and then, a million things happened.

• i said it; NPR confirms it: the macaron is set to surpass the cupcake in popularity. it's the next fashionable dessert. america, do not ruin this pastry.
  
• if we wanted, we could make it so that the animals don't feel pain when they are killed. apparently, this will make the humans feel less bad about factory farming. wait. what? and why must we factory farm? nytimes op/ed here.
• i plan for my government class to participate in this contest, sponsored by GOOD. they seem to think that taking the junk food out of school cafeterias is like taking away one's civil rights. we know that kids eat better when the options are better.
• "The Bulgarian Parliamentary Committee on the Environment has agreed that GMOs will not be allowed within 7 kms of organic farmland, and 10 kms away from permanent, registered beehive clusters. They also adopted a five-year ban on the cultivation of GMOs for commercial and scientific research in the field." way to go, bulgaria. rock it. full article here.
• new, REAL rules for organic dairy. such an improvement. says the nytimes, "The new regulations, which go into effect in June, are much more specific. They say that animals must graze on pasture for the full length of the local grazing season. The season will be determined by local conditions and agriculture authorities, like organic certifiers or county conservation officials, not by the dairy alone. While the grazing season must last at least 120 days, in many areas it will be much longer. The rules also say that animals must get at least 30 percent of their food from pasture during the grazing season." yes.
• some of my students are reading my twitter. and maybe this blog. oh god. maybe they will learn something from me in some format. even an unconventional one.
  
• manhattan borough president scott stringer continues to amaze me. you can read his "blueprint for a sustainable food system" here. marty markowitz, what are YOU doing to change the way we eat? at least for the kids?