Almond Milk Controversy

By Christina Hua

Almond milk has slowly gained popularity as a healthy, dairy-free alternative to regular milk. However, now people are starting to reject it after discovering the environmental impacts it causes. Some restaurants and cafes in Boston have stopped offering it altogether as a way to reduce its impact. 

In order to make a single cup of almond milk, 130 pints of water is used, which is about 74 liters. This is more than any other dairy alternative, and this water could have a lot more uses in other places. Not only is almond milk using up a lot of water, it’s also slowly killing honeybees. Since mass produced almond milk became popular, a third of the bees pollinating almond plants have died. 

However, there is an alternative to buying mass produced almond milk. Susan Cabana, owner of Nourish Your Soul, a cold-pressed juicery, makes her own almond milk. Cabana uses nuts from local vendors, which helps their business. Not only does buying locally and making her own almond milk help the vendors and the environment, homemade almond milk has ten times more nutrients than store bought almond milk.