The Repurposing Life

Milk: Animal or Plant Based?

Animal or plant based: What is the environmental impact of the various milks. The popularity of vegan foods continues to grow. Milk alternatives, such as oat, soy, almond or coconut, are one area of interest, with sales rising in the UK.

According to a research study, the greenhouse gas emissions used in the production of plant-based milks are lower than for dairy. Joseph Poore, an Oxford University researcher and Thomas Nemecek of the Agroecology and Environment Research Division in Zurich, Switzerland.

They studied the environmental impact of 40 major food products. Producing a glass of dairy milk results in almost three times the greenhouse gas emissions of any non-dairy milk.

Looking at land use, the difference is starker still. Producing a glass of dairy milk every day for a year requires 650 sq. m. (7,000 sq. ft.) of land.

Cows vs. Nuts: What is Their Climate Impact?

Plant, grain, and nut-based milks now make up 10 percent of the overall milk market. In addition to the most popular, soy milk was the first. It was later overtaken by almond milk. More recent additions are pea milk, coconut milk, hemp milk, cashew milk, quinoa milk, oat milk, and rice milk.

Sales of almond milk alone shot up 250 percent between 2011 and 2016. Meanwhile, consumption of dairy milk has plummeted 37 percent since the 1970s, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The dairy industry has, for years, come under scrutiny for its carbon footprint. This sector emits 4 percent of all human-caused emissions, mostly in the form of methane, an especially potent greenhouse gas.

In the U.S., every gallon of milk consumed results in greenhouse gasses equivalent to 17.6 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2). The numbers are so significant, that the dairy industry announced a goal of cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent.

Which Plant-Based Milk Is Best

Consumers are choosing dairy alternatives, research finds, largely for health reasons and out of concern for animal welfare. Yet, environmental concerns are still far down in decision priority for the average consumer.

Nielsen data from 2018 shows that, as sales of cow’s milk dropped 6 percent, sales of plant-based milks went up 9 percent. They now make up 13 percent of overall “milk” sales.

These alternative milks are touted as environmentally friendly. Relying less on foods sourced from animals is a good overall strategy to combat climate change. The truth about the sustainability of each product—including cow’s milk—is complicated by many factors.

When examining a product’s environmental footprint, variables like greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water use, land use, chemical runoff, and soil degradation have to be considered. At each stage of production, from growing the raw ingredient to processing and transportation.

Not to mention how much waste, like leftover pulp, is produced and whether it’s reused. Studies that take these variables into account and examine the trade-offs between different impacts are called “life-cycle assessments” (LCAs).

No matter which you drink, you can cut out the process that eats up resources and produces greenhouse gasses. Simply by making your own oat milk, almond milk, or any other plant milk at home. Below is a table of most alternative milks in order from best to worst.

