Across the globe, media reports on the dreadful abuse of farmed animals, health concerns related to the consumption of animal products, and the huge environmental costs of animal agriculture are growing by the day, but rarely do media reports present a full view.

Recently, international news leader Bloomberg, with a global circulation of almost 1 million readers, published an article titled ‘Dairy Farmers Think Almond Milk Is Bogus But Americans Love It’. While this article rightly points out that consumer demand for plant-based milks is dramatically rising, not once did it address the reasons why so many consumers are turning away from dairy.

On behalf of the animals, it is up to us to get this important conversation happening. It is time to speak up to voice our growing awareness of the dairy industry’s negative effect on our health, our environment and its cruel treatment of animals which has motivated so many of us to change our buying habits.

Take your chance now to tell Bloomberg News why you’ve stopped supporting dairy by writing your own letter and sending it to the email address below. Don’t worry-keep reading and we provide you with all the points you may want to make.

letters@bloomberg.net

Writing letters to news outlets that report on issues related to farmed animals is a huge yet often overlooked opportunity to stimulate the media’s interest in these topics even further. You can speak up for billions of suffering animals, and express your views to potentially thousands of people.

We have included some of our top reasons for ditching dairy. Remember, news editors want to hear from you in your own words, so please use these examples to write your own personal letter so that it can have the biggest impact!

Read the original article by Bloomberg here. 

Top reasons why people have decided to cut out dairy:

Health benefits: Plant-based alternatives are far lower in artery-clogging saturated fats and free of cholesterol, lactose, growth hormones and antibiotics.

Animal suffering: Cows used by the dairy industry are intensively confined, continually impregnated, and bred for high milk production with little concern for their well-being. Since male calves can’t produce milk, most are kept alive in cruel conditions and slaughtered for veal. Many people consider veal to be cruel, but only now are we realizing that veal production is a direct product of the dairy industry.

Our environment: In states such as California, raising cattle uses more water than any other activity. In regards to greenhouse gases, methane is the most troubling as it has the ability to trap up to 100 times more heat into the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. A fracking well produces 1/10 of the amount of methane that a single dairy operation will release, every day.

Consumer power: As a consumer, we all have the power to hold the dairy industry accountable for its actions. I am voting with my dollars to support a food system that supports my own health, our environment and compassion for animals. For decades, the dairy industry has relied on huge government bailouts at the taxpayers expense, and deceptive plans such as the recent dairy price-fixing scheme revealed by an antitrust class-action lawsuit. Now that consumers are becoming more aware, it can only stay afloat for so long.