‘Fast Food Free’ a healthy activity for kids (and adults) on Earth Day

Logo illustration for Fast Food Free

Another way for kids to get involved in Earth Day. A Colorado student says kids can help themselves be healthier and help the environment and animals by taking a break from fast foods.

Koa Halpern, a 7th grader in Denver, Colorado, wants kids across the country to give up fast food for two weeks. He says it’s a way kids can help the planet while helping themselves.  

Halpern researched the impact fast foods have on health and the environment as part of a school project. What he learned prompted him to launch his organization and website, Fast Food Free, Halpern’s goal is to help educate other students on the nutritional, environmental and animal welfare impacts of eating fast food, and to encourage kids to take action personally, by giving up fast food for two weeks.

“The mission of Fast Food Free is to reduce the consumption of fast food through education and community awareness, resulting in healthier people and a better world,” Koa says on his website.

The “Spring into Healthy Eating Challenge” which kicked off just before Earth Day asks kids to sign a pledge to take a break from fast food, a simple action that promotes health and helps the environment.

“Fast Food Free is important to me because of the health risk fast food poses to people, animal rights violations, and the effects the fast food industry has on the environment. Personally, my number one concern is how the fast food industry impacts the world we live in. I don’t want kids growing up obese, I think it's awful for chickens to be packed in cages with no room to move and it's irresponsible to cause the deforestation of any country (like Costa Rica) just to feed the world fast food.”

Fast Food Free was launched and is run by students. It has a board composed entirely of kids who share the mission of eliminating fast food from our diets. 

Some health, environment and fast food facts on the Fast Food Free website:

The number one health problem in the United States is obesity, largely because of our life styles.

Fast food lovers consume 187 more calories per day than people who don't eat fast food. That adds up to about six extra pounds a year.

In California it takes 2,464 gallons of water to produce just 1 pound of beef. It only takes 29 gallons of water to produce a pound of tomatoes.

Tens of millions of tons of methane and 80 percent of the ammonia released into our atmosphere is the by-product of animal digestion and animal waste, which are a major source of global warming.

North America has already lost one-third of its topsoil due to overgrazing and unsustainable methods of producing feed crop for livestock.