Save the Planet: Ditch Dairy

It’s time to face the facts: animal agriculture is one of the leading causes of deforestation, pollution, and resource depletion. And combined with other environmental threats, it has us cruising for a huge climate crisis in as soon as twelve years.

According to recent research, meat and dairy take up a whopping 83% of total farmland, while providing only 18% of the calories we eat. Plus, much of the farmland dedicated to growing grains is meant for feed for the animals we’re growing for food–meaning that a huge supply of our plant foods aren’t going directly to feeding people, but are funneled through animals for a much lower nutritional yield. This makes mistreated cows on cruel dairy farms wasteful middlemen in our global food supply.  

Waste on factory farms comes in many different forms–including literal. On many farms, animal waste is stored in huge toxic lagoons that can pollute waterways in surrounding communities. In 2018, a Compassion Over Killing investigation of devastation caused by factory farms in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence revealed just how dangerous these lagoons are. Having overflown into the densely populated Cape Fear watershed, they could cause environmental problems for the area and its residents for years to come.

Plus, in reducing our environmental impact, we can also stop contributing to the cycle of cruelty on wasteful dairy farms. On factory farms, dairy cows are forcibly impregnated just to have their babies taken away so that their milk can be taken for humans. This cruelty poses enormous ethical concerns for these gentle, innocent animals.

One quick and easy change we can make to start reducing our carbon footprint is simply ditching dairy. With a wealth of delicious dairy alternatives on the market today, no one has to go without milk, ice cream, or cheese.

Brands like MorningStar Farms — which is going fully vegan by 2021 — and Lightlife are ditching dairy in their products, too, in order to protect animals, consumers, and the planet.

But one household vegetarian name is falling behind: Kraft Heinz’s BOCA brand still uses cruel dairy in many of its products.

It’s easy as clicking a button to fight for the planet today. Sign COK’s petition urging Kraft Heinz to build a better BOCA brand by ditching dairy once and for all.

Pictured: Grayson, saved from the dairy industry by Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary.