Getting the message
Image: Suzanne Christiansen
I went back to the docks this weekend after more than a month away, due to catching Covid-19 and going on holiday for two weeks. It was very pleasant and over 10 degrees Celsius in the water (50 degrees F). Actually, it was 13.3 C. I could get a decent swim in as a result and not get out quickly to avoid freezing my innards.
What they at the Royal Victoria Docks do is offer hot drinks afterwards. So I went to get my coffee and was offered not only regular milk, but oat and soy, I think. I said, oh no, I’ll stick to milk, thanks. I then mentioned that I was an editor of a dairy magazine, and the other swimmer said, ah, the methane emissions! Then he mentioned that farmers are amending feed for the cows to reduce emissions into the atmosphere. I said, oh yes, dairy farms are carbon sinks as well as emitters.
This was a Saturday morning. In a way, I thought, ah, people are getting it. That was nice to see. The dairy industry has been working hard on both reducing its emissions, and sending the message out that livestock agriculture has to be part of the solution and not just seen as part of the problem of greenhouse gas emissions. The bit of information that this consumer had was right up there when my other friend explained that he always has chocolate milk after a workout as he read about the benefits of milk post-workout.
Later, I thought I should have asked where he found out this information, but as I said it was a Saturday morning and the conversation had moved onto wetsuits and so forth. As it does at the docks. The truth doesn’t always move the fastest, but hopefully the truth about dairy is sinking in. A good feeling.
- Suzanne Christiansen, editor, Dairy Industries International.
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