks up on arguments by Fred Pearce in the New Scientist that cotton is bad news. Well, duh. Maybe he was reading this blog. It does not take a rocket scientist to realise that any plant that uses up our water is bad news - but facts are ignored by the lefty do-gooders; that is why they put Mugabe in power. If we perish our blood is on their hands. Food riots are going on in many countries, and this is a function of land use - too many organic cotton farms taking up water. Time to make a noise, and it is good to hear some from Pearce and Suzy Khimm, who writes in the New Republic.

Khimm points out that the cotton industry is a Goliath business, with $3billion a year in subsidies in the US alone. However, ignorance is her next step. Not a word from her about hemp, jute, ramie, flax, bamboo, nettles or other alternatives, maybe she thinks we can all just go naked. Khimm talks about cutting down on demand for cotton by-products, as if this would get to the root of it. And worse, she makes some curt remark about not leaping to trade in her cotton shirts for hemp. She tells us there is a big problem and she has no idea whatsoever about a solution. Journalists these days do not take much time for research, but there are people out there who do use their brains, and the best part about this article is the comment posted on the net by Aaron B Brown, who takes her to task. Brown asks: "...do you own any hemp clothing? Have you done the comparison? He then gives the reader what Khimm misses - some facts about hemp. Well done mate.

The issue is starting to be heard, the Scotsman on Sunday ran a similar article in February of this year and did mention hemp. But as Khimm noted, cotton is a Goliath industry, so we need to work harder if we are going to succeed.

TROUBLE BREWS

Image left is me at the Black Eagle Brewery. The pitcher of water was poured out as a way to get people to pay attention to what is happening to our resources, water included. Most of the audience was receptive, though a couple young girls sat in the back and giggled; but more soberminded people took note, and the recent headlines in the press, inluding yesterday's dour announcements that petrol could reach $250 a barrel, drove home my points. We need to curb our water use, ration how much land can be used for non-food items, and develop alternative energy. However, this means getting some of the trendy journalists to listen to science. For anyone who read the previous post, the name Lucy Siegle might come to mind. She sure sent me a less than happy email, reminding me that some of her work is based on votes from Observer readers. Very good, 50 million people can't be wrong...but science does not do democracy. It looks at facts, and when people have facts to back up their stance, they are confident in discussing them. So far, we do not see this confidence from my more outraged blogreaders - none has ever left a comment to rebut my findings. They would if they could but they don't. Other tactics prevail. More sensible blogreaders can see beyond the Observer.

On the issue of land use, today let me propose one more part of the solution. So far I have singled out cotton, and I do not think even the likes of Lucy Siegle can disagree with that, she informs me she commissioned the Dan McDougall expose on cotton culivation in Egypt. So then she ought to take note. But on to another plant that is not worn by fashionistas and guardianistas, let us take a harsh look at sugar. The other day I was squeezing my way through the aisles of my local mini Tesco, hardly able to find anything edible, when I noticed a whole aisle devoted to one kind of food - sugar. Six aisles and one just for sweets, plus two coolers with ice cream, lots of fizzy drinks, and other assorted sugary items at checkout. Not to mention all the other foods which contain sugar.

Now, sugar cultivation is destroying rain forest land, it is a monocrop, and it can be quite exploitive. Why do we allow so much land to be used for it? We consume on average in the West four ounces a day, so some 38,000 tons a day for the US alone. This substance causes bone and tooth decay, hyperactivity, ADF, etc. We need to look at crops like this and decide whether we want to waste our land on sugar, cotton and tobacco (not to mention cocaine, opium, etc.) or whether we want to eat.

Hemp is not sweet. For all the things I can say about it, I cannot sell it as candy. But I can make a scienific point about its use as a food, textile, paper, medicine and fuel plant and hope that someone listens. I do not have the money to place ads in papers or hang out with trendy people, but I can confidentally state the facts. Speaking of hanging out with trendy people and stating facts, a friend of mine went and found out last night that these two ideals do not always happen in tandem. He went to the screening of the new Oxfam movie on climate change in Leicester Square. But when he asked about hemp, he was given no answer. Guess who was there to give no answer? Lucy Siegle. Later in the evening she went ballistic when he mentioned my name; he told me that she hates me with a passion. He also informs that the climate change propaganda was forced on us once again by using images of starving people and maybe some polar bears - but no one there wanted to take on board facts that disprove their trendy theories. Mention Piers Corbyn and you do not get a smile from Lucy Siegle. Ask her about the sun spots and the similar climate changes on Mars and Venus, obviously not due to SUVs, and she does not seem to have any answer. But then again, she has 50 million Observer readers and they cannot possibly be wrong... So do not worry about my abrupt manner, find someone sweet and trendy and let them set the agenda - but don't look at me when that agenda ends up in terrible unemployment, food riots, lack of energy supplies - I will turn around and tell you I told you so. Facts are facts and they are meant to be listened to. We do not have time for fools.

PARTIAL OBSERVER

Nick Davies of the Guardian wrote movingly of the sister paper in a chapter in his book Flat Earth News; he titled it "The Blinded Observer." It is a litany of sins of the worst kind, and one wonders how anyone can still go out and buy this paper, taking part in the destruction of millions of trees each year to produce this pulp of fiction and fantasy.
By chance, I came across a leftover copy of the Observer Magazine in the launderette. On the cover is the new trendy model who wants everyone to think she is green indeed, so her first name is Eco, just in case one does not get the message. Everything seems to be named green or eco these days, and Katherine "E" Hamnett seems to be leading this trend. She is of course featured in this, I will get to Hamnett in just a bit.
Going page by page one finds incredible irony, it makes one want to scream. After flipping over the cover, we see a picture of the rejected mayor Ken Livingstone with a bicycle held over his head. It is not green, but red, as in Red Ken. But we get the graphic, Ken is supposed to be an eco-warrior. One might just note there are reasons he lost the election, one of which may be that he never listened as the pigeons he starved got sick and became a threat to public health. Flipping overleaf, we then find a double spread for a large car, the kind that takes up precious parking space, the kind that Ken in one of his brighter moments wanted to tax to death. One wonders then if he notices the juxtaposition of him and his red bike with the sleek silver coloured monster he sought to restrict. Previously I noted on this very blog the hypocrisy of these 'lefty-greeny' papers printing so many of these ads, and briefly, Media Watch and George Monbiot made some noise; obviously, no one noticed.
One does not have to flip many pages before another double page spread for yet another leviathan comes to light, this time for a Hyundai 4x4. And it is justified by having some award, maybe for the least polluting 4x4. Who gives these awards?Maybe it is Lucy Siegle, who is giving them out on the next page. Yes, the same Lucy Siegle who called me one night after somebody gave out my number without permission. After protesting, too much methinks, that she really was not so much in support of cotton, and that she read my blog every day and was delighted with my book, I took off some comments made about her, even though my eyewitness stands by his tesimony and pointed me to others who were there and could back up his story. After asking Siegle to back herself up about her claim that she too takes some issue with cotton and Kathine "E" Hamnett, I got the feeling I had fallen for a high pitched con job. Soft hearted bloke I can be, but not a total fool, so the time has come to call her bluff. If she reads this every day, then let her respond - weeks have gone by and she has failed to susbstantiate her claims as I asked. She can post a comment here; but how many times have we written in to the Observer and been ignored when we presented evidence about hemp and Omega 3 oil, hemp and its value as biofuel, hemp and its place in fashion? Not once. So allowing an Observer reporter to reply on my furom is in effect turning the other cheek.
Back to turning pages, I find no evidence at all that Lucy Siegle was honest with me. The awards seem to feature more and more cotton. And the way they work is that companies with lots of money can advertise in such papers and get to the attention of the reader, who in turn votes - based thereby on the amount of money a firm has to attract attention. Observer readers vote for Observer advertisers, like, doh. Turning yet another page in this sham popularity contest for rich kids, we see another toy for them - a Mercedes Benz. So far not one ad for a G Wiz or even a red bike. Just lots of expensice gas guzzlers which use up our resources and drive up the price of a barrel, causing massive economic hardship. Thank you very much indeed Lucy Siegle and the Observer.
And who is Lucy Siegle's pick of eco-politician? Red Ken, pictured on p. 23 with a bottle of champagne. Some of the winners though totally deserve their prize, and I am glad to see common sense prevailed with Tanya Ewing and her wireless Ewgeco, an instrument that measures energy consumption. But where is The Hemp Shop - which Woody Harrelson praised as the best stocked hemp shop he had ever seen - has Lucy Siegle seen it once or even mentioned it? Or Pure Sativa, which manufactures really strong and well designed luggage here in London? Or the exquisite multi-coloured creations of House of Hemp? Most or all of the fashion and textile coverage is on cotton, but then we get to some really good reporting on this once we get past Lucy Siegle. Dan McDougall gives us a fact only article on this weed's growth in Egypt, where child labour is the norm. A large part of this labour involves picking bollworms, and this takes place in the heat of the day. These plants are often drenched in pesticides, and no surprise that "accurate health studies are thin on the ground here."
The children often get no school, only the lash on the back from a foreman. But for all the hard work, there is less and less money. Part of this is due to US subsidies to US cotton farmers, which has occasioned a sharp drop in prices causing Egyptian farmers to lose money in a season. There is also the problem of cotton being overcultivated so there is a glut at times on the market, and whilst I make many arguments against cotton farming, economic reasons alone ought to bring common sense to the equation. McDougall rightly informs us "cotton has a long and chequered history." This history is not getting any better - it went from one form of slavery to another. Now that we have GM crops, the farmers are at the mercy of the seed companies, and I will not enter at large upon so well known a subject here as my readers, Lucy Siegle and Katherine "E" Hamnett included, must already know well the horrors of this.
The article is excellent, but again the strange juxtaposition of a 4x4 add lends an eerie sense of hypocrisy to this. McDougall goes on to talk about food riots, such as the ones in Haiti, but then tells us that there were similar or worse such disturbances in Egypt - at least 60 dead. One source of friction is water use from the Nile, and cotton is thirsty. In a hot country it is a greedy plant like the monster plant in Little Shop of Horrors. This of course causes "economic hardship and growing resentment in the west." Quoting Hamdi Wabid, he writes: "It is becoming apparent that cotton is not an economical crop. Now it's just hurting people - and perhaps most tellingly the environment - badly, and many families are going under."
What the article does not tell us is what to do to change this. A crop that does not attract bollworms and many other pests that cotton does, one which uses less water and can be grown for many uses - that is a solution. I would like to present not only the dark clouds but also the bright sunshine, but it is going to take people like Siegle and Hamnett to take on board facts and not just go and support more cotton farming. OK, Hamnett claims hers is organic, but in reality this uses even more water, and how do we get the bollworms and other insects off ths organic plants? Do we whip these kids to work harder and explain that it is better because it is getting written up in the Observer with lots of trendy people?
Turning the page again, I am face to face with a Lexus, its sleek black body coming out of a background of grey clouds. This is what drives the Observer, and I am sure Lucy Siegle, and the board of directors, are not unaware. Overleaf is brighter, an image of the blonde haired blue eyed Eco Herzigova - whose name I did in green just in case anyone does not notice that she is ECO - which one might just dare to question as she is advertising lots of cotton dresses and has ties to Al Gore. Oh she is happy indeed, probably not thinking at all about how much the cotton attire is depleting the water. Just stick an organic label on it and it's kosher, kind of like a Michael Sophocles chicken. And they are not cheap, a white cotton shirt worn by Eco goes for £314 at Harvey Nichols. And the Stella McCartney floral dress (I can only imagine a whore who smokes organic crack wearing it) goes for £645 at Matches. Page after page of this woman with the happy clappy organic smile has made me indeed depressed. But a good story about a family that went off grid for a month does have substance, and I am glad to see their more sensible faces, not the silly grins from Eco. Then it gets better, Dan Pearson talks sensibly about gardening in London. Here is someone with more than just a smile to get by - he studied at Kew, spent a year at Jerusalem Botanic Garden, worked with Miriam Rothschild, and toiled away in NY on the Lower East Side, where, incidentally, I spent my years, correcting my teacher's spelling at PS 64. Old habits die hard.
Sadly, however, a flip of the page takes me away from such a good bit of botanical ruminations back to the world of Gossypium promotion. A spread with the "top 5 Ethical outfits" looks suspiciously like an infomercial for the top 5 spenders in "eco"-fashion advertising - and these top 5 ethical outfits are not cheap. A sleeveless dress by Peopletree goes for £165 - it is black, quite suitable or a funeral, though cut above the knees. And of course, there is a Katherine "E" Hamnett T shirt, grey with a large slogan in block letters - this goes for £40. Cotton, of course. There is no hemp on this page. In fact there is no hemp at all in this 'ethical' issue. American Apparel, another spender on the ad scene is here, and Stella McCartney is ubiquitous - three out of five of the shoes are her creations - no price given, dare we ask?
Next page spread features Jocelyn Whipple, who does not mention hemp - even though she worked at hemp company for years in LA and is betrothed to Dru Lawson of The Hemp Trading Co. Or was it edited out?
Then on to Katherine "E" Hamnett and her £40 T shirts. Am I being too cynical, or is she ripping us off? Either she is making a killing on profits or else organic cotton is just not feasible. By the way, she reminds me of that very authoritarian teacher at PS 64 whose spelling I used to correct. Few people like it when I do that, but if we are going to have food to eat and not just trends to enthuse over, we need such hardcore reality. Nice to make expensive organic cotton outfits and then give them lots of awards in these lefty papers, but we need water - we need food - we need facts. And there are not being heard when I am nice, so I have to shout and hope someone hears. Mr. Nice Guy gets taken advantage of by the likes of Lucy Siegle, so no more of this game. It has to be reality, and I am not hampered by 4x4 companies, American Apparel, happy clappy organic crack smokers or any other nonsense. This blog is for the fact, the whole facts, and nothing but the facts. If you do not like what I say, and you have facts, then by all means, speak up - comment is free, as the Guardian and Observer like to tell us.
At present the press is working hard to keep the likes of me out of discussion, they prefer the rich and famous who keep wearing cotton. There are those in the press who are on the ball - Andrew Gilligan, Genevieve Roberts, Nat Hentoff, plenty of people who have done a good job, but this pseudo eco brigade is not among them.

