The stories of milk

More and more people have problems digesting and consuming dairy products, so the demand for alternative milks to traditional cow's milk, such as lactose-free milk, a2a2 milk, oat milk, almond milk, etc. is booming. On the other hand, the boom in the consumption of plant-based milks also has to do with the fact that cows, during their own digestive process, emit a lot of methane, one of the gases responsible for global warming.

Productive territories are trying to adapt to these new demands, but they are also suffering from indigestion, albeit of a different nature. Theirs is not physiological, but rather metaphorical: an indigestion that has to do with the impact of climate change on the primary sector and the lack of understanding of certain ecologists and society in general with ways of life that are not only on the verge of extinction and have nothing to do with big agribusiness, but are also potential allies in the fight against climate change and the biodiversity crisis.

In the region of A Ulloa (Lugo), in addition to the problems suffered by the countryside in many other places, there is a threat: the possibility that the company Altri-Greenalia will install a macro-cellulose plant in its territory, which would require an enormous volume of water, eucalyptus trees and land and would emit both waste water and a multitude of polluting gases. In addition to the serious consequences that this project would have on human health and the ecosystem, the Altri plant would compete in terms of resources with the main sector in the area: agriculture and livestock farming, jeopardising the viability of the many ecological projects linked to dairy processing that exist in the region.