Out of the box we're in, facing extreme weather, pollution, extinctions and military deployments, drug violence, and dependence-- a synergy offering a simple solution to many problems at once. Grow hemp.

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A Synergistic Solution

Synergy:
the interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc.; synergism.

Word Origin & History
synergy
1660, "cooperation," from Mod.L. synergia, from Gk. synergia "joint work, assistance, help," from synergos "working together," related to synergein "work together, help another in work," from syn- "together" + ergon "work" (see urge (v.)). Meaning "combined activities of a group" is from 1847.

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."-- Einstein
 
Industrial hemp lacks the THC content found in the medicinal variety. But it possesses other virtues which make it useful-- particularly in light of our problem with fuel, carbon and climate and biodiversity.
One step toward systematic carbon sequestration would be large-scale planting of hemp. It grows on marginal land which is unsuitable for crops. It sequesters carbon.
But it also provides a fiber which replaces wood pulp in paper and petroleum in synthetics. Instead of cutting down forests which sequester carbon, hemp is a constructive alternative. Presently, the Koch brothers are enriching themselves and backing the GOP by cutting down our forests for toilet paper-- which is worse, it's hard to say.
Biodiversity would also be enhanced from reducing clear cutting, and hemp doesn't need herbicides or pesticides widely used on other crops which injure and limit biodiversity-- it grows like a weed.
In addition, hemp oil is a ready-made diesel fuel. Farmers could grow their own fuel instead of buying it from despots, extortionists, sponsors of terrorism, or corporations. I realize that's redundant.
Thus the quotes above. Large-scale hemp cultivation offers a synergistic solution to the conflict between climate change and petroleum-based fuel so critical to present-day transportation.
It saves the forests presently being harvested for paper, and helps preserve biodiversity critical to our own existence.
It sequesters carbon and puts it in the ground as used paper, soaking up some of the CO2 contributing to warming the planet and creating extreme weather events.
It replaces carcinogenic petro-diesel with non-carcinogenic fuel.
It helps reduce dependence on oil companies and foreign sources.
It doesn't require pesticides and herbicides which are also made from petroleum.
Now that it's legal in two states, cultivation could help solve climate change, which the Dept. of Defense has cited as the number one threat to US security.
Legalizing and cultivating hemp is a synergy devoutly to be wished, win-win, greater than the sum of its parts.
And finally, it breaks out of the paternalistic and puritanic nanny-state thinking that ties us all to obsolete technologies and domination of government by oil companies, drug cartels, military deployment and banks which seek to prevent constructive solutions-- and makes something criminal which is not a crime. George Washington grew it, so can we.

Authors Bio:
Avid reader, jazz musician, philosopher, chef, stone mason, carpenter, writer, painter, poet,humanist, teacher, holistic ethicist who believes consciousness and love pervade the universe, except among self-obsessed humans. I perceive the philosophical unified field to be consciousness and joy. The entire universe is composed of waves, which we surf by understanding. Worked and marched for CORE in the 60's. Built 100-ft., 80-ton sculpture on Pratt Beach, Chicago. Planted trees in Oregon. Solo canoed Illinois, Mississippi, Chicago, Rock, Missouri and Wisconsin Rivers. My big thrill as a kid was building small rockets, archery, cruising my woods and going to the Birdhouse on weekends to see the Miles Davis Quintet and many other Jazz Greats.
I was in San Francisco in '65, '66, '67, and '68. Built Burr Tillstrom's puppet theater for Kukla, Fran, and Ollie at WTTW, Channel 11, Chicago. Briefly taught stage carpentry at De Paul Univ. Technical Director one season at Oak Park Shakespeare Festival.
Played trumpet in many small jazz bands, Sextessence, Nova Express. Played on road tour with rock band and many union and studio gigs. Lived with the Rasta in Blue Mountains, Jamaica.
Drove millions of accident-free miles Over the Road in big trucks, 48 states and Canada.
Currently living alone, caring for four rescued animals, one of which a kitten I recently found 'helpless as a kitten up a tree', abandoned in a city park. He came down to my call, so we folded him into the family. Without someone to care for life makes little sense. All reason is born of the heart. As Maya Angelou wrote, "Love holds the stars in their courses."