These numbers are provably wrong, not to mention comparing apples and oranges. At the very least their "3,000 and 5,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef." is completely disproven from their own source[1]. Waterfootprint.org gives 1,847 gal/lb. If we compute the numbers ourselves, we get very different numbers:
* Almond Milk is basically almonds + water, but the added water is eclipsed by the almond water.
We see here, almonds aren't 10x more efficient, but closer to 2/3 more efficient, and of course cow milk is 2/3 more efficient than almond milk.
Further,
More than half the entire US water supply goes to livestock
Water going to livestock is a misrepresentation since not all of it goes to produce meat, but in fact goes to produce milk, butter or cheese. I will admit though that the numbers above look slightly suspect. How/why would butter be more efficient?
Lastly, it completely (perhaps ignorantly again) misrepresents other meats with the following 2 easily disproven quotes:
Meat processing, especially chicken,
also uses large amounts of water
and...
The more plant-based foods we eat versus
animal-based foods….the less water, energy,
and other natural resources we use
This is clearly false from the numbers above where chicken is actually 42% more efficient than almonds(!), which of course completely validates the anti-almond press and invalidates this entire blog post.
We see here, almonds aren't 10x more efficient, but closer to 2/3 more efficient, and of course cow milk is 2/3 more efficient than almond milk.
Further,
Water going to livestock is a misrepresentation since not all of it goes to produce meat, but in fact goes to produce milk, butter or cheese. I will admit though that the numbers above look slightly suspect. How/why would butter be more efficient?Lastly, it completely (perhaps ignorantly again) misrepresents other meats with the following 2 easily disproven quotes:
and... This is clearly false from the numbers above where chicken is actually 42% more efficient than almonds(!), which of course completely validates the anti-almond press and invalidates this entire blog post.[1] http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/productgallery where beef is listed at "15415 litre/kg"