Prompt Cast
The Environmental Impact of Plant-Based Milks vs. Dairy Milk
TLDR Sales of alternative milks have doubled in the past decade, prompting the FDA to question whether they should be called milks. Dairy milk has the greatest negative impact on the environment, while almond milk requires a significant amount of water to produce and rice milk has the highest greenhouse gas emissions.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
This episode includes ads for Indeed, Volvo Cars, and H&R Block.
01:29
Sales of alternative milks have more than doubled in the last decade, prompting the FDA to question whether they should be called milks at all.
03:15
Dairy milk has the greatest negative impact on the environment compared to almond, soy, oat, and rice milk.
04:53
Almond milk has the worst environmental impact compared to other plant-based milks, as it requires a significant amount of water to produce.
06:33
Rice milk has the highest greenhouse gas emissions due to the methane produced when growing rice in flooded paddies, while rice milk also creates the most fertilizer run-off compared to other plant-based milks.
08:18
There is no clear winner in terms of environmental impact between soy, almond, oat, and rice milk, but all of them have lower impacts compared to dairy milk.
09:55
Switching to plant-based milks appears to be a positive thing for the environment.
