How to Go Green: Halloween

"How to Go Green: Halloween," by Blythe Copeland is posted on the Planet Green website. The feature story focuses on different ways to be more environmentally conscientious throughout the festivities of the fall season. I really enjoyed reading the article because it help me put my traditions and fall activities into perspective. Considering that between candy sales, costume shopping, and decorations, Planet Green estimates that Halloween is a $6 billion a year industry, your amount of consumption is something to keep in mind when getting in the "holiday spirit."

One of the key points of advice from Planet Green is to consider creating a more individualistic costume, rather than purchasing a plastic, packaged, and manufactured costume. This year, I have actually taken this advice to heart, as I am putting together my own costume from thrift stores, roomie closets, and my mom's old treasures at home (this is an option because my roomies and I are dressing up as Red Hat Ladies for Halloween). Goodwill actually has recently come up with an online auction website, so that thrifting from Goodwill is now possible from the convenience of a home laptop.

The article mentions burning soy holiday candles and participating in more traditional Halloween games, such as bobbing for apples. When handing out candy, fair trade chocolate and organic candies are recommended, although in my experience many parents today don't trust unwrapped candies from strangers to be given to their children. In particular, suggestion #9 stood out as something interesting for families to look into:

"Support Fair Trade with 'reverse trick-or-treating' is a way to highlight the plight of cocoa farmers and to showcase the benefits of Fair Trade, the folks at Global Exchange have started a Reverse Trick-or-Treating program to help raise awareness while collecting goodies on Halloween. It's really easy. Sign-up through the 'Reverse Trick-or-Treating website to receive samples of Fair Trade chocolates, along with some cards that outline the program. Kids hand out the cards and samples to adults when they go to the door on Halloween."

If you are interested in these ideas, I would suggest visiting the website for more in-depth information: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/go-green/halloween/