The Sustainability Hub for Innovation & Environment (SHINE) educated students on American consumerism habits through a tabling event on Oct. 31 called Sustainable Spooktacular Halloween. The group’s goal was to teach students how to cause less damage to the environment during the Halloween season.
“It is a tradition to buy a new costume to wear once, or plastic decorations that you later throw away, and consume a lot of individually wrapped candy,” Senior Isabelle Honkomp said. “Realizing the amount of waste is generated, and that there is an easy solution is important.”
Through this initiative, the group hopes to make students more aware of these issues that Halloween can bring.
“I hope that some students think of some of their habits and how they affect the planet, specifically around the holiday season,” Honkomp said. “It is important to celebrate what people are already doing to help the environment, as well as learn [about] some easy changes they can implement. Starting the conversation around sustainability during this consumer-driven season is valuable.”
To attract more people, the group made their display interactive. This allowed students to share how they keep the environment in mind during Halloween.
“Students won’t always grab or read a handout from the table, but they love to share what they are already doing to lessen their impact on the environment,” Honkomp said. “They are thinking about what they are doing to help, and a lot of the time they do not even realize that they are making a difference by, for example, reusing a Halloween costume. Having the ability for students to share their thoughts and contribute to the conversation is important since it teaches others walking by.”
The group utilized many different methods to teach students about the importance of sustainability during Halloween.
“During the Halloween tabling event, having choices of different elements for students to grab is important in having them think about everything that goes into Halloween such as food, social events and trick-or-treating,” Honkomp said.
The group provided a trifold presentation of information for students to learn about keeping their Halloween more sustainable and passed out gifts.
“Instead of having plastic-wrapped candy to pass out, SHINE celebrated by passing out marigold seeds,” Honkomp said. “Having an example of how easy it is to celebrate Halloween and have less of an impact on the environment is important. A lot of students were excited to plant the seeds in the spring, and then they could recycle the envelope!”
