Posted on the 13th August 2018
August 22nd is World Plant Milk Day, a day dedicated to celebrating all that is good about plant milks. Here's why you should consider ditching dairy in favour of plant-based alternatives.
The dairy industry is undeniably cruel. Dairy cows are forcibly impregnated, have their babies taken away from them and are strapped to milking machines. When their bodies are too worn out from this constant cycle they are sent to slaughter at around 6 years old. And when their babies are taken away from them, where do they go? Well, some – mainly the males who can’t produce milk – will be killed at birth, or sent abroad to be used in the veal trade. The females will usually have to suffer the same fate as their mothers.
Dairy farming is devastating for the environment. According to the Environment Agency, dairy farms are responsible for far more water pollution incidents than any other form of farming. Slurry from dairy farms can leak into rivers and streams where it kills fish and spreads disease. As well as polluting water, dairy farms use huge quantities of this precious resource. The amount of fresh water needed to create a litre of British cow’s milk is almost twice as much as is needed to make a litre of soya milk. For most other countries, the difference is even bigger. Methane and nitrous oxide are powerful greenhouse gases far stronger than carbon dioxide and are produced in huge quantities by dairy cows and their slurry. The equivalent of around four per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions are thought to come from dairy farming, with the carbon footprint of cow’s milk being about twice as large as that of soya milk.
There is nothing contained in cow’s milk that cannot be obtained from plant-based sources. Plant milks contain less saturated fat than cow’s milk, and contain no cholesterol. Read our factsheet on plant-based nutrition.
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