What does cheese have to do with trees?

“Mommy, “ my children shouted as they careened breathlessly into the kitchen from outside. “Will there still be trees when we grow up?” 

If  they hadn’t been so concerned I’d have laughed. Of course there will be trees. But my children were not to be put off. They’d seen bull dozers root up the oaks and maples of our once rural neighborhood to make way for a housing complex. To them, this building project was yet another proof that humankind was determined to destroy the world’s forests. Young though they were, they knew that hundreds of thousands of acres of tropical rain forest were being cut and burned yearly to make way for pastures and farms; that loggers worldwide harvested mature forests and wrecked havoc on surviving plant and animal species indigenous to those environments. They’d learned that trees are the world’s major air cleaning and filtering system and that trees prevented the degradation of streams and the erosion of mountainsides. So why were we still cutting down the forests that protected us. They wanted an answer and I didn’t have one. 

I knew the problem was much bigger than diminished forest reserves. Water and air pollution, industrial poisons leaching into food and water supplies, global warming hastened by carbon saturated emissions, droughts, melting ice caps, escalating hurricanes and tornadoes. I felt tempted to throw up my hands at the immensity of the issues to be tackled. How did we change a lifestyle from one of excess to one of sustainability. The children's concern with trees pointed the way.

"We can speak up and we can help the trees," I told my children.  So we began writing letters to forestry administrators and state representative protesting suburban sprawl that destroyed woodlands and wetlands. We wrote letters to the editor complaining about air quality and our concern that trees were being sacrificed to build ashphalt jungles. We joined the Sierra Club and the National Parks Conservation Association. The children helped plant and water new trees. We began a recycling project, using the other side of my draft documents for drawing projects and reusing paper and plastic bags two or three times. We stopped using chemical fertilizers and pesticides on our urban lawn.

A move to Lake Superior's rugged yet fragile North Shore enhanced our efforts. I began writing weekly columns on learning to live in place, to love and steward the land, to treasure the gifts its offers.Over the years we have planted hundreds of trees. We drive a fuel efficient car and compact errands into single trips. We don't use ATV's or snowmobiles to travel the forests -- we hike them. We replaced our incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs and wear long underwear and sweaters rather than turn up the heat. 

There is one thing we have not done. We have not given up meat.

Meat you might ask? What does meat have to do with forests and sustainable living? A lot actually. There is probably no more energy consumptive and land, water, and air destructive than the production of meat and dairy products. I know this yet I continue to resist giving them up. I’ve convinced myself that meat and dairy products are indispensable sources of protein.

Cheese especially. The thought of giving up cheese sends me into a near panic. I love cheese. I could live on bread and cheese. Greens and veggies and fruit supplemented by grains and legumes just don’t do it for me. With a daily fix of cheddar or farmer’s cheese I might make it without meat but without cheese I think I'm doomed. 

Two weeks ago Gather challenged me to an Earth Day resolution. I knew what I had to do but before I could write this article I needed to test my resolve. Last week I reduced my consumption of meat and dairy products dramatically. During this time I have dined on sweet potatoes, rice, carrots, and tomatoes. I’ve made vegetable stir fries and vegetable soups. Nut butters and jelly, prunes and apples provide the sweets. Yet I continue to crave cheese. I sidle past the refrigerator and contemplate cheating. There's a chunk of organic cheddar in there. Rather than cheat, I've offered myself a bonus. Five days without meat or cheese and you can indulge. Today I treated myself to a cheddar cheese sandwich. It was the most rewarding, delectable, wondrous sandwich I've eaten in ages. A bit of cheese is the carrot at the end of the abstinence stick that urges me on.