A few years ago, I saw these weighted hamburger props at an Earth Day event and was totally impressed with them. People pick them up and are surprised how heavy the beef burger is. Its weight represents the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emitted to produce the beef patty!
It's such a great visual tool to bring awareness to the impact of our food choice on our planet, that I've made my own props and bring them to events.
Here is how I made it so you can make your own too:
• The veggie burger weighs 0.5lb and the beef burger weighs 6.8lb.
• Get 2 big identical burger dog toys, they should be big, sturdy, and hollow. I got mine here: https://worldofpets.com/steak-or-hamburger-squeaky-dog-toy/
• Get X lb of lead beads where X = 0.5 + 6.8 - (2x weight of the empty burger toy). I got the ones used for diving ballast: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0034ZK2NI
• Remove the squeakies from the toys but keep the plugs.
• Fill each burger to reach the wanted weight (0.5 and 6.8lb). Note that these beads should be safe, but lead is poisonous so use gloves and a mask when manipulating them.
• Put the plugs back and glue everything so it never opens. (We used a glue gun. You really don't want the burger to lose its lead beads.)
• Wipe the burgers clean, so there is no lead residue on them.
• Print this document and laminate it for durability.
• Place the 2 burgers on top of the document to hide the weights, and voilà!
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