EcoAction Partners: Green your Halloween

25 Oct EcoAction Partners: Green your Halloween

Halloween is coming up soon! That means trick-or-treating, making a costume, carving pumpkins, and eating candy (of course!). Here are a few suggestions to “green” your Halloween and save money too!

1. Share costumes – source locally – make your own! Local resources for creative and environmentally-friendly costumery include:

1. Telluride Sweet Deals
2. Free Box! EXCELLENT costumes can be found in the Telluride Free Box on the corner of Colorado Ave. and North Pine. Don’t forget to resupply the Free Box with your unwanted items and keep the free-cycling going!
3. Pip’s Fine and Funky has an awesome selection of wigs and cool outfits.
4. Telluride Animal Foundation Thrift Shop has decorations, housewares, shoes and clothing.

Get creative with gently-used costume ingredients!

1. Same goes for decorations! Think about the day after Halloween and whether your decorations will biodegrade, have to be picked up and thrown away – or better – be able to be reused or at least recycled!
2. Passing out candy – think before you buy. Purchase candy with less packaging and keep plastic and trash out of the landfill.
3. Eat your pumpkin seeds and compost your scraps when the jack o’ lantern is done! Below is one of my favorite recipes to roast pumpkin seeds:

Recipe: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients:

Pumpkin pulp and seeds

1 tablespoon butter or olive oil

seasonings of your choice – a pinch of salt, cinnamon sugar, chili powder…

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Clean pumpkin pulp from seeds and compost it!
3. Pat seeds dry with a cloth
4. Toss pumpkin seeds in a bowl with seasonings and oil
5. Spread in a single layer on cookie sheet
6. Bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally
7. Enjoy your seasonal and “green” treat!

Editor’s note: Hilary Lempit of EcoAction Partners continues a new series called “Mountain Facts” that is all about answering your questions about the environment and sustainability. This week’s installment is about greening your Halloween.