LET THEM EAT CAKE

Have you heard the latest in humanitarian news? The starving are to be fed the left over pressing from cotton seeds, known as seed cake. This way the cotton industry can keep right on rolling, the biofuel idiots who do not know what they are doing can use food crops for fuel, instead of using exisiting waste parts, and Robert Mugabe can get the Noble Peace Prize. We thought that he was 86'd from Europe, but no, they let the beast in to a hunger summit, maybe just to strike a note of irony. Not that much was needed to strike such a note, as the delegates were already gulping down veal and white wine, along with prawns served in vol-au-vents stuffed with pumpkin puree. Wonder where all the food came from and what the farmers who produced it made, but that may not have been an issue on the table.

The UN delegates who attended heard from Ban Ki-Moon that we were about to face food riots worldwide. Production, Ki-Moon warned, needed to increase 50% by 2030 in order to feed everyone. Not sure Mugabe was keen to hear any of this. When his highness did speak, at least one person had the guts to do the right thing and snub his talk - International Secretary Douglas Alexander. Well done mate.

UK MP Gordon Brown and Spanish MP Jose Zapatero weighed in with a remark about how the "world cannot afford to fail" on increasing food production, but neither of them really made any difference by outlining what exactly was to be done.

Since they left that to others to do, let me take up the slack here. We need to appropriate more land to food production. On a planet where only 4.5% of the land is arable, this needs real effort - and chopping down forests is not my recommendation. If we look at the way we are using land, we can make some intelligent changes, and this is a simple exercise. What do we grow lots of but do not use for food? Cotton. This is one of the world's most damaging crops, especially waterwise, and we need to change - but we are hampered both by large companies and petty do-gooders who have fallen in love with cotton. From Robert Mugabe to Katherine Hamnett you will find a common denominator - they are both wearing cotton. Everyone seems to love cotton - and why not, when both the right wing and the left wing press promote this thing to death? For instance, the latest issue of the Observer Magazine hands out all kinds of ethical awards to cotton companies - mostly owned the rich and famous (who can in turn afford to advertise in the Observer)! Money runs things just as much in the left as in the right, and previous posts on this blog have made much mentions of who is advertising in the Guardian, Observer, Independent, etc. OK, a little noise was made by Media Watch and George Monbiot echoed the noise, but the game went on.

So when we are in desperate need, do not expect these papers to give a damn except anything other than their hip and trendy image. They print on the trees grown in the Third World, and exhort us to use cotton and lots of it. Getting mention of a real solution is just not happening. In the meantime, people starve while reporters get paid for worthless stories.

