Soy Milk or Cow's Milk: Which Is More Eco-Friendly?
Whenever I admit to drinking soy milk, I immediately add a qualifier: "Only in coffee and cereal, I swear."
I don't want to be pegged as a freaky full-time soy-milk drinker, because at the core, I identify with regular milk. From cows. But every so often there's something about soy milk, especially vanilla, that adds a nice twist to an otherwise sludgy coffee.
No offense to furry critters, but I don't drink soy milk for animal rights reasons. Or to save Mother Nature. I drink it because in certain contexts, it's really good. So when Slate reported this week that soy milk isn't necessarily better than cow's milk from an eco perspective, I appreciated the insight but wasn't any less likely to drink the stuff.
While it has become the milk darling of the environmental movement, soy milk isn't eco-perfect, Slate points out. Unlike cows, the raw beans don't demand food, produce waste, or emit methane, but other ingredients inside soy milk do create environmental burdens. Especially in terms of food miles.
Silk-brand soy milk, which has two-thirds of the American soy milk market, brags about using wind power and making green choices, but since they're working with such a niche product, transportation is significant. Popular or not, it's a specialty product with only one-twentieth the market of regular milk, and with less producers involved, ingredients must travel much farther.
Basically, you should drink bean milk because you physically have to, or because you genuinely like it—not because you're trying to save the world.
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17 Comments:
I've always wondered, all factors considered, if soy milk actually was any better for the environment. I also am curious about how rice and almond milk compare, since it seems like they require a lot of processing.
cate_cooks at 9:11PM on 07/24/08
I was totally addicted to the Silk chocolate soy milk for a while... I tend to avoid most soy products now, because of the whole phyto-estrogen thing, but damn that stuff is GOOD!
I would be very curious to know how the two industries compare in terms of eco-impact, but my guess is that since the cows have to eat (unfortunately) lots of grain which is hauled around by trucks to make industrial milk, and they produce their own waste which isn't always properly disposed of, etc etc paging Michael Pollan, my guess would be the real milk would be the loser by a long shot.
If we lived in a perfect world where the cows ate nothing but grasses in the summer and hay in the winter, and their waste was all repurposed to grow other stuff, maybe real milk would be better, but sadly, that's not the case.
simon at 9:45PM on 07/24/08
Since being allergic to milk since birth, my mother always substituted applesauce whenever appropriate. Now with soy milk that actually tastes fantastic and works in everything from chocolate pudding to lemon meringue pie, life is more exciting. Other soy products such as cream cheese, parm and other cheeses, and sour cream, make savory dishes creamy and delicious. Soy is a great addition to an otherwise limited arsenal, green or otherwise.
p.s. no offense to the beautiful cows.
AnnArtiste at 9:59PM on 07/24/08
Don't forget to factor in the ecological implications of sperm-friendliness.
http://www.seriouseats.com/required_eating/2008/07/soy-decreases-sperm-production-harvard-study.html
srhcb at 10:42PM on 07/24/08
This may make me sound like I'm slightly neurotic--I hate the smell of dairy milk. Not the smell of all dairy products, just that of milk. The viscocity is thick enough to trigger a gag reflex. I actually like the taste and overall texture of soy milk. I'm not a vegan or vegetarian by any means, I just enjoy soy (Silk, particularly).
beth1 at 11:20PM on 07/24/08
If cheese, milk, cream, and butter were no longer available, life wouldn't be worth living.
Doctrine at 1:14AM on 07/25/08
How could I forget yoghurt!
Doctrine at 1:16AM on 07/25/08
i drink soy milk because i have to, i never drank whole milk and could only handle fat free even as a child. and Ann please let me know where you find good soy cheese? my local shop only carries one type and while it will do, it really is pretty wretched stuff. I've never found cream cheese in soy or parm. and sort of on the subject, does anyone know for sure that you can make yogurt from soy milk? I'm dying for yogurt but...:(
huneybumper at 7:49AM on 07/25/08
Those tetra-paks are not recyclable, while plastic milk jugs and cardboard milk cartons are. Conventional dairy is probably more environmentally impactful, though, because regardless of the soy stuff having to be shipped, soybeans don't excrete tons of hormone- and antibiotic-laden waste. Local, organic dairy from small farmers, on the other hand, is probably more ecologically correct than soy milk (though not available to everybody).
Huneybumper, making yogurt from soy milk is super-easy. It's way easier than making it from dairy milk, because with dairy milk, you have to heat up the milk to kill an enzyme that would prevent it from coagulating, while with soy milk, you can simply mix it straight out of the container with your yogurt starter (a good choice is commercial yogurt that doesn't have pectin, or a freeze-dried starter like Yogourmet), and set your yogurt maker (or your yogurt-making setup). I started making my own soy yogurt because commercial soy yogurt is almost always sweetened. This is really easy! It does make a softer yogurt than commercial (due to lack of thickeners and gums), but you can control the flavor and ingredients, and it's less expensive than buying the commercial stuff.
As far as soy cheese, I am back on dairy now because I have been so dissatisfied with the ones I've tried. Sheese is fine, but it's not all it's cracked up to be. I haven't tried Teese yet, but a vegan blogger I read seems to really love their mozzarella flavor...you can find them both for sale online.
producestories at 8:20AM on 07/25/08
thank you so much for the info producestories! I've been missing yogurt so much and the truth is, i even have a hard time finding commercial soy yogurt. Now I know to ask for that yogurt maker for my birthday ;) Appreciate the help!
huneybumper at 8:48AM on 07/25/08
I'm actually allergic to soymilk, so whatever...
@huneybumber: you can make yogurt from soymilk? how does that work?
DJ Dedd at 9:44AM on 07/25/08
I thought Slate reported that soy milk was better, just not by much.
mollyjade at 10:32AM on 07/25/08
Interesting topic,
I drink soy for health reasons. I heard that countries that have the highest levels of dairy consumption also have the highest levels of osteoporosis and other diseases that drinking calcium is supposed to prevent?
Can anyone substantiate this?
hungrychristel at 1:24PM on 07/25/08
It probably has a lot of other factors associated I would think though
hungrychristel at 1:33PM on 07/25/08
@hungrychristel - Conventional dairy can be pretty rough on the body. Though I would imagine the osteoporosis is related to other dietary factors, like the mass consumption of refined sugar. Sugar (as well as low-quality factory-farmed meat) is a highly acid-forming food, and to keep the blood at the correct acid level, the body leaches alkalizing minerals, including calcium, from the bones; this can lead to osteoporosis and other deficiencies.
The correlation is probably not direct for the high dairy consumption, because osteoporosis was not a noted problem among traditional cultures with a high level of dairy consumption from grass-fed cows or goats. In fact, the rate of osteoporosis is climbing rapidly among Americans, including teenagers, likely due in large part to sugar consumption, the rate of which is also climbing rapidly.
Dairy isn't for everyone of course, but neither is soy. High-quality local dairy, if available, may be even more healthful than soymilk - but that "if available" is a big "if" for most folks.
producestories at 10:37PM on 07/25/08
Thank you producestories!
I do miss milk; I will try and make sure I'm searching for diary from a reliable source :)
hungrychristel at 10:24AM on 07/28/08
DJ Dedd I dont know yet how it will come out. I'm going to golook for a yogurt maker today actually. Cant wait to make some though, I'll let ya'll know how it comes out if I ever get it down, but knowing me, dont hold your breath lol
huneybumper at 7:30AM on 07/29/08