According to the latest report from the US Drought Monitor, two of the state's largest reservoirs — Shasta Lake and Lake Oroville — are at "critically low levels."
I don't even give a shit about almonds because oat and soy milk both taste better, and other nuts and seeds are superior to eat, but I still have an instinctual cringe hearing about them because half the time they're invoked just to say "you smug vegans (who apparently by definition consume almond milk) are just as bad as meat and dairy eaters"
same vibe as hearing about how evil vegans are for soy in the Amazon when most of that shit is grown for livestock feed
Whenever I look into this a little it looks like that's correct - for instance, you can check out the charts here:
https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impact-milks
It is worth noting that you can grow almonds in a lot fewer climates than you can raise dairy cows. California is uniquely suited to growing almonds in North America, but also one of the more water stressed places there, so almond farming is pretty problematic.
On the other hand, if you're raising dairy cows anywhere near the Great Lakes or other places with huge freshwater reserves, the issue really isn't their water use because it's just so abundant there; in those cases the environmental impact of dairy farming is much more in the greenhouse gas emissions which are enormous compared to all plant milks.
I don't even give a shit about almonds because oat and soy milk both taste better, and other nuts and seeds are superior to eat, but I still have an instinctual cringe hearing about them because half the time they're invoked just to say "you smug vegans (who apparently by definition consume almond milk) are just as bad as meat and dairy eaters"
same vibe as hearing about how evil vegans are for soy in the Amazon when most of that shit is grown for livestock feed
ya almond milk lame & you're absolutely right abt the consumption being used for bad takes. im a soy boy until the end
peoples takes about actually veganism is bad for the environment are so incredibly unexamined that i can't believe theyre in good faith
Isn't almond milk still less water intensive compared to milking cows?
Whenever I look into this a little it looks like that's correct - for instance, you can check out the charts here: https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impact-milks
It is worth noting that you can grow almonds in a lot fewer climates than you can raise dairy cows. California is uniquely suited to growing almonds in North America, but also one of the more water stressed places there, so almond farming is pretty problematic.
On the other hand, if you're raising dairy cows anywhere near the Great Lakes or other places with huge freshwater reserves, the issue really isn't their water use because it's just so abundant there; in those cases the environmental impact of dairy farming is much more in the greenhouse gas emissions which are enormous compared to all plant milks.