The Issue Is Not the Issue, Part 2

On a similar topic to the post below, Jason Reed has an article at townhall.com entitled Don't Cry Over Spilled (Soy) Milk. Reed also takes the position that man made climate change is a serious issue, when in fact it is a hoax designed to scare the public into giving up its lifestyle and freedom. In this case, Reed skewers the non-dairy "milk" market so beloved by the virtue signalling vegans.

Now that the myth that our everyday purchasing choices and diets can stop the changing climate, veganism has become synonymous with saving the planet. As more and more people bump the environment up their list of political priorities, the market for non-dairy “milk” grows.

Veganism is taking hold more than ever before, especially among the young. Almost half of all vegans are under the age of 35, no doubt driven by a desire to stop climate change. While China churns out new coal power plants at a rate of knots, veganism has somehow become synonymous with saving the planet in the West. As a result, dairy milk is out of fashion and the demand for products to replace it is booming.

Among the young, middle-class, and eco-conscious, sales of non-dairy alternatives are skyrocketing. Despite a recent spike in oat milk sales, arguably the biggest runaway success in the non-dairy beverage market over recent decades is soy. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, global soybean production is 15 times higher today than it was in the 1950s.

What many of these people don't understand is that soy beans are not actually good for humans. Yes, they contain proteins. But those proteins are not complete, whereas the proteins in meat and eggs are complete. Further, soy beans have what are often called "anti-nutrients" which make whatever nutrician they do contain toxic to humans. These toxins are only partially denatured by processing. You can read how vegetarians are degrading their own health and ruining the planet by a former vegetarian Lierre Keith in The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice and Sustainability. Meat, eggs, and dairy however are dense in nutrients that are readily available to humans.

The growth of the soy industry has led to the displacement of entire communities in some parts of the world, where people rely on their natural environment to survive, only to see it pummeled by big companies making soy “milk” to sell in the West. The waste generated by soybean production is difficult to dispose of and often leads to damaging pollution. And as if all that wasn’t enough, soy production emits a hefty amount of greenhouse gases – the same charge leveled at dairy farming.

Soy does the same thing to land as do other crops. To raise monocultural crops, you must plow the ground, exposing the soil to erosion and killing the microfauna. As crops take up soil nutrients, they are not replaced because the microfauna and microflora are destroyed. The fact is that if dairy cattle are fed on pasture grasses, they don't need soy, and 77% of soy is used to feed cattle.

Ultimately, those insisting we taper our lifestyles to stop climate change appear to resent technological progress and wish the Industrial Revolution had never happened, so these products’ poor taste probably doesn’t bother them too much. It might even feed into their guilt complex, satisfying their thirst for noble self-sacrifice on the altar of green wokery.

Meanwhile, right-thinking folk will continue drinking dairy milk until the cows come home. Innovation is making farming more sustainable before our eyes. If the planet is dying, it’s thanks to the rampant pollution of China – and no amount of horrid-tasting soy “milk” on your cornflakes is going to change that.

Eating corn flakes, or any cereal, is another thing not really good for you. But of course facts don't matter, because the issue is not the issue.