2y ago

Dairy milk uses up way more water than people realize

For some numbers:

One graph even has California's animal feed water usage so large it actually goes off the chart at 15.2 million acre-feet of water (it is distorted to make it fit as it notes). For some comparison, the blue water usage of animal feed is larger than all of almonds water usage of ~2 million acre-feet of water

https://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ca_ftprint_full_report3.pdf#page=25

EDIT:

If the image isn't loading for you, here's a direct link: https://i.imgur.com/EjVps9Z.png

EDIT 2:

Also worth noting is that per liter, dairy milk requires 628.2 L of freshwater vs almond milk requiring 371.46 L of freshwater. And if you use something like oat milk instead that gets you to 48.24 L

https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impact-milks

44 comments

It undeniably does, but what would be interesting is a comparison of how much water is needed per liter of milk and various substitutes.
- Per liter, dairy milk requires 628.2 L of freshwater vs almond milk requiring 371.46 L of freshwater. And if you use something like oat milk instead that gets you to 48.24 L
  
  https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impact-milks
  
  @usernamesAreTricky @vegivamp Oat milk is 🔥 .
  
  I suppose I should have guessed how much more resource-intensive dairy milk is just because it involves animals, but holy crap.
  
  Soy milk gang!
  
  I still like Soy milk the best. It's tried and true, and uses less water than Oat. Sadly, the emissions are a bit higher...
  But a benefit is that in making soy milk, you have the setup to make tofu, which is lovely as well.

Incredibly based, fuck the dairy industry.

Meme with a credible source? This is they way (and thank you)!

So true. And as a sidenote, it's so pathetic when the (usual suspects) bust out with their tired whataboutisms and dont put just the tiniest bit of effort into researching it, even a little, to see if it's true. Heaven forbid they might have to actually change their stances under the constant flow of contradictory evidence to the bullshittery they peddle.

Animal feed is a huge category, vs. almonds. Almonds registering on that scale is what's so shocking about it.
Edit: Not that it isn't wasteful, if you need extra feed besides grazing, you're in trouble ecologically.
- The water usage per liter of dairy milk is also higher. Per liter, dairy milk requires 628.2 L of freshwater vs almond milk requiring 371.46 L of freshwater. And if you use something like oat milk instead that gets you to 48.24 L.
  
  https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impact-milks
  Keep in mind here that 80% of the entire world's almonds are grown in California, so it's not surprising its a decent large user by size. Even despite that, just the mostly US demand for animal feed dwarfs water usage in California
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almonds_in_California
  
  This is the mode important metric, thanks for including it

Hi, it's me, the average person, How is this a problem?
- Record droughts
  The end of the entire human race due to climate change
  Before that, climate change destroying your house or access to food

If I promise to switch to oat milk, can I keep the cheese?
- I mean any switch is doing something. People who try to switch everything completely all at once end up failing a lot because it's overwhelming.
  There are some good almond and cashew cheeses though, and now they can make non animal whey that is chemically equivalent to dairy whey... So identical cheese is coming. They already have identical non animal cream cheese and ice cream
  
  yeah I'm not sure what I can do about milk/cheese. We've actually been mostly beef & pork free (from grocery) for several years, replacing with poultry, beans, and some fish.
  but milk? man that's tough. we have kids, and we go through a lot of milk. oat milk would be expensive as a 1:1 replacer. small steps!
- Cheese has 5 times the waterfootprint of dairy milk.

This isn't a meme
- Here's a direct link to the image if it isn't loading for you
  https://imgur.io/EjVps9Z?r

@usernamesAreTricky not a meme
- ?
  https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/awkward-look-monkey-puppet
  
  @usernamesAreTricky if this image was included in the OP it didn't show on my instance.
- https://i.imgflip.com/7q8zpz.jpg
  
  There is an image here. If it's not showing up for you here's the direct link https://i.imgur.com/EjVps9Z.png (I also put that in an edit in the body as well)
- Memes about Reddit, the Titanic sub, and other common things to lampshade all take up a humorous political stance. This is a very "Keep racial politics out of my X-Men" moment.

44 comments