Celebrate the 29th a day late!

I can't believe I actually missed the 29th! Here it is:

I was going to suggest celebrating the one-year birthday of the iPhone today, but since I don't own one, and the odds are that you don't own one (unless you're Officer Whetstone), I've got something way better. Five days ago (I write these in advance so sometimes I miss things like this) the state of Florida entered into an agreement to purchase 187,000 acres of land from the U.S. Sugar Corporation. Why does that matter to you? Well, these 187,000 acres (which will be leased back to U.S. Sugar for five years while they shut down their operation) happen to be among the most important acres for the future preservation of the Everglades. And it's the first step in what I believe will be the ultimate demise of the sugar industry in Florida. And what happens when the sugar industry in Florida goes away? Louisiana doesn't grow enough to supply the American market by itself, so once the Florida sugar industry dries up the government will be forced to allow imports of sugar from places where it's much much cheaper and less environmentally detrimental to grow it, and the price of sugar—and thus of most prepackaged foods—will fall. It may even fall enough to displace High Fructose Corn Syrup as the sweetener of choice for American food producers. Oh, you didn't know that the only reason HFCR is so popular is because sugar is too expensive in this country? Just wait; with the continuing increase in corn prices, if American sugar prices were permitted to reflect the market and not our idiotic protectionist agriculture policy, you'd see more sodas and other products sweetened with cane juice and sugar instead of HFCR. Sugar is no health food, but it's better than HFCR. I think ten years from now we'll recognize this event not just for its positive environmental impact, but also for it's positive dietary impact. Why not toast this wonderful development by reading my Everglades story while drinking your favorite sugar-sweetened beverage?