| (Illustration by Emily Sabens/The Washington Post; Climax Foods; New Culture; iStock) | | Welcome. This week, pink lady's slipper and an AC-free Olympics. But first, why cheese without the cow has finally arrived. |  | | If you want to eat fake meat, you have a buffet of choices. That was clear as I wandered the halls of the Future Food-Tech conference, a gathering of foodies reinventing what we eat, in March. Scientists and entrepreneurs served up simulacra of beef, bacon, chicken cutlets and even ahi tuna. But it wasn't until I stumbled across the cheesemakers, tucked away at the edge of the event, that my taste buds snapped to attention. In the booth of Berkeley, Calif.-based Climax Foods, black-aproned staff raced to replenish a cheese board for attendees, who snapped samples of soft brie and aged blue cheese almost as soon as they hit the table. I grabbed a slice atop a cracker and bit in. The familiar creamy texture and rich flavors filled my mouth. Assuming this cheese was meant to be tested against a plant-based version, I searched for another set of samples. None existed. All these cheeses were made from plants. Traditionally, vegan versions of animal products have signaled sacrifice, not indulgence, even as they offered huge environmental benefits. Vegan cheese in particular has had an awful reputation among dairy lovers. Many have been hesitant to even call it cheese. But now a new generation of animal-free dairy may be the first vegan food that tastes exactly like the real thing — no sacrifice necessary. Don't believe my unschooled palate. The blue cheese I tried from Climax Foods is served by Michelin-starred chefs at New York restaurants. Nancy Silverton, a chef featured in the Netflix documentary "Chef's Table" who runs two restaurants in Los Angeles built around the wonders of mozzarella, says a vegan alternative is now good enough to rival her fresh mozzarella di bufala. "The splotch and stretchiness, it's exactly the same as the current dairy one," she says, noting the only difference is the mildly sweet taste of lactose. "This is something that's going to really be a game changer in the market." I set off to discover the secret alchemy transforming even the most boring ingredients into luscious cheese — and what that means for your cheese board and the planet. Click on the button below to read more. Write me with your questions at climatecoach@washpost.com. I read all your emails. |  | Field Sample On May 16, 1936, this pink lady's slipper was picked in the low pine woods along North Carolina's Tar River. | | Using the specimens in Duke's herbarium, scientists were able to show that this pink lady slipper flower is blooming earlier and earlier each year due to climate change. | | The wildflower blossom is among roughly 850,000 dried plant specimens Duke University must move out after deciding to shut down its world-renowned herbarium, citing the high cost of maintaining the collection of plants, fungi and algae despite its $11.6 billion endowment. More than just dead plants, the collection represents one of the few ways to track the speed and scope of how humans are transforming the planet for plant life, especially in the southeastern United States, a biodiversity hot spot where many species are disappearing. Read more — and see more of the herbarium's specimens — in this story by Dino Grandoni and Kate Medley. |  | Learning Curve A Washington Post analysis of a trove of meteorological records shows more than 1.5 billion people have faced dangerous heat this year. That's almost one-fifth of the planet's population experiencing at least one day where the heat index topped 103 degrees, or 39.4 degrees Celsius, the threshold the National Weather Service considers life-threatening. Climate Lab columnist Harry Stevens dove into this data to show you just how your city fared. Try it out below. | Snapshot Microplastics are everywhere: suspended in the air we breathe, circulating in our bloodstream and embedded in almost every major organ. | | Scientists don't yet know the exact health effects of all those plastic particles, but they've grown alarmed as research has shown humans are breathing, eating and drinking microplastics in far larger quantities than once thought. One study found that people inhale or ingest on average 74,000 to 121,000 microplastic particles per year through breathing, eating and drinking. Take a journey with The Post's Simon Ducroquet and Shannon Osaka to find how microplastics are getting inside us, and what we might do about it. |  | The Second Degree Many of you loved the "bike bus," the convoy of parents and children who ride to school, picking up kids along the way, I wrote about in my column last week. "It's basically everything that sustainability needs to be to be effective," writes Jason Hodin. "It is a meaningful action that people do together, safety in numbers, empowerment, builds community, effective, communicates to others (every kid in their parent's car will want to get out and ride too), and thus creates a positive feedback social norm. Brilliant." Others thought the joy was contagious: "Reading this article put a smile on my face and gave me hope for a better America," one reader said. "As I read this, I felt the tension in my shoulders go away. Awesome!" enthused another. But several people commented the bike bus seemed restricted to privileged communities: "This piece reeks of shallow SF smugness," wrote one. Not so, another reader countered: "Eight years of a Bike Train in our school that is 42 percent free and reduced lunch," they wrote. "Bikes are an equalizer, not the barrier cars are." Finally, if you live in D.C., Roxana Mondragón points to the Mundo Verde public charter school bike bus in D.C. "We are just one of many in the city," she says. |  | On the Climate Front From The Post: The term "Anthropocene" was rejected by geologists. But the word has already taken over the world. As New York retreats from charging drivers more, these cities are pushing ahead. Paris wanted an AC-free Olympics. Visiting nations had other plans. Linen or cotton: Which fabric keeps you cooler in sticky summer heat? From elsewhere: Wine. Olive oil. Coffee. Cocoa. The Wall Street Journal says global warming is coming for the finer things in life. Europe's Green vote collapsed, throwing climate ambitions into doubt, CNBC reports. NPR explores how companies created our modern throwaway culture reliant on plastics. Middle school students slashed carbon pollution in their school, reports the Guardian. It's now a blueprint for their Oakland, Calif., school district. |  | | Linda Trytek of Deerfield, Ill., captured this stunning image of a beetle emerging from inside a flower blossom. "Of the world's almost 350,000 flowering plant species," write University of Maryland entomologists, "beetles are believed by some to be responsible for visiting nearly 90 percent." Send me your photos and stories at climatecoach@washpost.com | | Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here to get The Climate Coach in your inbox every Tuesday. See you next Tuesday, Michael Coren, Climate Coach | | |
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