Green Halloween
Like any holiday, Halloween can be wasteful. To say the least.
Just run your hands over those mass-produced costumes hanging in the stores right now and you'll know in an instant--those things aren't exactly made from organic cotton!
Want to make Halloween more earth friendly? The Daily Green has on its site a guide to a greener Halloween (found via Ohdeedoh). Some of the tips:
-Reuse costumes by trading with friends
-Decorate with nature (this is a good time of year to be cleaning up the yard anyway)
-Illuminate Jack o'Lanterns with soy candles instead of candles made from paraffin wax. (You can read an article I wrote about Blue Heron, a locally-owned soy candle maker, here.)
-Save your decorations year to year, so you don't feed into the overconsumption frenzy that begins this time of year.
The Daily Green's tips got me Googling, which led to a nonprofit site based in Seattle that's totally dedicated greening up Halloween. Green Halloween, as it's appropriately called, is packed with information and ideas, including links to costume manufacturers that use natural, nontoxic materials and a list of treats and treasures to give to trick-or-treaters in leiu of individually wrapped, fun-size candy.
How do you go green on Halloween?