But let me not just pick on cotton, when other crops are just as vile - I turn my guns next on tobacco, a plant that Thomas Jefferson warned against. Jefferson, a farmer himself, advised that we grow hemp. Tobacco might be grown in limited quantities for real quality cigars, but to just raise a crop to burn here there and everywhere is criminal. Lots of people think they are cool if they waste their money on this, but in reality they are causing land that could be used for food to be used for greedy tobacco companies. And while they burn up this weed, they are causing a rise in food prices. But tobacco is one of America's four largest industries, right up there with the arms industry. No one would need to suffer if tobacco were phased down to a minimum, as then Americans, many of them poor Kentuckians who are abused by the tobacco companies, would then grow food, which is becoming so much more of a luxury.

Growing hemp and other plants which produce food and biomass for ethanol is the sensible way to go. It does not take a genuis to figure this out. It takes lots of peopke to take action though, maybe there is some journalists out there who wants to take a look at this and do some reporting?

Many things that seem like they are complex are in fact simple, but the press gives out so much misinformation and prints excuses. For instance, recently there seemed to be a 'breakthrough' here when it was reported that there was the possibility of phasing out the ubiquitous plastics milk container used in the UK. People in North and South America are probably laughing! Of course there is, you use a waxed card square container which is easy to fold up and recycle. Doh. But the UK press acted as if some genius inventor was thinking of this and it would be a packaging miracle. Then nothing happened. Since then, about 6 billion of these plastic containers have been used. The truth is the press ignores people like me when we show them prima facie evidence.

And I suspect that they will give lots more space to Robert Mugabe, Kate Moss, Katherine Hamnett and others who support cotton. For those of use with not such short memories, the press did in fact support Robert Mugabe - especially the left wing press - they thought that Ian Smith was a terrible fascist. But there are starving masses in Zimbabwe who would love to have him back. Unfortunately, all they can look forward to is some more noise and no action, and of course, lots of cotton seed cake.

RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE

These last two days have been full of action, ever since I poured out my pitcher of water and went thirsty at the brewery to make the point that cotton cultivation is a danger to Homo sapiens.

I did get a call from a female of the species who was not happy with one of my statements, and after hearing her out, I decided she did have a fair point and ammended the previous post. Lucy Siegle of the Observer was the caller, and we ended up having quite an amicable conversation after she made her initial request. It turns out she is quite on board with a number of my points, and has herself taken Katherine Hamnett and the greenwash brigade to task. She wanted to make it clear that she was not some happy clappy hippy going along with all the eco fig leaves, and I was glad to hear that. I await the publication of her next book, and of course, I expect there will be lots about hemp in it - after all Siegle hangs out with natural born hempster Woody Harrelson.

There was an irony in my being willing to listen to anyone from the Observer, as this is the paper that printed allegations about a friend of mine, Dr. Nick Kollerstrom. Their very own Nick Cohen reported that Kollerstrom was preaching Nazi doctrine and harrassing people. Whilst some of Dr. Kollerstrom's views might not be welcome in Orthodox circles, he is no Nazi, in fact, he is the quintessential peacenik, eats Challah bread in his home, and has Jewish friends - one of whom started a blog (click here to see) to defend Kollerstrom, even if the author does not agree with all of his conclusions. Whilst the Jewish Chronicle did go to the trouble to call Kollerstrom and talk to him and find out that a lot of the noise on the net was false, the Observer made no such effort. Instead, it took the word of some bloggers who do not even use their real names! What a load of nonsense. Further, it refused him right of reply. One might think that the Observer has the budget to check their stories and make a local phone call once in a while.

They do when they feel themselves misrepresented, and fair enough if there is some question about any statements I make, I am not using an assumed name like the Rachel 'Norths' and Johnny 'Voids'. I am easy to contact, just ask MI5...for which I am not working, but would like to work if they pay lots of money and let me spend all my time with beautiful women sipping martinis and saving the world every episode from over the top nutters most of whom are trust fund babies on crack.

Speaking of beautiful women, which I am in very much in search of, one poster on Sunday took such issue with my speech at the Black Eagle that she insinuated I was a misogynist; big mistake, I like women! There is a certain crowd that will label you a Nazi, a misogynist, or anything else that comes to mind when they do not have a real argument against you, or need to submit some rubbish to an editor to make deadline...it's called 'churnalism', as Nick Davies points out in Flat Earth News.

