4 ms·
I suspect that local milk is better for the environment (or less bad depending on how you look at it) than almond milk in most cases: By far the largest produc
by mytailorisrich 4y ago
I suspect that local milk is better for the environment (or less bad depending on how you look at it) than almond milk in most cases:
By far the largest producer of almonds is the USA, I think California mostly, which in itself has a large environmental impact, not least because of the water required. I am in the UK so I can reasonably assume that a lot of the almond milk I see in supermarkets comes from Californian almonds somehow shipped half across the world, whereas there are cows within walking distance from my home. And, of course, in any case there is no actual dietary need for people to drink either milk or milk alternatives (though most people here would argue that milk is required in tea...)
Frankly, this is no more than commercial interests vs. other commercial interests and most people are not interested in complexity, they want simple 'solutions' to feel good.
- shalmanese 4y agoNo, from a carbon perspective, how you get your food home from the store overwhelms how the food got to the store because the last mile is using 5000lb vehicles to transport 10lbs of groceries whereas all previous steps use 1:1 or less ratios.
- mytailorisrich 4y agoNot sure what the 'no' refers to, but I suspect that "how you get your food home from the store" is not relevant in a comparison since that would be the same whatever I buy.
- fenrissan 4y agoNot even close, cow’s milk has significantly higher impacts than the plant-based alternatives across all metrics, including processing, transporting, etc. https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impact-milks https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impact-milks
- mytailorisrich 4y agoThis link is not very informative. For instance, it states that producing one litre of dairy milk requires more water than producing one litre of almond milk. OK, and? In itself it means little. Almond farming is creating big water pressure in California, which is already water-stressed. Is having cows in England creating the same water issue? I don't know. It's not clear what the proportion of transport is in the total emissions. 'Transport' is also vague as it can go from local to intercontinental, as mentioned. > If you want to reduce the environmental footprint of your diet, switching to plant-based alternatives is a good option. That strikes me again as avoiding the glaringly obvious option: reduce/stop milk consumption. Otherwise, it sounds like marketing for one product over another one.