Introduction

Hello readers! My name is Travis Roemhild and I am a Journalism senior at the University of Arizona. Part of this semester's workload, I will be updating this blog weekly with posts about how you can "live green" in Tucson. Topics I plan on covering are as follows: tea, and what it can do for your health; other natural drinks such as the plethora of fruit smoothies and juices; the hemp industry and shops in Tucson that specialize in hemp production; and maybe if there is time, some investigative reporting on the medicinal marijuana movement.

We know the UA does groundbreaking scientific research in just about every field. I read an article recently about research currently being conducted on the health benefits of green tea. Go here to read up about this process. One of my future blog posts will go into greater depth regarding this subject and will include interviews with those scientists currently working on the project.

If you don't know Ron Paul, he is a Constitutional Republican running for the nomination in the upcoming election. Paul introduced legislation to Congress indicating the usefulness of the hemp plant. It is summarized here. The author writes, hemp "can provide cheaper alternatives for paper, plastics, and one of the healthiest food oils available." There are a few hemp stores in Tucson, such as Crucial Hemp, located three miles north of campus. I will be visiting the store at a future date.

Hopefully this gives you some idea about what I will be doing this semester and if you have any information I might find interesting about these topics, feel free to write me with them!

Travis Roemhild

My Green Tea Addiction

So for my first blog I thought I would write about this drug in a 23.5 oz can produced by Arizona (or so they call their company.) It's probably the safest and healthiest "green" drug available to consumers but alas, comes with similar drawbacks in terms of addiction. I get up in the afternoon (thank God for late classes) and the cravings set in. Thoughts like "my day is going to suck if I don't re-up my G-Tea supply," crawl into my head and I can't think of anything else. I imagine shaking the can as it tells me to, and thinking about the first sip dries my mouth out like someone ran up and threw a handful of sand down the back of my throat. Then I just have to have one. Or no, thinking about when you wake up with a hangover and rush to the 'frige to see if your roommate has any Gatorade left over. But to your surprise you find that green can hidden behind week old pizza boxes! It's open, and it's anyones guess who has drunk out of it, but still, it's not like you could bring yourself to throw it out! So you drink, and drink, and drink and drink. You're throat and head hurt from drinking so much. Finally, you wipe your lips which have turned into a smile. Satisfied beyond belief, before going back to bed, you hide it so maybe one day down the road, you'll stumble across the pot of gold once again. So Arizona, your welcome and make the checks out to Travis Roemhild.