The poster, Janet from another planet, decided to tell us she worked for a hemp company that got lots of good liberal press, but then left a link to a cotton company. She also did not give a surname and could not be contacted. Funny, I've never heard of a Janet in the hemp industry. I would like to know more about this person, but I doubt we end up saving the world together at the end of a two hour adventure in which I get to wear black tie even while jumping out of aeroplanes.

So I am off to do other things now, like writing to MI5 to suggest that Bond wear hemp, and tell them the bad guys this time are some eco warriors who are in reality trustiferians gone bad. Their plan is to destroy the world by growing palm oil, soya, jatropha and cotton because they are not getting enough attention from Mummy and Daddy who are telling them to take a bath and get a real job. Bond will get no quantum of solace from this lot I assure you.

VANDANA SHIVA VISITS THE UK

Hampstead Town Hall was our destination Monday evening, as we had a very special guest, author and activist Vandana Shiva, India's leading environmentalist. Sagar Shah brought our attention to this event, and it was well worth the price of admission. The Gaia Foundation and the Soil Association were largely behind it, and they certainly picked a top notch speaker. I might note that there was also a very good spread of food, not only organic delicacies, but real food, which means it tasted good. Baby beets with soured cream, falafel wraps, Welsh Brie, and, to my surprise, a tofu canape which rose above the usual bland tofu disasters using trendiness as an excuse for blandness. However, no hemp was on the table, but there was plenty of hemp hearts and oil at home to feast on later.

The real meat of the event was, however, hearing Vandana. She hails from Dehra Dun, a city in the north, where she runs a farm. Sagar Shah had visited last year and poked around making notes for future hemp coops in India. At present, there is very little hemp grown there, though hemp was once grown extensively, especially in the north.

Instead of hemp, there are millions of acres of cotton, which Vandana notes is a major threat to people's lives. In one area in Orissa state, there is a farmer committing suicide every eight hours. The suicide rate stands in the tens of thousands (related posts on this blog can go into more detail). Not only does the cotton use tons of pesticides, but is depleting India's water. This is starting to be noticed by the more observant journalists, such as Louisa Pearson of Scotland on Sunday (previous post has link to her article), but so many trendy do-gooders in the green movement just ignore this inconvenient fact as they shop for 'organic' cotton, which actually uses more of India's precious resource, water. Vandana posits that we may be in big trouble in the near future over the diminishing water resources.

Not only is there too much cotton, but there is in her opinion too much of another plant, jatropha. Ealier this month we blogged about how D1 Oils is in a bitter controversy about jatropha, and we left it open as to whether this crop was bad or not. Vandana did not leave anything open to doubt, she cut down the jatropha as a reaper swings a scythe. Jatropha was rammed down the throats of Indian farmers who were forced by government officials to grow this plant for its oily seed to be used for biodiesel. Up to 11m ha of it were planted all over India, at times replacing rice fields and grazing land, especially in the desert state of Rajasthan, where only 11% of the land is arable (as opposed to the national average of 56%). Another aspect of jatropha cultivation is the fact that it is poisonous to man and beast; ironically, the jatropha fans put up hoarding exhorting farmers to grow lots of it: "No one can eat me, wouldn't you like to grow me everywhere?"

Apparently, no one wants to grow anymore of this unfriendly plant, even the farmers who were supposed to receive a subsidy of 18 rupees per plant; which they never did get in full, and are now regretting pulling out other plants to make way for this little crop of horrors.

One wonders why they did not plant hemp? There were lots of wanna-be environmentalists beating the drum for the poisonous little fiend, but none would mention hemp; the truth is that a few years ago jatropha was trendy and there was money behind it. So those of us talking sense were drowned out, and India lost out.

Other ways in which India loses out in include the influence of companies pushing GM crops, including Bt cotton. Vandana explained that this was pushed through use of statistics showing that after GM crops were introduced, exports increased. This statistic was due to the fact that farmers were too poor to buy local produce after using GM seeds, and so their crops were sold off to foreign lands more than in the past. Again, they could have made money on hemp, but there are too many parties pushing false environmentalism and globalism, with profits going to foreign companies. By the way, there is still an arrest warrant in place for those responsible for Bhopal, including Warren Anderson, who lives in NY.

