Elaine Thompson/AP
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Milk is a classic, all-American drink, right? We're told to have a warm glass of it if we can't sleep, we're told it 'builds strong bones'—we even leave a glass of milk out for Santa on Christmas Eve. But while milk is good for Americana, it's downright awful for the environment.
For starters, it's an incredibly inefficient drink—as you know, our milk comes from dairy farm cows. And cows consume loads of grain, foodstuffs, and water, making your glass of milk come at the steep price of exorbitant resource depletion: remember all the grain cows eat have to be grown, using up even more water.
Next up, let's take into account that a dairy cow produces around 120 pounds of waste a day: 12 times a single human's output. Not only does that waste generate a ton of methane—which is worse for the climate than carbon—but it often contaminates water supplies as well. In the Central Valley of California alone, cows create an amount of feces equal to a city of 21 million people—most of which goes untreated.
It gets worse still.
According to a UN report, cows are leading contributors to climate change. That's right, I said leading contributors—accounting for putting out 18% of the world's carbon dioxide, cows emit more greenhouse gases than cars, planes, and all other forms of transportation combined. Where does that number come from? Well, it takes into account the fuel burned making fertilizer, the production and distribution of meat and dairy products, and the methane emitted by the cow farts and manure they collectively create.
And a good number of these cows are dairy cows. That produce the milk that we enjoy so very much. If we were to cut back on dairy—according to USDA estimates, 40% of the average American's diet is dairy—we'd perhaps discourage such a large industry of climate change contributin' cows. So you tell me, should we stop drinking milk?
More on Milk:
Organic Milk Really is Healthier
Stop Powdery Mildew Naturally, with Milk
Which Milk Container Has the Lowest Carbon Emissions?
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