Day 13: How to save the world one glass of milk at a time

image from americanturban.com

We were having breakfast at the patio basking in the soft rays of the early morning sun and enjoying a view of the mountain side when Sister Pilar asked me, "Why are you vegan?".

"Uhmm...cause I want to save the world.", was my short reply.

"How?", she questioned.

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"Simply put, if we remove all the cows 

in the planet, we can reverse global warming 

in 10 years.  If we eliminate all the cars, 

we hardly feel any effect even after 100 years.",

 I clarified.

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That was my short answer.  What I really wanted to say is ...

"According to Cowspiracy movie, UN News Center reports that the meat and the dairy industry produces more greenhouse gases than the exhaust of all trucks, trains, boats and planes combined.

The movie explains that cows release a large amount of methane from their digestive process.  Methane gas from cows is 86 times more toxic than carbon dioxide from vehicles.

As such, if we decrease methane emission, the level of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere goes down fairly quickly within decades.  On the other hand, if we decrease carbon dioxide emissions, we don't really see a signal in the atmosphere for 100 years or so.       

Therefore, even free range grass-fed cows are not sustainable."

I've been hearing bits and pieces about this since last year but I wasn't ready to give up my milk tea and pastries yet.  So, I didn't watch the movie until January 2018.

I know that when I fully understand the why, I will give up milk  cold turkey.

I was wrong.  

On January 14 this year, I was served paneer, a fresh unsalted homemade white cheese at the retreat center in Tagaytay and I broke my resolution.

I restarted my vegan journey on January 19th- quite unsure of myself this time.  I felt that the real test is if I can say no to milk (and chai, ice cream, cakes, paneer) in Madhuban also known as the forest of milk and honey.

True to its name, you can get unlimited chai (milk tea) in the campus as early as 4:00 am.  Then, every single day, after the early morning meditation class, you get a toli (sweet made with milk, honey, or butter).  When you meet with seniors personally, you get a toli again.  Also, if you know your way around the kitchen, you can just ask for paneer. 

Madhuban is literally overflowing with milk and honey!

Today, is my last day in Madhuban and I still haven't gotten a chai (or ice cream, cake, and paneer) for myself.  

Sister Ann, who's part of our send off party is dangling a bottle of milk tea in front of me.

"Here, it's yummy.", she jests.

I smile back at her and say, "Never." 

COWSPIRACY: the sustainability secret