Thus Starbucks’ choice to forego organic does impact our health and environment, albeit perhaps indirectly. ![]() Whether these end up in the coconut milk is debatable but, regardless, they can leak into surrounding soils and water sources. Though some studies have admittedly suggested coconuts don’t need to be organic, coconut trees are susceptible to diseases and numerous bugs-which means that Starbucks uses pesticides, fungicides and chemical fertilizers in its growing process. While nearly all coconuts are now unsustainably harvested, Starbucks’ vast production demand will tangibly and single-handedly increase deforestation and environmental footprint across Southeast Asia. Native coconut tree populations are simultaneously being destroyed due to over-harvesting, as we’ve seen with the Petenes mangroves in the Yucatan. Stanford warns that foreign coconut trees lower existing soil nutrients and drive away local wildlife. 3) It’s not sustainably harvested.ĭue to increasing demand for coconut products, coconut trees are now planted abundantly in unsuitable, non-native climates. Of course, most coconuts come from Southeast Asia, so we may need reconsider our consumption of coconuts in the U.S. We don’t know how they’re transporting it, but given that a Boeing 747 burns roughly 36,000 gallons of gas over the course of a ten hour flight, the gas alone used to transport Starbucks’ millions of gallons of coconut milk is nothing short of obscene. This means that for Starbucks’ coconut milk to get from there to, say, Colorado, it must travel 8,796 miles. Starbucks’ coconut milk is sourced exclusively from the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. ![]() Here are the ingredients: Water, coconut cream, cane sugar, tricalcium phosphate, coconut water concentrate, natural flavors, sea salt, carrageenan, gellan gum, corn dextrin, xanthan gum, guar gum, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D2. But we can’t feel good about drinking Starbucks’ new coconut milk, sadly. We like coffee, and we love coffee we feel good about drinking. Since coconut milk is trendy, tasty and a purportedly good alternative to soy and dairy, why shouldn’t they?įirst, we commend Starbucks for catering to our vegan friends, and we’re grateful for their popularization of fair trade coffee. ![]() ![]() ~ Starbucks began offering their own line of single origin coconut milk across the U.S.
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