Cheese: The Environment's Silent But Deadly Killer

Wallace and Gromit, killing the earth one slice at a time.

Who knew: Cheese is worse for the environment than pork, poultry and even farmed salmon. The only foodstuffs that have a worse environmental footprint per four ounces consumed are beef and lamb. Okay, so some people were already well aware of this, but as big fans of fromage the news still caught us by surprise. But if it is so bad for the environment, what is a conscientious cheese consumer to do? Well, eat less to start.

Part of the problem with cheese is that it takes a whole lot of milk to make a tiny bit of cheese. About 10 pounds go in to make the average pound of hard cheese. And that milk, generally speaking, comes from a cow that we all should know by now is emitting a fair amount of methane (as well as manure and other gasses). Add in the gasses and waste associated with feeding that cow to get that milk and you've got yourself quite the the footprint. And before you start running off to stock up on sheep or goats milk-based cheeses we should probably point out that they aren't much better.

However, you do have a few options if you're determined to reduce your carbon impact. Environmental Working Group, whose recent report is the reason we're aware of the environmental dangers of cheese, recommends eating lower-fat, less dense cheeses as well as trying to support local producers. Even better, those cheeses are generally pretty good for you. They also recommend eating less cheese in general.

Still, one other thing about the environmental impact of cheese worth noting? EWG's report compares the impact of four ounces of many different food products (see the awesome graphic on page four) but while many people can eat a quarter-pound of beef in a sitting (if not a pound) folks are far less likely to eat the same amount of cheese. (Unless they're inhaling it in the form of Cheesy Poofs.) Also puzzling: There's still no hard data on the environmental impact of the human breast milk cheese.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Garth Johnston in Food on August 9, 2011 2:57 PM

Comments [rss]

zombiebob

Felix my brotha where you at?

You know what you vegan freaks? A world without high fat density cheese isn't a world worth living in. ESPECIALLY if it still contains vegan freaks. So, put your tofu where your mouth is... Every single vegan freak kills theyselves? THEN I'll stop eating yummy yum cheese

whiteiris

Why don't these nuts just kill themselves and save us all from their bullshit.

The EcoCatLady

You know... I have a bone to pick with the whole concept of beef and dairy causing global warming. The real culprit here is not the cows, its the factory farming system. If you eat beef and dairy from organically raised grass fed cattle, you're not contributing to the overall carbon load. Those cattle emit much less methane, and the carbon in the methane that they do emit is carbon from plants that grew without petro-chemicals, hence it's part of the natural carbon cycle.

I just wish people would focus on the real problems instead of painting with such a broad brush.

nicemarmot

Yep. Just like people, cows fart a lot less when they're not eating garbage.

PhotoHarris

The preferred plural of gas is gases, not gasses.

FU Boy

Let's face it - eating food gives you a huge carbon footprint.

So if you care about the environment to the extent that you re-calculate your footprint each time you buy a wedge of brie - don't eat.

aron

There are a lot of ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Our society in general frowns at anything that requires any sort of personal effort, hence there are views like yours. The truth is if you buy your food from a local source and cut down on meat and dairy, you can do a lot to reduce your carbon footprint and still eat. Eating doesn't give a huge carbon footprint. Being lazy and eating fast foods every night or buying processed foods for convenience is what does.

FU Boy

Thank you for coming so close to getting my point, then missing it entirely.

There are a great many ways to reduce a footprint because virtually everything we do contributes to it. Stamping out my 'footprint' is impossible; I will always expend energy and need to take in resources that have an environmental impact, no matter how much effort I put in.

There are many ways I do reduce my footprint, but eating meat and cheese is not going to be one of them.

The punch line was: if you're so obsessed with this movement, then kill yourself and eliminate your need for resources and life-long carbon dependence.

Juanita

Just because we can't do it all doesn't mean we should do nothing. Of course just by existing we are consuming resources. But there are things that we do to significantly reduce it. No need to kill ourselves, we can just do what we can. Everything helps.