Yes, almond milk uses a lot of water. But compared to cows milk, it uses about half per glass of milk - and it has far fewer emissions and far less land use!

(I’d actually recommend avoiding almond milk and instead using one of the other plant milks)

@shauny

It's the industrial cultivation of almonds that consumes a lot of water, but there are other ways of cultivating almonds that consume less water.

@shauny

Oat milk ❤️

@shauny a lot of this comes down to where you do the cultivation. A huge amount of almond production is in California which is one of the worst places to grow almonds and is only viable because of a broken regulatory environment. If you’re drinking cow’s milk in Finland then water use is irrelevant.

Another big issue is the healthfulness of the different options. Many milk alternatives are far worse for you than milk.

That said, I’ve mostly switched to oat milk.

@shauny

This is not an issue with the product itself, it's an issue with the way its produced.

And clearly the alternatives are still far better.

@shauny

Why “milk” grains at all? If you’re going vegan just drink fruit and vegetable juices. I’ve tried fake milks on cereal and you may as well use water.

@shauny Also: No dairy milk without meat production because of (otherwise unneeded) pregnancies etc. That means water consumption for dairy milk should also factor in the water used up by raising calves. This is an unavoidable side effect.

This renders any argument about natural cow herding living off of rained-upon grasslands moot.

@shauny

A good example why we need independent science.

@shauny

Incredibly, all of these things can be true at the same time.

@shauny
It's such a pity soy milk tastes like it was run through a water hose.

Cashew milk is great imo