plant milks are destroying the
environment or are they
there has recently been a surge of news
articles with headlines
such as trendy milks are disastrous for
the environment
it's nuts to pick almond milk over dairy
and everyone
should drink cow's milk why well because
this guy
tv presenter and according to some
britain's favorite farmer
adam henson said if you're drinking soy
milk
that might have come from south america
and cause deforestation
the destruction of species and the
displacement of indigenous people
you're better off drinking milk from a
local dairy farm that's been bottled
there
and delivered to your doorstep where
cows are wonderfully looked after
and the family contribute to the local
society and economy
so is he right
[Music]
while soya farming in south america is
responsible for deforestation
species extinction and displacing
indigenous people
the driving force behind all that is not
soya milk
about 96 of the soy produced in south
america
is estimated to be used for animal feed
or cooking oil
and in brazil south america's largest
producer and exporter of soya
ninety percent of the soy milk produced
is used as animal feet
the uk imports somewhere around 3.2
million tons of soya every single year
with around 75 percent of that estimated
to come from south america
but again at least 90 percent of all the
soy that is imported
is used as animal feed when it comes to
the soy for human consumption
because the soy from south america is
almost entirely gm soya
it is unlikely to be used much if at all
for food directly for human consumption
in the uk
and globally it's the same story with 75
to 80 percent of the soy produced
being used as animal feed so what's
really to blame
for deforestation in south america soya
milk
tofu and plant-based burgers or cow's
milk
chicken tenders and bacon and besides
it's easy to go onto the websites of
plant-based brands
to find out where they source their soya
from brands such as spanish and provomil
for example source the soya they use for
their plant milks from europe
as stated by the national farmers union
themselves many shoppers are aware of
the international food chains which
bring them fruits and vegetables out of
season
but perhaps are not aware of the food
chain behind their meat eggs
and dairy it seems as if animal farmers
themselves
aren't aware either okay
but what about water after all adam
henson says that it takes 74 litres of
water
to produce one glass of almond milk and
we're constantly being told
just how water intensive almond farming
is but whilst what adam says
is true what he forgets to mention is
that the same authors he is quoting that
figure from
also showed that a glass of cow's milk
requires over 125 liters of water
or 70 more than almond milk according to
those numbers
a glass of cow's milk also requires 13
times more water
than a glass of oat milk and 22 times
more
than a glass of soy milk so if we are
concerned about water use
according to adam's numbers cow's milk
is the last milk we should be consuming
it's important to note that the authors
of the research are discussing the
global averages
for different milks so the water
requirements for dairy production
might be lower in places such as the uk
because of the rainfall
however whilst that may be true the same
also applies for the production of
almonds sawyer
and oats and again plant-based brands
such as provamil
alpro and plenish also source their
almonds
from europe where in the words of al pro
sustainability manager
these orchards are less affected by
problems related to mass cultivation
and most of the production is rain fed
even in california where 80 percent of
the world's almonds are produced
the production of animal feed which
includes alfalfa hay and straw
for the animal farming industries
especially the dairy industry
uses more blue water than the almond
industry
even though it only produces 20 percent
of the total
u.s milk supply and when we start to
factor in other environmental issues
it's only downhill for cow's milk from
here when it comes to greenhouse gas
emissions
cow's milk produces three times more
emissions
than soy milk it produces over three
times as many emissions
as oat milk and over four times as many
emissions
as almond milk and when we look at land
use cow's milk uses 11 times
more land than oat milk 13 times more
land than soya milk
and a staggering 30 times more land
than almond milk and on top of that
because nuts grow on trees
almond production can actually be carbon
negative
even after accounting for transportation
as well
and no local cow's milk is still not
more sustainable
because the problem with animal farming
is the farming
itself not the distance the food has
traveled
in fact only around 3.5 percent of the
emissions produced by cow's milk
comes from the transportation meaning
that buying cow's milk with zero food
miles
makes almost no difference when
comparing the sustainability of cow's
milk with plant milks
but not only are plant milks
overwhelmingly more sustainable
than cow's milk they also avoid the
ethical problems that are inherent
in the production of dairy products cows
produce milk to feed their children
this means that the standard practice in
every system of dairy farming
including organic is for the dairy cows
to be forcibly impregnated
and to then have their babies taken from
them almost immediately
after they have been born this
separation causes the mother cow's
psychological and emotional distress a
response that dairy farmer david finlay
acknowledged when he was asked about how
the mother cows react
to having their babies taken from them
and then there's others that would
bowl for
[Music]
that days your effects you're now
talking about it
the males that either sold into the beef
industry
raised for veal or shot the females are
placed in solitary confinement patterns
before then being moved into group
housing where they will begin the
process
of being incorporated into the milking
herd the mother cows are then milked
every day and endure the process of
being forcibly impregnated
and having their babies taken from them
until they are no longer profitable
to the dairy farmer at that point they
are then taken to the slaughterhouse
where they have their throats cut
these are the standard practices on
dairy farms
this is what happens to dairy cows even
on those
so-called high welfare farms where the
cows are apparently well taken care of
so cow's milk is not only significantly
worse for the environment
but is also reliant on the exploitation
abuse and slaughter
of sentient beings and their babies so
next time you read something online
about plant milks
just remember cow's milk is worse
in every single way
[Music]
you