SUNY Morrisville Contemporary Chemistry

In recent years, the debate over the advantages of organic vs. conventional agricultural practices has been the subject of several studies.  The studies involve farming of land, feeding livestock, and then the food on your table.  The reasons for the use of both organic and conventional practices have merit, but are different for each other.  I would like to review one study comparing the effect on diet between conventional or organic practices.

When you purchase apple juice, you are expecting to receive apple juice, but that isn’t always the case.   Sometimes the juice will be a mix of apple and pear juices.   This mixture is done for economic benefit to the producer.   Different fruit juice concentrates have different values on the market.   Adding some of the less valuable concentrate to the mix makes it cheaper to produce.    

          As we all know, since December of 2019, the Coronaviruss has played an enormous impact on how our whole world has been operating. Ever since the outbreak the world has been flipped upside down, it started with a lot of news coverage on what is happening in China, then the virus hit America like a rock and quickly spread across the country. Things immediately began to change, shops and businesses began to shut down; then, everyone started to panic when everyone has been required to quarantine themselves and bought all the toilet paper. 

No tillage farming is a practice that has been going on since the 1800s. People then may not have known the exact purpose and benefits; however, it was for the best. Through research and studies on soil fertility, we have discovered the importance of no tillage practices.

Imagine this, you’re taking a walk through the local park with your dog or significant other. It’s a bright sunny day with clear blue skies. All of a sudden, you hear the familiar roar of a tractor-trailer. As this monstrosity passes by, you see large clouds of jet-black smoke exiting the vertical exhaust stacks. As this dirty, oily machine drives past, you watch the plumes of smoke dissipate into the atmosphere. All you can think is, “Oh, that has to be good for the environment.” Many people question why the transportation industry is even allowed to operate when the equipment is so dirty and harmful to our environment. Well, the need to transport supplies and materials is essential to our society. The real question is, Can we achieve the same goal in a more environmentally friendly way?   Find Image Here  

             A study conducted by W. Rathnayake and other co-workers developed a way to use sunflower oil to improve the properties of a common plastic called polypropylene so that it can be used under great thermo-mechanical stress.  This is quite an impressive innovation because our society has become accustomed to using plastic and it is a part of our everyday life and quite frankly we can’t live without it.