Swapping Dairy for Soy: A closer look at alternative milk
- X Magazine
- Mar 20, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 23, 2021
By Diana Serenli
X Magazine takes a closer look at alternative kinds of milk and their impact on the environment
As someone who has been trying to give up dairy, it’s been interesting experimenting with alternative milk that works for me. Choosing gets overwhelming, especially when the non-dairy milk section in the supermarket seems to go on for miles. According to Global Food Security, the milk substitute industry is worth £260 million and 8% of milk sales today. But are they environmentally friendly?
Soy
Pros- Good for soil. When planted they produce nitrogen for the next crop to utilise.
Cons- South American soybean farmers have been blamed for 29% of damage to the Amazon Rainforest. The main cause of Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Oat
Thick consistency with a sweet flavour.
Pros- Delivers fewer greenhouse gases. Little water to produce- 1/8 of what almond milk needs.
Almond
Sweet and creamy.
Pros- The smallest amount of greenhouse gas emissions emitted. Due to its raw materials, needs less land to grow on.
Cons- Almond milk needs a lot of water to make. A single litre needs 371 litres of H2o, that’s a lot of water waste.
Rice
Very bland, and watery.
Pros- There is a low amount of environmental benefits compared to others.
Cons- Creates more damaging emissions such as methane. Uses lots of water and pollutes it with fertilizer.
Coconut
Sweet, light milk.
Pros- Coconut trees filter out Co2, great for tackling climate change. Uses less water to manufacture.
Cons- Due to popular demand, and coconuts growing only in tropical areas, blamed for the destruction of rainforests and exploited workers.
As seen above, stay clear from rice milk. I do. It doesn’t mean you can’t try it, but there are better alternatives out there that won’t cost the earth.
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