Milk Type	Characteristics	The Issues	The Takeaway
Pea Milk	Split yellow peas from the Midwestern U.S. and Canada are milled into flour and then water plus a few additional ingredients like sunflower oil and vitamins are added. Peas can grow without irrigation. As a result, they use six times less water than almonds. Pea milk has much in common with soy, since soybeans and peas are both legumes. And the final milk product is rich in nutrients—particularly protein. Peas are considered one of the most eco-friendly foods because they make their own nitrogen. This trait is true of all legumes, which includes peas and beans. Nitrogen helps plants grow. Since peas produce nitrogen naturally, they don’t require synthetic fertilizer like other crops. Peas even create more nitrogen in the soil than they use, which makes them a star among environmentally-sustainable plant-based foods.	One challenge is that the flavor is a little grassier than other plant-based milks, so those used to dairy may find it harder to adjust to the taste. That and pea milks are still hard to find overall.	Pea milk is comparable to soy in terms of a sustainable choice that is high in protein, and producing it might involve less pesticide use, depending on the brand and variety.
Oat Milk	According to Bloomberg Business, retail sales of oat milk in the US have soared from $4.4m in 2017 to $29m in 2019, surpassing almond milk as the fastest-growing dairy alternative. Oats are grown in cool climates and rely mostly on rainwater, so they don’t require much irrigation or deforestation. Oat milk is also easy to make at home, which reduces the impact of transportation and packaging. The process involves a mechanical breakdown combining whole oats with water and blending and straining the mixture.	From a nutritional standpoint, oat milk tends to be much more nutrient-dense than almond but not as nutritious as soy, pea or hemp. One issue is that a recent report showed oats are often contaminated with glyphosate at levels considered unsafe, because farmers spray Roundup on the crop right before harvest.	Oat milk gets high marks on most measures, as long as you buy from companies sourcing organic, or at least glyphosate-free oats.
Flax Milk	The plants produce seeds that make for a milk rich in protein and healthy fats. The seeds are blended with water and strained to create flax milk.	Flax seeds are pest-resistant and require very few fertilizers and chemicals and no irrigation to grow. Rainwater provides sufficient nourishment. Since flax milk is also easy to make at home, it ranks among the most eco-friendly plant-based milks. They are grown in relatively small quantities in the northern hemisphere, which makes them more environmentally friendly compared with a monoculture operation.	Another way to ensure sustainable choices is to choose milk alternatives made from what are named as “niche crops” such as flax.
Hemp Milk	Hemp milk had to be imported into the U.S. because of laws against growing hemp. But the recent 2018 farm bill recently legalized hemp farming. Hemp seeds are a valuable nutrition source, as they contain protein and healthy fats. They’re blended with water to create hemp milk. It can grow without the use of herbicides and pesticides that pollute our air, water, and food. Hemp plants also breathe in four times more CO2 than trees.	Hemp farming does require more water than oat, soy or pea, but still much less than almond or cow’s milk.	Hemp, as a crop, is well-known for its sustainability, and its seeds are a nutritious base for milk. More information is needed on hemp milk processing to fully compare its environmental impact to other plant-based milks.
Soy Milk	Soybeans are legumes with roots in Asia, and they’re now grown all over the world, with a massive concentration of fields in the center of the U.S., the majority of which are used to produce animal feed. To be turned into milk, soybeans are usually pressed, the insoluble fiber is removed, and then other ingredients (like vitamins for fortification) are blended in. Since soybeans are legumes, they also fix nitrogen in the soil, which reduces the need for nitrogen fertilizers.	Soy’s environmental Achilles heel is that growing the beans requires a lot of land compared to almonds or rice. We’re growing so much soy these days, in fact, that parts of the Amazon are being destroyed to plant it. Plus, in the U.S., especially, the vast majority of soybeans are grown in monocropped systems, and while they might not require as much nitrogen fertilizers, they do use phosphorus fertilizers, which are also connected to runoff that creates “dead zones.” They’re also Roundup-ready, which means they’ve been genetically engineered to withstand heavy doses of the herbicide glyphosate, which pollutes ecosystems and is increasingly linked to cancer risk.	Soy can be a good choice, especially if you’re drinking milk for protein. Try to buy organic or non-GMO and check the source of the soybeans.
Hazelnut Milk	Hazelnut milk is made by combining hazelnuts with water, and allowing the hazelnuts to soak. Afterwards the hazelnuts are blended with the water and the mix is squeezed through a cheesecloth. Hazelnuts also thrive in depleted soil where other plants would fail, so they’re gentle on the planet because they don’t require fertilizers to the same degree as other plants.	Like all nuts, hazelnuts grow on trees that pull carbon from the atmosphere and help reduce greenhouse emissions rather than increase them. Hazelnuts are environmentally superior to almonds in that they are pollinated by the wind rather than commercial honeybees and they grow in moist climates, such as the Pacific north-west, where water is less of an issue.	For consumers who want the nutritiousness and tastiness of a nut milk but without the environmental impacts of almond farming, the hazelnut is a rising star.
Cashew Milk	Cashews use minimal land, but scant research exists on the environmental impact of cashews.	The primary knock on cashews centers on the treatment of workers and workplace injuries they suffer from shelling the cashews. About 60% of cashews are grown in India. Many of the companies use labor camps, especially in Vietnam. Human Rights Watch has referred to the nut as “blood cashews” in light of the worker abuses.	Buying Fair Trade Certified cashew milk seems prudent if it’s your plant-based milk preference.
Rice Milk	Rice milk is made commercially by pressing the rice through a grinding mill, followed by filtration and blending in water. It may be made at home using rice flour and brown rice protein, or by boiling brown rice with a large volume of water, blending and filtering the mixture.	Research has found rice milk produced more greenhouse gas than any other plant milk. Rice is a water hog and it produces more greenhouse gas emissions than any other plant milk. Bacteria breeding in rice paddies pump methane into the atmosphere and large amounts of fertilizer pollute waterways.	Although rice milk is ubiquitous as an inexpensive and widely available dairy alternative, it offers little in the way of nutrition or environmental benefits compared with other choices.
Almond Milk	Almonds grow on trees, and a lot of those trees are in California. In fact, the Sunshine State produces about 80 percent of the world’s almond supply, with production increasing over the past decade. To turn almonds into milk, the nuts are generally ground or pulverized, combined with water and filtered.	Growing almonds requires a lot of water, nuts in general have a large water footprint compared to other plants, but the real problem is that these nuts are being grown in California, where serious drought conditions are an ongoing issue. A recent study calculated the total water footprint for one California almond averages 3.2 gallons. One could argue that almonds are worth the resources used to grow them because they’re so nutrient-dense, but the process of turning almonds into milk eliminates most of those nutrients. There are also so few almonds in each carton, you’d get very few nutrients even if they were kept intact. A recent investigation into the connection between California’s industrialized almond industry and a record 50 billion commercial bee deaths: Satisfying continual demands for larger almond crops is placing unsustainable pressures on US commercial beekeepers. Nearly 70% of commercial bees in the US are drafted every spring to pollinate almonds. Last year, a record number –over one-third of them– died by season’s end as a result of these pressures and other environmental threats.	Almonds don’t fare any worse than other alternative milks on greenhouse gases or land use, but they guzzle up water in an area where that resource is incredibly scarce. And at the end of the day, you’re drinking a product that’s little more than water, anyway. In terms of milks, there are more sustainable choices.
Coconut Milk	Coconut flesh (the white part) is grated and soaked in hot water. The coconut cream rises to the top and can be skimmed off. The remaining liquid is squeezed through a cheesecloth to extract a white liquid that is coconut milk. By repeating this process, the coconut milk becomes thinner.	About 80% of coconuts come from Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, India, Sir Lanka, Brazil, and Vietnam. As a result, they’re transported long distances if you live in the U.S., for example, which significantly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions from boats, planes, and trucks. In countries like Brazil, the impact of coconut farming on the Amazon Rainforest has been significant as land is often cleared to grow coconut trees, which harms wildlife and reduces biodiversity. Coconut trees filter carbon dioxide, but the discarded parts of coconuts are usually burned, which releases significant carbon dioxide and methane. For poor regions in the Philippines, Indonesia and India, the pressure to meet global demand is causing exploitation of workers, pickers are often paid less than a dollar a day.	To avoid supporting unsustainable practices, choose coconut products that are certified Fair Trade.

