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."