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That's talking about people drinking milk or milk with cereal. Overall dairy consumption has increased ~20% over the same time period, mostly due to cheese and

That's talking about people drinking milk or milk with cereal. Overall dairy consumption has increased ~20% over the same time period, mostly due to cheese and yogurt[0]. Changing the industry is not in one person's power, but it is a small number of people (owners of the several large producers and the regulatory guys) who do change it; this (overnight) cancelling of the season is a counterexample to your point. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/dairy-data/ https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/dairy-data/

virgildotcodes 4y ago
Sorry, I'm having trouble parsing that historical spreadsheet. If I'm reading it correctly, it looks like per capita (consumption?) was 564 pounds in 1970 and 603 pounds in 2010, a 6.9% increase. Either way, if that is actual consumption then that's an increase in total dairy use and I appreciate the correction. I would argue my point still stands in terms in drinking milk consumption, it at least has dropped by nearly 50%, and that means that we would be producing a lot more dairy overall today if consumer habits hadn't shifted away from milk (and the growth in cheese and yogurt consumption had increased in the same fashion as it has, which admittedly may not have been the case). Another example would be the massive growth of plant based milks and vegan/vegetarian products and restaurants into multi billion dollar industries over the last few decades, displacing a commensurate amount of demand from animal based industries. My point is also not that governments, corporations, and the powerful don't have any influence over the state of the world. It was that large scale boycotts and pressing for systemic change can be done simultaneously, and do not have to be mutually exclusive.
- mickdeek86 4y ago
  I'm going off the 2021 numbers, 667 pounds/capita/annum. I'll confess I was too lazy to pull up the calculator app and get ~18% increase. This wasn't due to a conscious consumer boycott, people just decided that drinking milk is kinda gross (see: McPoyle) A better example to illustrate your point might be the grape boycotts of the 1960s, when Cesar Chavez/Dolores de la Huerta/UFW & company successfully appealed to the American working man to boycott (specifically California) grapes until the growers agreed to basic labor rights. In any case, my point is that industry/the powers that be aren't actually to blame, as evidenced by their readiness to cancel the season. As this is most likely caused by climate change, we should be boycotting the fossil fuel industry, if only we could

virgildotcodes 4y ago

Sorry, I'm having trouble parsing that historical spreadsheet. If I'm reading it correctly, it looks like per capita (consumption?) was 564 pounds in 1970 and 603 pounds in 2010, a 6.9% increase. Either way, if that is actual consumption then that's an increase in total dairy use and I appreciate the correction. I would argue my point still stands in terms in drinking milk consumption, it at least has dropped by nearly 50%, and that means that we would be producing a lot more dairy overall today if consumer habits hadn't shifted away from milk (and the growth in cheese and yogurt consumption had increased in the same fashion as it has, which admittedly may not have been the case). Another example would be the massive growth of plant based milks and vegan/vegetarian products and restaurants into multi billion dollar industries over the last few decades, displacing a commensurate amount of demand from animal based industries. My point is also not that governments, corporations, and the powerful don't have any influence over the state of the world. It was that large scale boycotts and pressing for systemic change can be done simultaneously, and do not have to be mutually exclusive.

mickdeek86 4y ago
I'm going off the 2021 numbers, 667 pounds/capita/annum. I'll confess I was too lazy to pull up the calculator app and get ~18% increase. This wasn't due to a conscious consumer boycott, people just decided that drinking milk is kinda gross (see: McPoyle) A better example to illustrate your point might be the grape boycotts of the 1960s, when Cesar Chavez/Dolores de la Huerta/UFW & company successfully appealed to the American working man to boycott (specifically California) grapes until the growers agreed to basic labor rights. In any case, my point is that industry/the powers that be aren't actually to blame, as evidenced by their readiness to cancel the season. As this is most likely caused by climate change, we should be boycotting the fossil fuel industry, if only we could