Protesters to Occupy Queens Starbucks Over Vegan Milk Upcharge
PETA’s ‘Week of Action’ Will ‘Press’ Chain to Stop Penalizing People for Choosing Climate- and Animal-Friendly Options
For Immediate Release:
January 23, 2020
Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382
On Friday, a group of PETA protesters will gather peacefully inside the Starbucks on Bell Boulevard to urge the company to dump its surcharge for dairy-free milk.
When: Friday, January 24, 5–6 p.m.
Where: Starbucks, 23-88 Bell Blvd., Bayside, Queens
The sit-in—a part of PETA’s Week of Action, during which supporters will occupy Starbucks locations across the U.S. and Canada—comes in the wake of the chain’s release of its new “sustainability commitment.” Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson recently stated, “Alternative milks will be a big part of the solution,” and said that he’ll push consumers to choose milk made from almonds, coconuts, soy, or oats, whose production is friendlier to the environment. The protest also comes as Starbucks fails to address its continued vegan milk upcharge, even as a recent environmental assessment unveiled on Tuesday revealed that dairy products are the company’s “biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions.”
“Continuing to charge more for vegan milk while admitting that it’s the key to reducing Starbucks’ massive carbon footprint is irresponsible and unethical,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “Soy and nut milks shouldn’t cost a cent more than their dairy counterparts, which drive climate change and are cruel to cows and indigestible to many humans. The surcharge must stop now.”
In today’s dairy industry, cows are artificially inseminated (raped via an inserted syringe) and calves are torn away from their loving mothers within a day of birth. According to the United Nations, animal agriculture is responsible for nearly a fifth of human-induced greenhouse-gas emissions and a global shift to vegan eating is vital if we are to combat the worst effects of climate change.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.
