Green is the New Orange!
By Jade Christensen
Halloween is knocking at our doors, and for most of us, it’s time to start decorating, stocking up on candy, and buying costumes. How do we create a holiday known for plastic wrappers and cheap costumes and turn it into something sustainable? It’s easier than you think!
Turning orange to green
Costumes
Instead of running to the local pop-up costume shop, swing over to a thrift store or Goodwill and use the clothes there to inspire a Halloween costume. Even better, they might have some outfits waiting to be picked up. Or, if you are more creative, try making your costume this year!
Treats
Single-wrapped foods will stay the standard for candy delivery for safety. Focus your candy purchase on whether the chocolate and sugar are from sustainable sources. Do the companies only purchase sustainable chocolate or use palm oil? Avoid palm oil in all products because the industry is a significant driver of deforestation and habitat destruction for many endangered species. The cocoa and palm oil industries have been known for their human rights and child labor violations.
When choosing your chocolate, look for third-party labels like Fairtrade and the Rainforest Alliance to ensure environmental and social sustainability (Chiu, 2022). A recent introduction to my life is Tony’s Chocolonely, a Fairtrade-certified individually wrapped chocolate brand worth checking out for this year’s Halloween haul.
Pumpkins
Let’s keep the pumpkins out of the trash this year! Make sure you purchase a local pumpkin, either at a self-pick farm or your local farmer’s market. While making the jack-o-lanterns, save and clean the seeds and roast them for a salty snack.
After they have run their course and you don’t want pumpkins anymore, take them inside before they start to rot, or critters start eating them. If you left the pumpkin whole, roast it up and try your hand at a homemade pumpkin pie.
Don’t want to bake? Compost your pumpkin! The City of Portland has free Garbage to Garden drop-off sites throughout the city. Or reach out to your local farm. Some will take extra pumpkins for their animals to have as a treat!
We can make little changes to our fall traditions that can help enhance our lives by being more creative with our costumes, consuming environmentally and socially friendly foods, and utilizing the most out of our pumpkin purchases.
Happy Green Halloween!
References
Chiu, Allyson. “How you can make more socially conscious Halloween Candy Choices,” The Washington Post, October 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/10/14/halloween-candy-chocolate-deforestation-labor.
WWF. “10 Green Halloween Tips,” https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/10-green-halloween-tips.