I have been drinking almond milk for a few years now. I thought it was a better alternative to cow milk. But I have learned that the production of almonds is taking a huge toll on the environment, and now I have stopped drinking almond milk!
The first problem with almond milk is that most of the almonds are produced in California, which is drought-prone. The almond market has grown 400% over the last 4 years and almond farmers are having to divert water from the California aqueduct system to water the almond plants.
It takes 15 gallons of water to produce only 16 almonds! There are hundreds of almonds in every gallon of almond milk. So you can imagine the vast amount of water that’s being wasted to produce almond milk.
Another issue is that the demand for almonds has caused farmers to stop producing nutrient-rich crops in order to grow almonds. Valuable farmland is being wasted. In California, 23,000 acres of natural land has also been converted to almond farms. Approximately 16,000 acres were previously designated as wetlands! This is devastating to the many creatures that live there.
Yet another problem is the vast amount of pesticides that are being used on commercial almond farms. These pesticides are leaching into the groundwater system and poisoning local water sources. The pesticides are also devastating the bee population.
So what’s the solution? It’s definitely not to switch back to cow milk. Cows are still worse for the environment than almonds. Personally, I’m switching over to rice milk. Yes, there are still problems with the production of rice milk. But out of all of the alternatives to put milk on my cereal in the morning, rice milk seems to be the most environmentally friendly way.
In conclusion, commercial almond farmers are just not being responsible in the production of almonds. It is a nutrient poor food product that wastes water and the pesticides are poisoning water supplies and killing bees. I hope that you will stop drinking almond milk after reading this article. At least until they can find more responsible ways to produce it.
