MWA Topic Selection

For the duration of the rest of the semester, my topic will be focused on drinking milk.  Milk is one of the United States’ most popular beverages and there are many studies claiming that milk is great for a person’s body. However, more and more recent scientific evidence points to milk as a major factor in declining health. Many people in favor of drinking milk argue that it has a lot of calcium and minerals that our bodies need to function, and that it will strengthen bones, improve cardiovascular and oral health, as well as relieve PMS. However, milk also contributes to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other health issues. The capitalization of the dairy industry has also lead to a lot of mistreatment of the dairy cows that provide milk, despite there being an overproduction that leaves a lot of milk in grocery stores to go bad and have to be thrown out. Raising cows for milk also has a huge effect on the environment, as cows produce a lot of methane gases which are released into the air and contribute to the greenhouse effect that is currently causing global warming. It is also debated that the manure generated by large dairy farms heavily contributes to our nations water pollution.

This semester, I will be calling for people to instead start drinking plant based milk substitutes such as soy, almond, rice, oat, or hemp milk. These various milk substitutes provide many of the same, if not more, minerals for the body and are far better alternatives when considering the impact that milk has on the environment and the animals producing. Fortified milk alternatives have the same amount of calcium as cows’ milk as well, and the proteins found in soy compared to the proteins found in animals actually decrease excretion of calcium so that one can maintain a more consistent calcium intake. Regular cows’ milks also have a lot of unnecessary fats that have contributed to the obesity crisis in America and lead to other health issues that can sometimes be life threatening. Plant based milk substitutes are also far better for the environment as the plants produce oxygen instead of the harmful methane gases that cows produce. It is also better for the animals that we use plant based milk substitutes. Cows are over milked which make milk production and extraction painful and can cause a lot of health issues for them. The same issues can be found in goats used to provide their milk for the dairy industry. Using plant based milk substitutes would not only allow for the discontinuation of the mistreatment of animals, but would also reduce our carbon footprint and greenhouse gases and improve health in the United States.