Three reasons to ditch dairy

2) For the planet

Did you know that recent research from Oxford University found that those following a plant-based diet account for up to 75% less greenhouse gas emissions than those who eat meat? A vegan diet also requires much less land, causes less land degradation, requires less water, and is less harmful to biodiversity.

Dairy farming is devastating for the environment. According to the Environment Agency, dairy farms are responsible for far more water pollution incidents than any other form of farming. Slurry from dairy farms can leak into rivers and streams where it kills fish and spreads disease. As well as polluting water, dairy farms use huge quantities of this precious resource. The amount of fresh water needed to create a litre of British dairy milk is almost twice as much as is needed to make a litre of soya milk. For most other countries, the difference is even bigger. Methane and nitrous oxide are powerful greenhouse gases far stronger than carbon dioxide and are produced in huge quantities by dairy cows and their slurry. The equivalent of around four per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions are thought to come from dairy farming, with the carbon footprint of dairy milk being about twice as large as that of soya milk.