The Ethical Concerns Related to People Eating Beef: A Study

The article Pass on Grass Is grass-fed beef better for the environment? by Brian Palmer

For my project, I am writing about the ethical concerns related to people eating meat, focusing on the following thesis statement: For ethical and environmental reasons, people should limit their beef consumption, and the beef that they do eat should be humanely raised, locally sourced, and grass-fed. In completing my research, I found the article “Pass on Grass Is grass-fed beef better for the environment?” by Brian Palmer at Slate, which was published on December 21, 2010. Though this is not the most useful source, I do find that it has a place in my research.

Slate is a magazine that is published daily, and was founded in 1996. They describe themselves as a public-interest publication, and are a part of Graham Holdings. They publish on a variety of topics and have received several awards, including the National Magazine Award for General Excellence Online. The author of this article, Brian Palmer, has written over seven hundred articles for Slate and writes about science and medicine.

Though Palmer is not himself an expert source, he does cite several in his source. Palmer references Jude Capper, who is a professor of animal science at Washington State University as well as Japan’s National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science. There is no reference list at the end of the essay, however, and I do wish I had the opportunity to read over the original sources in order to check on some ofthis information, or to learn more about this information.

This article discusses whether there is a way to make beef better for the environment, by feeding grass instead of grain. Palmer (2010) writes that “Unfortunately, both grass-fed and corn-fed beef are terrible for the earth—but each in its own way.” This short article provides data to support the idea that grass-fed isn't much better for the environment because it takes these animals longer to reach slaughter weight. During this time period, those cows will continue to produce methane gas, which is bad for the environment.

This article supports my thesis that people should eat less beef for environmental reasons. However, it does go against the point in my thesis that beef that people do consume should be grass-fed. According to Palmer’s article, there is not much difference between grain-fed and grass-fed. At least, there are disadvantages to each. However, this may still be a useful course to consider in my counter-arguments.

Though this is a brief source, there is some useful information that I can use in my research. Although this source is older, I feel it is still relevant to my topic. I will most likely lean more heavily on more reputable and complete sources where the authors have more relevant credentials.

1. What types of questions did you ask yourself when evaluating the credibility and usefulness of your source? (2-3 sentences)

2. How do you feel this evaluation practice will help you as you continue to move through the research process? (2-3 sentences)