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The California almond industry is placing a huge strain on bees

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Re: The California almond industry is placing a huge strain on bees

#21

Post by pintxo »

pintxo wrote: post #11
walshemj wrote: post #5

Ever though about the cost of producing milk or what happens to the unwanted male calves.

They make for good Schnitzels. Sorry.

But you are right. They are a problem. Talked to a farmer a couple years back (on Christmas Eve in the stable, watching the new born calves). They would get some 160€ per male calve, barely covering their costs raising them. That’s probably still somewhat better than male chicken though.

Anyway, we need to find ways for more sustainable meat production and consumption. This whole thing is unhealthy in pretty much any level. Really looking forward to all those alternative meat startups.

Re: The California almond industry is placing a huge strain on bees

#22

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

mortenjorck wrote: post #20

If the key impact is declining bee populations, it would seem that the current ecology of almond growing is unsustainable. But that should give growers an acute incentive to invest in bee populations, lest bees shoot up in price and wreck the economics of their orchards. If growers aren’t doing this already, why aren’t they?

> why aren’t they?

They won't do anything until Uncle Sam subsidizes it.

Re: The California almond industry is placing a huge strain on bees

#23

Post by thrower123 »

naruhodo wrote: post #16
thrower123 wrote: post #4

The explosion of almond and soy milk among WASPy people of European extraction is one of the more bizarre trends I've seen in my short lifetime. Twenty-five years ago it was passing strange to see anyone not drink real milk, and they fed us at least a quart of it every day at school.

It just means that lactose intolerance is now recognised and accommodated. The body produces less of the enzyme (lactase) needed to break down lactose as we age, with the result that it ferments in the gut, producing gas. Undigested lactose reaches the outlet as a liquid. I'd rather be thought strange than be farting and squirting out cow nipple juice.

This is precisely amongst the most lactose-tolerant population in the entire world.

Re: The California almond industry is placing a huge strain on bees

#25

Post by Turing_Machine »

gbrown wrote: post #7
thrower123 wrote: post #4

The explosion of almond and soy milk among WASPy people of European extraction is one of the more bizarre trends I've seen in my short lifetime. Twenty-five years ago it was passing strange to see anyone not drink real milk, and they fed us at least a quart of it every day at school.

You can thank the dairy lobby for schools pushing milk.

Europeans were consuming vast quantities of dairy products for centuries before the "dairy lobby" existed.

Re: The California almond industry is placing a huge strain on bees

#26

Post by Turing_Machine »

thrower123 wrote: post #4

The explosion of almond and soy milk among WASPy people of European extraction is one of the more bizarre trends I've seen in my short lifetime. Twenty-five years ago it was passing strange to see anyone not drink real milk, and they fed us at least a quart of it every day at school.

It's virtue signaling. Choosing the soy "milk" at the coffee shop, loudly, demonstrates to the other patrons that you're "woke" and "care about the environment". Never mind that if you actually cared about "sustainability", you wouldn't be living in a state that imports vast amounts of food, water, and energy from hundreds of miles away in the first place.

It's basically a religion at this stage, and virtue signaling lets you pay your penance in advance. One refusal of a disposable straw compensates for one six month backpacking trip in Nepal, or one vacation in Aruba, or something like that.

And this will get modded down into a smoking crater, because people always get angry when you make fun of their religion.

Re: The California almond industry is placing a huge strain on bees

#27

Post by Turing_Machine »

mac-chaffee wrote: post #10

The effect of pesticides and diseases on bees is a new angle I hadn't heard of before! The article ends by mentioning the water usage of almond milk, but I wish it would have contextualized that. Almond milk still uses about half the water of dairy milk: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46654042

There's no shortage of water in most major dairy-producing regions.

Re: The California almond industry is placing a huge strain on bees

#29

Post by aeortiz »

GuiA wrote: post #15
imgabe wrote: post #12

Can we stop labeling everything evil? It works or it doesn't. If almonds are fundamentally unsustainable at scale, fine. Say that. This is not a children's fairy tale with an evil ogre and a fair prince. Let's stop casting everything as good v. evil. Works or doesn't work is sufficient. Whatever the ultimate effects are, I highly doubt that almond farmers are sinister, malevolent beings who want to destroy humanity.…

“Work or doesn’t work” is as manichean of a binary as “good or evil”.

But it doesn't have a moral component, only a practical one.
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