A growing number of people are interested in switching to plant-based alternatives to dairy milk. But are they any better for the environment and which one is best?

In this program, students will investigate how people make choices about which milk to drink. They will look at the nutritional value of different milks as well as their environmental impacts.

Warning: This program includes analysis of dairy and plant-based (oat, soy, almond, coconut, rice) milks. Attending teachers must consider the risk of allergic or anaphylactic reactions to students and/or school personnel.

In this program students will:

• Develop their understanding of the environmental impacts of agriculture
• Analyse calcium and protein levels of different milks using spectroscopy and compare their results with standard solution data
• Compare their collected data to published data and comment on accuracy, precision and experimental design
• Develop their laboratory skills
• Practise justifying their responses using reasoning, data, and other available information

Students will:

• Taste and rank different types of milk
• Use atomic absorption spectrometry to measure the calcium content of different milks
• Construct and use calibration curves
• Prepare a Bradford assay and use UV-visible spectroscopy to measure the protein contents of different milks
• Conduct a mini life cycle analysis of one of the milks
• Compare the carbon footprint, water usage, water pollution and land clearing associated with different milks.

Area of Study 2: How can we manage food and water security to sustain Earth’s systems?

Sustainable food systems

• Challenges to supplying adequate and affordable food in regional and global locations that achieve regional and global food security

Maintaining food and water security

• Options for improving food security that consider organisational, political and structural enablers and barriers to change
• The use and limitations of ecological footprint analysis, in terms of the sustainability principles of intragenerational equity and the efficient use of resources