The best milk alternative for the environment

By Daniel Hernandez, Staff Writer

The recent rise in environmental awareness has contributed to a notion that dairy milk is bad for the planet. As a result, a plethora of milk alternatives have become popular. The marketing by the companies that sell these alternatives tout the positive environmental impact made by switching from dairy milk to their products. Though it is true that most alternatives are more environmentally friendly than their non-vegan counterparts, many do not come without environmental drawbacks. 

To be clear, all milks have their pros and cons and there is no true “best” alternative; it all comes down to preference. When people think of milk alternatives, the first and most popular that comes to mind is almond milk. While almond milk does produce fewer greenhouse emissions than dairy and is also the most land efficient, the water needed to harvest almonds is almost as much as dairy. The next contenders would be soy and oat milk. Both soy and oat milk have the lowest impact on the environment overall, only using a fraction of the resources dairy uses and half of the water almond uses according to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Furthermore, to produce one pound of oats it takes one-sixth the amount of water and land to produce one pound of almonds. Soy, while being close to oat, has its own set of problems. A recent study done by Oxford showed that as soy is produced in large quantities to feed livestock, producing more would lead to deforestation in the Amazon to make space for the farms. 

The final notable contenders would be coconut and rice milk. Because coconut trees tend to grow in very tropical climates, the pressure to meet global demand is causing exploitation of workers. A study done by The Guardian found that workers in the Philippines, India and Indonesia make less than a dollar a day to harvest these coconuts. The same study also concludes that coconut farming has a fairly low impact on land and since it is a tree, it helps with carbon emissions. The problem with coconut milk seems to be more ethical than environmental. Next is rice milk, and although it is inexpensive and widely available, it offers little to no nutritional value. According to the same Oxford study, rice is described as a “water hog”. Plus it produces more greenhouse gas emissions than any other plant milk. Bacteria breeding in rice paddies pumps methane into the atmosphere and large amounts of fertilizer pollute waterways.

Inspecting the evidence, it seems as though the winner is oat milk. Liz Specht, associate director of science and technology at the Good Food Institute, a non-profit that promotes plant based diets, explained that, unlike almonds, there are already plenty of oats to go around. 

It is absolutely important for everyone to help with the current environmental crisis we face. Making simple changes such as switching your current dairy choice goes a long way in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. All fingers seem to point to oat milk as the best option so I would recommend everyone at least give it a try.

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