Flicks to See at this Year's Environmental Film Fest!

The21st Annual DC Environmental Film Festival gets underway this week with films running from March 12th to 24th at over 75 venues across the District.  The films are free and there are some 190 films featured from 50 countries with a wide range of environmental themes. This year's Fest focuses on the role that rivers play in human survival - especially in the face of climate change. The Fest has set up a very user-friendly searchable website for all the films that will be featured.  Of particular interest to DC residents are two short films on the Anacostia River. This film will show on Friday, March 17th at 1h45 pm at the National Museum of American History located at 14th and Constitution NW.  Another film of interest is the 98 minute "Trashed" from the UK that takes you around the world to see what happens with garbage it's disposed of.  This film shows on Sunday, March19th at 7:45 PM at Atlas Performing Arts Center located at 1333 H St NE.  No reservations are required for either of these films.  These are just two of the great films that will be showing during the Fest.  Be sure to check it out!

Cheese's Dirty Secret

Did You Know - if everyone in the U.S. ate no meat or cheese for just one day a week for a year it would be the equivalent of Like taking 7.6 million cars off the road.  There's a great new segment on WAMU about how the food we eat relates to climate change.  Check out: www.wamu.org/programs/the_diet_climate_connection . When it comes to a carbon friendly diet,  check out the cheese you're eating.  While lamb is the most carbon unfriendly protein - followed by beef, according to a Grist article, cheese ranks worse than pork and chicken ounce for ounce, and substantially worse than other dairy products like milk and yogurt.  Why?  On average, it takes10 pounds of milk to produce a pound of hard cheese and according to the article cheeses made from goat or sheep milk are no better than those made from cow's milk. So, what's a non vegan carbon fighter to do? Eat local...and/or go for "lower-fat, less dense cheeses. In general, the lower the fat, the lower the greenhouse-gas emissions. Cottage cheese is just about the lowest-fat option out there, while regular cream cheese is one of the fattiest. Cheddar tends to be a higher-fat cheese, more so even than brie or Camembert. Low-fat options include ricotta and part-skim mozzarella while. High-fat cheeses include mascarpone, stilton, and colby."