While there was much agreement with her message, I had some question at the end when I realised there was much talk against various energy forms; nuclear, coal, petrol, diesel and even bio-ethanol were definitely not in style. Vandana runs her farm with four bullocks. That is great, but realistically, can we run the world on that model? Too often enthusiastic environmentalists get on to an idea and try to push it on everyone, tested or not; that is why we have destructive palm oil plantations and jatropha. There is often a debate as to which energy we ought to use, and I think that putting all one's eggs in one basket is wrong; as Vandana pointed out, diversity is a safer approach. With that in mind, while she might not completely agree, I support some amount of bio-ethanol, especially as this can be made from waste material - which brings me to a point on which I disagree with many so-called 'activists'. It is often stated at these meetings, especially by the more zealous and ignorant in the camp, that we ought to return all wastes to the soil and not use cellulose as a raw material for ethanol. If this lot, including Andrew Boswell, would spend time listening rather than bashing biofuels, they would realise that cellulose is only a carbohydrate, and that taking carbon, hydrogen and oxygen away does not deprive the soil of nutrients, but that these are common elements the soil can get lots of. Many of those handing out leaflets at rallies have not studied any of the science, and are well on the way to creating the next overzealous craze, following in the footsteps of the palm oil and jatropha fanatics.

On the subject of diversity, I came across a recent article in Positive News (whose editor, Jane Taylor, was in attendance) which highlighted a solar tower in Spain. Large mirrors reflect the light up to the top of the tower, where temperatures reach 250 centigrade. This heats water, making steam, and energy is produced with no carbon emissions. For India this would be good news! A second article in the same paper talked about tidal turbines supplying almost all the energy for Samso, an island with 4,000 inhabitants off the coast of Denmark. This too could be of use in India, with all its coastline and major rivers.

Also in attendance was Stanley Johnson, who looks just like MP Boris Johnson; due to the fact that Stanley is Boris' dad, no doubt. Stanley had some very positive news for me, as he related the recent Law Lords' decision to throw out the US request for extradition of Ian Norris on all but one count, which has been passed back down to the lower courts, and one would expect common sense to prevail after the senior jurists set a tone. That fact, however, diverges from the main train of thought, but it is certainly good news that deserves passing on. Returning to the subject of this blog, let me note that both Stanley and his look-a-like dad will be getting copies of Hemp for Victory soon, especially as Stanley has a very interesting environmental site, http://www.stanleyjohnson.com/

Vandana was given a copy of Hemp for Victory so perhaps we will indeed be seeing fields of emerald in India soon. Even if she does not support its use as a crop for bio-ethanol, it has so many other uses that it will surely find a place on her bullock-powered farm.

HOT OFF THE PRESS

Hemp has been featured a lot recently, including a mention in House & Garden, which talks about Jilly Cholmondeley's 100% hemp bedsheets. Jane Taylor of Positive News, who is always following hemp for her own paper, sent me a link to Ode Magazine which has a story on hemp in Canada. So far, so good, but then Steve Wishnia's article in AtlerNet.org on "debunking the hemp conspiracy theory" reads much like any other pro-MIC propaganda these days, he goes so far as to assert that Andrew Mellon and Du Pont had no links, and quotes three historians who say so; maybe if Wishnia took the time to read he would find that the dots do connect. His piece then claims that the people who believe the history of hemp suppression are 'pot head Ron Paul supporters'. OK, GOP dopeheads, not that the GOP lacks for dopeheads, paedophiles, and other assorted nutters, but I have never met anyone in the hemp moevment who is a Ron Paul pot head. Click here to view the piece, and then check out the comments, some of them very good rebuttals.

The much more diligent writer Proinsias O'Mahony did some digging into the world of ethical investments, and found that a lot of them are full of baloney, or shares in oil companies, mining companies, airlines, and McDonalds (Guardian, 21/Feb/08, p. 18 of G2 section). Paul Hawken notes that they have "no standards, no definitions and no regulations other than industry regulations." They also have no hemp! Somebody ought to educate these fund managers on the world's most useful plant.

