Dairy has been in the news a lot recently, not least because of Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscar speech. Mainly the discussion is about veganism but there is also the environmental impact of dairy to consider. Dairy farmers are fighting back. It’s completely understandable why they’re fighting back because it’s their livelihoods they’re trying to protect.
Due to this backlash against veganism from the farming community there are now lots of articles trying to make veganism look unhealthy or bad for the environment. Of course these articles miss the point of being vegan which is to cause no harm to animals. There are health benefits to being vegan and a plant based diet is better for the environment. Scientists almost all agree on that, but I don’t think anyone claims that shipping avocado’s from Mexico is better for the environment than eating local produce, although many of these articles seem to think that’s what vegans claim.
The Ethical Dairy?
Some dairy farmers have listened to those who are concerned with animal welfare and are changing the way their farms work. Check out The Ethical Dairy which is even hosting an Open Day for vegans to show them around and to answer any questions they may have. The Ethical Dairy no longer removes calves from their Mothers straight away and allows the calves to drink the milk that was intended for them.
This is good news, but does an ethical dairy also mean environmental benefits?
The point is that anything we buy or consume has an impact on the environment and we all have a responsibility to minimise that impact wherever possible. It would be much easier if shops labelled their produce as locally grown. We should go back to eating seasonal fruit and vegetables, but let’s be honest, that’s unlikely to happen. Apparently ‘choice’ is far more important than the future of the planet.
As I said everything has an impact on the environment and the environmental impact of dairy is not great. Fortunately there are numerous plant milks available these days which have a much lower impact on the environment than dairy.
The Environmental Impact of Dairy
There’s loads of evidence that dairy is bad for the environment. Here are just some of the stats. Click on the article headlines for the full article and links to their source materials…
Avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth – The Guardian
“…new research shows that without meat and dairy consumption, global farmland use could be reduced by more than 75% – an area equivalent to the US, China, European Union and Australia combined – and still feed the world. Loss of wild areas to agriculture is the leading cause of the current mass extinction of wildlife.
“…while meat and dairy provide just 18% of calories and 37% of protein, it uses the vast majority – 83% – of farmland and produces 60% of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions (…) The scientists also found that even the very lowest impact meat and dairy products still cause much more environmental harm than the least sustainable vegetable and cereal growing.”
What’s the environmental impact of milk? – The Guardian
“If you compare the ratios of global warming potential (GWP) to primary energy consumed, producing a cow comes in about 50% higher than a pig or chicken. And the methane cows emit remains in the atmosphere 21-23 times more effectively than CO2. (…)
“But there’s more to dairy milk’s impact than electricity and methane. Conventional dairy farming depletes nutrients in the ground and uses huge quantities of fertilisers — fertilisers account for roughly 1% of the world’s total energy consumption”
The Shocking Truth About the Dairy Industry and the Environment – One Green Planet
“The global water footprint of animal agriculture is 2,422 billion cubic meters of water (one-fourth of the total global water footprint), 19 percent of which is related to dairy cattle.(…)
“A dairy facility that uses an automatic “flushing” system for manure can use up to 150 gallons of water per cow, per day.(…)
“Milk is about 87 percent water, so a cow that is constantly producing milk needs to be sufficiently hydrated. A cow can drink 23 gallons of water a day.(…)
“98 percent of milk’s footprint can be traced back to a cows food. Dairy cows eat a LOT. (…) it takes around six pounds of alfalfa to produce one gallon of milk. It takes 683 gallons of water to produce just six pounds of alfalfa. A dairy cow can produce up to seven gallons of milk a DAY, meaning that 4,781 gallons of water are used per cow every day for their food needs.”
The Devastating Impact of the Dairy Industry on the Environment – Sentient Media
“Taking care of manure (…) takes a lot of resources, water, and labor to do it right.
“And because many farms like to maximize profits above all else, the handling of manure can be an ecological disaster for surrounding areas.
“The manure from animals on a factory farm is full of antibiotics and chemicals. Because these cows are living in mass in confined spaces, they need to be heavily medicated in order to prevent the spread of disease.
“These chemicals can plague native ecosystems. The local wildlife can suffer dramatically as well as foreign toxins enter their water and food supply.”
A lot of the stats above relate to factory farming, and the USA. If you aren’t ready to give up dairy completely, buy locally produced organic dairy products.
Cutting down on dairy will reduce harm to cows, improve your health and help the planet. Who can argue with that?
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