The Untold Truth Behind Alternative Milks… – Izzy Scragg.

The Untold Truth Behind Alternative Milks… – Izzy Scragg.

During the past couple of years alternative milk sales have skyrocketed due to the rise in popularity of going vegan and dairy free for the environment. However, an untold truth behind alternative milks is that the production of these products  may be doing more harm to the environment that consumers think . It was recently uncovered that the company Oatly Milk, who produce a wide variety of oat milk have contributed to the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest for land to farm their oats on, in response to this claim many Oatly drinkers have boycotted the company that was previously deemed to be eco friendly. The company has since issued a statement promising  to do better. 

Another truth  behind the production of alternative milks, would be about one of the most popular alternative milks, which is almond milk. It’s popularity within the alternative milk industry has led to a high demand for it. To keep up with consumer demands , the production has intensified as the almond industry has turned to monoculture to make sales more profitable. This means that the soil looses a variety of nutrients which has led to many habitats within California being destroyed. In addition to this ,the production of almond milk has been proved to have a large water footprint as almond milk production uses 20x more water than other milks like soy and coconut. The company uses 3.2 gallons of water per almond. Due to large water consumption that the production of almond milk uses many scientists believe that a cause for the increase in droughts in California is down to the production of these milks.

I would recommend buying alternative milks like soy milk and coconut milk if you are looking to be eco friendly.