About 90% of grassland degradation is a result of intensive agriculture, including grazing practices and the conversion of croplands to grow livestock feed.
How can a conscientious consumer help protect the grasslands ecosystem? What choices can we make that are sensitive to the welfare of the ecosystem as well as the animals that we eat?
Explore the Eat Wild website (www.eatwild.com).
Evaluate the website and work with the information to answer the following questions:
Is this a reliable information source? Does it have a clear and transparent agenda?
Who runs this website? Does this person’s credentials make her reliable or unreliable? Explain.
Does the website provide supporting evidence for its claims about grass-fed versus feedlot animal products? Does it give sources for its evidence?
Select the link that allows you to shop for local meat and dairy products.
What information does that link provide? How can you as a consumer use this information?
Select the “criteria” link on this page. What are the criteria for listing a farm on the website? Do you think these criteria are sufficient and reasonable? Which criteria are most important to you as a consumer? Explain your responses.
Examine two other websites that certify animal products: Animal Welfare Approved (www.animalwelfareapproved.org) and American Grassfed (www.americangrassfed.org).
How similar/different are the criteria each website uses for certifying animal products? Which website uses criteria that are most important to you as a consumer? Explain your response.
How might certifications for animal products help grasslands?
Find an additional case study online at http://www.macmillanhighered.com/launchpad/saes2e