Alternative Fats for Alternative Facts

Media release: Little Island
27 February, 2017
For Immediate Release

Alternative Fats for Alternative Facts

Last week, the National Government changed the goalposts for measuring water quality in our rivers and streams – and the outcry from both the public and experts was swift. One thing is for sure: we Kiwis love our waterways, and we want to see them protected for everyone to enjoy.

New Zealand is proud of its share of worldwide dairy export, accounting for 3.5% of our GDP. However, with more than 6 million dairy cows (271 million globally), the effects on our waterways and the environment should be of concern.

It’s no surprise an increasing number of people here, and around the world, are looking to avoid dairy not only for dietary reasons but for the environment.

Plant based milks such as soy have been around for decades and, although acceptable to those who couldn’t drink milk, were all too often unappealing to dairy drinkers who expected a creamier experience in their cereal, smoothie or morning coffee.

The past five years has seen a revolution in plant based milks, where dairy is the comparison and taste must stack up. Leading this charge has been almond milk, which in just a few short years has grown to an almost US$1billion industry in the US.

The second largest, and fastest growing plant based milk, is coconut, and local coconut milk and ice cream business Little Island Coconut Creamery believes substituting just a portion of your daily dairy consumption can have positive effects on both your feeling of wellbeing and the environment.

“Even small steps toward an alternative to dairy can preserve water and other resources, and also reduce the effects of climate change, deforestation and pollution,” says co-founder of Little Island, James Crow.

With no concerns around water pollution or water use (an issue with almond) coconut is an easy answer for those who wish to do something that directly reduces their dependency on dairy.

Trading your daily dairy fix for a plant based milk is now simpler that ever. With so many options on the market it’s easy to take your share of cow out of the system and leave the lobbyists and government to argue about who will actually start making our rivers truly safe to enjoy.

Did you know?

95% of our milk products are exported (accounting for a quarter of our annual merchandise exports), but 100% of the pollution stays in NZ.

Fonterra

We effectively subsidise farmers by having to pay for the cleanup of our environment.

NZ Dairy Farming - Milking our Environment for all its worth.pdf

Considering dairy accounts for only 3.5% of our GDP, perhaps we should we focusing more on cleaner exportable assets, such as intellectual property and ethical products and service industries.

NBR: Dairy sector contributes $8 billion to GDP

-ENDS-

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