Almond vs. Oat Milk and Other Super Important Moral Dilemmas

Upon topping my coffee this morning, I was confronted by a pitcher labelled “Oat Milk” in place of the usual “Almond Milk” one. “Cool,” I thought as I splashed it on my beverage, “making a difference.”

I continued to ponder the meaning of this new dairy replacement as I sipped the contents of my glass. What does it really mean to make a difference? Is oats vs. almonds that big of a deal? Sure, my coffee tastes slightly different. And yeah, that many fewer units of almond milk will now be sold to this particular shop. But does it contribute to a bigger movement? Is it enough? Yes, I think so.

It’s a matter of holistic positive thinking. By constantly re-evaluating the norm to see if there are ways we can be better supporting our missions, improving our businesses or ourselves and simply contributing to the greater good, we are making a difference. It’s a matter of mindset — a “can-do attitude!”

Though it seems almost naive at surface-level to think that by switching the origin of the ounce of liquid one tops her coffee with will have any larger impact; if everyone switches, then perhaps there is some significance. Granted, even if no more almonds were produced for the remainder of eternity, we’d still be pretty fucked from every other pressure we’re putting on the environment. But it’s less about the single instance and more about the overall desire to do better.

Society has a tendency to scapegoat things like almonds or six-pack rings within the environmental movement. We often seek simple answers when they don’t really exist. The footprint of a single coffee or beer is much larger than simply the beverage its topped with or how its packaged. Isolating scapegoats, however, does often lead to finite changes and can feel like real progress.

In my middle school social studies class, we were once divided into groups and tasked with creating imaginary legislation to decrease or discourage reliance on fossil fuels. While other groups discussed the possibilities of taxes and travel restrictions, I put forth the idea to ban NASCAR racing. Living in a liberal-bubble of a town in the Northeast, there was no definitive opposition to my proposal. However, my teacher did rebut me by asking, “Do you really think that will make a difference?” Her frustration with my derailing of the exercise merely fanned my flames until I was preaching my solution to the entire class, distracting them from their more reasonable propositions.

Ultimately, we were to vote on which laws to implement. While there was extensive debate as to what level of taxes/restrictions were reasonable, no agreement was ever reached. And the only resolution to pass? No more NASCAR, baby! My win was surely my teachers loss, but what valuable skills I’d learned in isolating a scapegoat and failing to actually solve a problem all while giving the illusion of progress.

The easy solution that everyone can agree upon right away is seldom the one that will make a difference. So as we progress from almonds to oats, let’s not ride our high horses off into the sunset just yet. Though it is a step in the right direction, it’s an overall insignificant piece of the grander puzzle. The focus has to remain on the mindset behind the decision rather than the individual action itself if we’re going to create lasting change beyond coffee-level.

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