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There's no trick to being environmentally friendly this Halloween.

Monday Oct 20, 2008.     By Sharon Hoyer

Lifestyle Feed

With all the hayrides, apple-bobbing, pumpkin carving and perambulations through crunchy, vibrant leaves, there probably isn't another holiday as steeped in appreciation of nature's bounteous glory as Halloween. But there are still plenty of ways to make your All Hallows Eve more environmentally sound, and I don't just mean baptizing your principal's house in free-range, organic eggs and 100-percent recycled, 80-percent post-consumer content toilet paper. Though, come to think of it, those aren't bad ideas either. Here are a few simple tips on ways to haunt consciously.

Homemade Tricks

Given the choice between digging through your grandfather's closet and the racks at the local resale shop or heading to the Halloween USA to grab a PVC-based sexy devil costume that was mass-produced in China, most folks would choose the former faster than you can say Rocky Horror Picture Show. With a dash of imagination those old tutus, parachute pants and stone-washed jeans can have a second life as the life of the party. Creative reuse is easier on both the environment and the wallet; and it's the homemade costumes that invariably take home the prize, especially at these green-minded contests.

Etsy, the online retailer of all things handmade, is sponsoring a costume contest judged in part by eco-blog Treehugger. Three winners who scare up the best "green" costumes will be showered with two grand in prizes. The deadline to enter is October 26, so get out your sewing kits and plug in your hot glue guns now.

Inhabitots, an online environmental resource for parents, is also holding a costume contest, with prizes from Nubius Organics and sustainable children's design line Oeuf.

Fair Trade Treats

The scariest specter of Halloween is one we never see—the atrocious human rights violations committed by the chocolate industry. The International Labor Rights Forum filed a suit against Nestle in 2006 that included charges of human trafficking, torture and forced child labor. As the chocolate industry comes under increasing scrutiny, responsible companies are becoming easier to identify. The "Fair Trade Certified" seal guarantees that farmers are paid a fair price for their crop. Several socially responsible chocolatiers have put out bite-size versions of their wares for Halloween.

Global Exchange has put together Fair Trade Trick or Treat Action Kits that include gold-foil-wrapped chocolate coins, an eco-friendly Trick or Treat bag, Mexican skeleton party streamers and postcards promoting the importance of Fair Trade. One nice touch: the postcards have a detachable portion with a message addressed to the CEO of Worlds Finest Chocolate, encouraging the company to offer Fair Trade Certified products.

I personally hope to be the victim of Global Exchange's Reverse Trick-or-Treating program. The organization has armed little ghosts and goblins around the country with info on the cocoa industry and samples fair trade chocolate to distribute as they make their rounds. The deadline to participate has passed, but the possibility of high-end chocolates hand-delivered by adorably costumed children is another good reason to leave your porch light on next Friday night.

Endangered Species Chocolate supports the farmer-owned Conacado Co-op in the Dominican Republic. This Halloween, Endangered Species is offering treat-sized dark chocolates, milk chocolates, mints and organic “bug bites,” certified Kosher dark chocolates that come with collectible insect trading cards. Endangered Species donates 10 percent of tis profits to conservation and humanitarian organizations.

Think globally, bob locally

Get pumpkins, apples and gourds from your local farmers market or farm instead of at the grocery store.

It took a move from the regimented lawnscapes of the suburbs to the congestion of a major metropolis for Sharon to look twice at what she puts in the trash, down the sink and into her own body. She reports fortnightly on her endeavors to change "greening" from calculated deviation to a practicable way of life. You can contact her here.