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