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Andre the Farmer: How hemp and bamboo can enhance earth care and sustainability

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Hey guys, Andre the Farmer here, and today we’re going to talk about my favorite aspect of permaculture - earth care.

Now I often hear people talking about how we need to save the planet. The truth of the matter is that we don’t. We need to save ourselves. The planet will do just fine with or without us. For 99.999999999999 % of its existence, it didn’t have us, and it will go on just fine if we get ourselves evicted.

And that’s where earth care comes in.

We have to be aware of the impact we are making on the environment. And there are things we can do to help minimize our negative impact on the planet. I recently purchased my first electric car. I have solar panels on my home and try to plant as many trees and grow as much of my food as possible in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.

It can be big things are the tiniest of small things, but every positive move counts.

I also started a company that allows others to make better choices in what they purchase and wear. Permaculture Life is a company I created to provide sustainably sourced clothing and accessories. I was trying to find ways I could make a difference for more than just myself. Through social media, I’ve inspired many people to start gardens and think about sustainability.

But I wanted to do more.

When l learned how much better hemp and bamboo fabrics are for the environment than traditional fabrics, I was positive I needed to be a voice for this better way. So I started permaculture life initially to offer clothing made from bamboo and hemp, but we soon found many items made from recycled materials.

Did you know that hemp and bamboo can be grown with 1/20th the water as cotton? The benefits of hemp and bamboo are too numerous to list. Hemp is naturally antimicrobial, four times stronger than cotton, and super soft. And hemp is a nitrogen-fixing plant, which enriches the soil as it grows as opposed to most plants that deplete the soil. I’m also thrilled we recently found our sun shirts made entirely from recycled materials. But now I try only to wear sustainably sourced clothing whenever possible.

You are removing 16 plastic bottles from the waste stream with every shirt. It’s amazing when you think about it.

Not everything you use can be made from sustainably sourced materials; in those cases, I try to buy quality so that I’m not buying and throwing away and creating more waste. At Permaculture Life, we also have garden tools like the Hori Hori built with the buy-it-once ethos. Buying it once and keeping it for life is a great way to decrease your waste footprint.

Permaculture Life is not a business; it’s a movement. So the question we all need to ask ourselves is, are we about that life?

Interested in meeting Andre the Farmer and learning more about Permaculture Life? Visit permaculturelife.com and sign up for the weekly newsletter for more gardening tips. You can also follow Andre the Farmer on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. And you can also meet him at his "day job", where he's known as Dr. Andre Baptiste, your local orthodontist!

Andre the Farmer, Permaculture, Hemp, Bamboo, Earth Care, Sustainability, Baptiste Orthodontics

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