Here in the UK someone is looking to start a coop in which hemp would feature prominently. Sagar Shah, who runs the hemp and natural fibres website has been travelling to India to have a look at hemp farming. Presently India's main textile is cotton, which is a pest crop. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently (Asia Lite, 8/Aug/07) noted: "Agriculture in many parts of the country is in state of crisis. The facts farmers are compelled to resort to suicides is a matter of deep concern for all." A large percentage of those committing suicide are on cotton farms. Recent trends to do 'organic cotton' have added to India's problems, as organic cotton uses up more water than regular cotton. In a country with nearly 1 billion mouths to feed, this is not good news. So hemp would be an ideal solution, and also an ethical investment.

HEMP IS AT HAND

Image right is of hemp stalks, the outer fibres of which were used ubiquitously as sails, cordage and textiles. They are long and strong, and environmentally friendly, as they do not require massive pesticides or drink up as much water as cotton. Hemp and other natural fibres, such as jute, ramie, flax, nettles and bamboo are catching on. US sales for organic fibre linens and clothing reached $203m in 2006, up 27% from the previous year (source: Organic Trade Association).

A recent article by Tania Fuentez in the Seattle Post Intellegencer notes hemp being used by Calvin Klein and Donatella Versace, as well as Raina Blyer of Ryann, who uses organic hemp. Shalom Harlow of John Patrick ORGANIC notes of the use of hemp and other natural fibres in the fashion world: "It's really about time fashion started looking at its cause and effect on the planet. There's no need to compromise anymore...you can be fashionable and responsible."

ORGANIC is a bit of a newcomer to the movement, there have been hemp and natural fibre enterprises for decades now, including Minawear and GeoMio, both of California. The newcomers have been, however, quite zealous, but at times misled; for example, there has been a rush to use organic cotton, despite the fact that this actually uses more water than pesticide cotton; not that the latter is better, just that we need to move away from cotton.

HEMP IN ESSEX

Yesterday, 4 August, Dru Lawson of the Hemp Trading Co. (www.thtc.co.uk) gave me a ride out to Rochford in Essex to view a hemp harvest, to which Sue Riddlestone and Emily Stott of BioRegional had kindly invited us. We were joined with researchers from Leeds University and Cranfield University and Jane Taylor of Positive News.

Three varieties, Santhika, Fedora and Chameleon stood about 8 feet (2.6metres) high, waving their green buds in the wind. Living emerald is how James Lane Allen described hemp in 1900, and this lived up to his words; Chameleon, in my opinion, in its lovely chartreuse tone, even exceeded them.

The plots were grown to test green decortication techniques and study stem cell structure with a view to facilitating a UK hemp textile industry. The green fibres, stripped from the inner hurds, were quite wet in this state and had to be pressed between two rollers to remove moisture. Further processes will be needed to rend them into cloth.

At present the hemp textile industry is centred in China and Romania. Italy was for some time renowned for producing the finest fibres, grown in the Piedmont region. Hemp is grown in Italy now for Giorgio Armani.

There are economic reasons for developing a hemp textile industry in any country, but there are also ecological reasons, the main one being the fact that cotton, at present the number 1 textile fibre in the world, uses up water and requires pesticides. (see related posts on cotton on this blog with the word search feature).

Sue gave me a copy of a book, Bioregional Solutions: For Living on One Planet, writtten by herself and Pooran Desai (both founders of BioRegional). In it (Chapter 7, "Hemp, Clothes and Fair Trade"), there is a good account of cotton, which the authors assert, is the "world's most water-intensive crop."

Cotton is grown mainly in the US, Israel, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Uzbekistan. This last country is the fifth largest producer, supplying 90% of the UK's demand in the '90s. This industry has turned the Aral Sea and its surroundings into a disaster, shutting down the commercial fishing industry and devastating wildlife, including migratory birds. Local farms are unable to carry on, so there is a shortage of fresh, local produce. Such facts are brought out in their book and are quite enough to show that cotton is an unsustainable crop.

HRH Prince Charles, who graced the book with a foreword, takes an interest in the future of his country and writes: "In a world dominated by the short-term, the need for constructive thinking about our long-term future on this planet, based on wisdom and enduring values, has never been greater."

Hemp cultivation is one part of that wisdom, and it is good to see those lanky, emerald and chartreuse stalks swaying gently in the Essex wind.