The theme of World Breastfeeding Week 2020 is “Support breastfeeding for a healthier planet.” Breastfeeding forms a sustainable food system. I, for one, saved 51,690 gallons of water by exclusively breastfeeding my two children for totally one year!
This is how I got the number. First, I used a chart provided by BreastfeedLA and Chichihaulli (see below) to determine how many containers of formula my babies would have needed according to their weight. I got 43.3.
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| BreastfeedLA/Chichihaulli |
Then I multiplied my number by 1200—experts say that every 35-oz canned of powdered infant milk requires roughly 1200 gallons of water—and got the number 51,690!
How much is 51,690 gallons of water? It can fill almost three swimming pool (an average family swimming pool takes 18,000 gallons of water to fill, while an Olympic sized swimming pool holds 660,430 gallons of water), is enough for a family of four for 100 days (the average amount of water used per person, per day in America is 120 gallons), and is more than enough to fill a fire suppression tank (which is usually 50,000 gallons).
Breastfeeding is remarkably green. In fact, breast milk has been called the most environmentally-friendly food available. It produces zero waste, zero greenhouse gases and has a zero water footprint.
On the other hand, the environmental impacts of the baby formula industry is rarely talked about but surely devastating. Formula milk requires farming, storage, pasteurization, drying, cooling, packaging and shipping. Not only does it require a great amount of water to produce, powdered milk comes from cows, and the cattle industry is the second largest contributor to methane emissions - a heat trapping gas around 30 times more potent than CO2.
If you breastfed or are breastfeeding, I invite you to calculate how much water you saved for planet Earth and recognize your contribution. I did the math and made a poster with my children and it made a greatly fun and meaningful weekend project for our 7-year-old!
The wise Chief Seattle has told us that we do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. We have a responsibility to the Earth and the generations to come. It is time to tackle the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced. Let’s support breastfeeding and reduce the costs of formula milk feeding to help sustain Mother Earth.
**This post originally published on San Diego County Breastfeeding Coalition's Newsletter on Aug 15, 2020. Photo credit to Mu-huan Chiang.
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