How Food Production Impacts the Environment

Food production is responsible for a quarter of all human-produced greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming. Research shows that meat and other animal products are responsible for most food-related greenhouse gas emissions; despite providing only a fifth of the calories consumed.

What are greenhouse gases

The figures for greenhouse gas emissions are in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2eq). This is a unit that converts the impact of different kinds of greenhouse gasses, to the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide (CO2).

People tend to underestimate the greenhouse gas emissions created by food production, and dairy milk is no exception. According to research by Dr. Adrian Camilleri, a psychologist at the University of Technology Sydney. Most consumers underestimate the greenhouse gas emissions saved by switching from dairy milk to plant-based milks.

Poore and Nemecek were able to assess how different production practices and geographies have very different consequences on the planet. By analyzing data from nearly 40,000 farms, 1,600 processors, packaging types and retailers.

They assessed the effect of these foods on greenhouse gas emissions, the amount of land, and fresh water used. Across all stages of their production: including processing, packaging, and transportation, but excluding the cooking process.

Dairy Milk’s Environmental Impact by Location

Where something is produced can mean there is a variation in its impact on the climate. On a local level, sourcing products made close to home results in a smaller carbon footprint; as compared to products that have been transported from far away.

The graphic below takes into account emissions from farming, transportation, packing, and processing. Where livestock feed has had an impact on deforestation, this figure has also been included.

The Winner

In the end, when pitting alternative milks against each other, it’s not possible to call any one a “winner.” Too little objective and unbiased research has been done so far.

As interest in eating more sustainably grows, more research will emerge on the full environmental impact of all milks.

Interest in Vegan Milks Spikes Every January

Sales of alternative milks are growing faster than sales of traditional milk, according to market researchers Mintel.

Last year, a record 50,000 people signed up to the Veganuary campaign to live without animal products for a month.

As a general rule, we can reduce the negative impact of our food purchases by selecting Fair Trade Certified products. Fair Trade Certified means that the production process aimed to minimize harmful social, environmental, and economic outcomes. The label signifies better working conditions, fair wages, and sustainability efforts. It doesn’t, however, indicate a product is vegan or organic.

Sources:
BBC News
Climate change: Which vegan milk is best?
By Clara Guibourg and Helen Briggs, 22 February 2019
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46654042
Cows vs. Nuts: Who Gets to Be Called Milk, and Are They Climate Friendly?
Cow’s milk producers want the government to block almond, soy and other competitors from being called milk. The plant-based milks are fighting over other titles.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24012018/almond-soy-milk-non-dairy-climate-change-impact
By Georgina Gustin, Jan 24, 2018
Edible Brooklyn
Which Plant-Based Milk Is Best for the Environment?
https://www.ediblebrooklyn.com/2020/plant-milks-sustainability/
By Lisa Held, February 3, 2020
The Guardian
Almonds are out. Dairy is a disaster. So what milk should we drink?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/28/what-plant-milk-should-i-drink-almond-killing-bees-aoe
KIRSCHNER’S KORNER
THE MOST ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE PLANT-BASED MILK
https://kirschnerskorner.com/2020/02/20/environmentally-sustainable-plant-based-milk/
February 20, 2020