US Schools Can Add Non-Dairy Milk To Their Lunch Programs!
A new federal law was signed that removes barriers for students to access non-dairy milk at schools across the US. This is an important advancement for both student wellness and equity. Ensuring every child can access a healthy drink at school means recognizing that many students, especially students of color, need non-dairy options due to higher rates of lactose intolerance. The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act (ironic, I know) introduces two immediate changes to improve non-dairy access. Students with disabilities, including those with lactose intolerance, can now receive a milk substitute with a parent’s note instead of a doctor’s note. Additionally, schools may offer fortified soy milk to any student, placing it directly on the lunch line without parental permission or state approval. This is a long-fought victory for the Plant Powered School Meals Coalition.
If we can get them to purchase organic soy milk, that would be even more amazing, since soybeans are one of the most genetically modified crops grown in the U.S., and feeding non-organic soy milk to children is not a great alternative.
This law incorporated parts of the Plant Powered School Meals Pilot Act (H.R.5867), which was introduced recently in the US Senate by Senator Adam Schiff of California. Let’s hope this legislation becomes a law as well.
The Environmental Benefits of Fungi!
Check out this NY Times article which profiles Toby Kiers, an evolutionary biologist and recent recipient of the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, whose research reveals the central environmental role of mycorrhizal fungi—vast underground networks that connect with plant roots.
These fungi act as a hidden circulatory system for ecosystems. By exchanging soil nutrients for carbon from plants, they help regulate the global climate. Kiers and her colleagues estimate that mycorrhizal fungi sequester about 13 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year, roughly one-third of annual fossil-fuel emissions, by locking carbon into soils where it is difficult to release back into the atmosphere.
Fungi also underpin soil health and biodiversity. Soils hold around 75 percent of Earth’s terrestrial carbon and nearly 60 percent of its biodiversity, much of it supported by fungal networks. Mycorrhizal fungi stabilize soil by binding it together with dense filaments and sticky compounds, reducing erosion and preventing land degradation.
In agriculture and ecosystems, these fungi are essential partners to most crops and wild plants. They boost plant growth, improve nutrient uptake, and even enhance flowering and pollination, strengthening entire food webs aboveground.
Beyond science, Kiers advocates for fungal conservation through initiatives like the organization she founded, the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN), which maps and protects underground fungal diversity, and for integrating fungi into ecosystem restoration. Her work emphasizes that restoring landscapes requires not just native plants, but native fungi as well, recognizing fungi as foundational allies in climate regulation, soil stability, and biodiversity conservation.
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