Halloween Rant

 

Carolyn J. Rose

 

Be afraid. Be very afraid. It’s that frightening time of year again.

Yes, it’s the season when political signs flourish and the time when pumpkin spice turns up in all manner of food and drink.

And if that’s not scary enough, this is when enthusiastic celebrations of October 31^st sometimes go over the top.

Yards fill with with scarecrows, skeletons, witches, werewolves, bats, ghouls, goblins, giant spiders, and wads of white webbing. It’s the time when inflated creepy clowns and dinosaurs prowl lawns.

 

And then there are sound effect: howls and moans, grunts and groans, shrieks and screams. Banshees could take lessons.

Things have definitely changed since I was a kid. Back then, decorating was about cutting out a few construction paper ghosts or bats or spiders to stick on the windows. It was about carving a few gap-toothed pumpkins you grew yourself or bought from a local farm or store. That was followed by a search of the junk drawer for candle stubs to light the grinning orange globes on Halloween.

Total cost for the entire display back in the day: Not much.

Total expected to be spent on displays in the U.S. this year? More than 3 Billion bucks!

And consider this. Plastic makes up a huge percentage of those lawn displays. (How much? I'll let you do the research.) 

And while you’re doing that, find the answers to these questions: Can that plastic be recycled? Can it go to the compost heap like those pumpkins did? Or do those yard displays eventually wind up in a landfill?

 I’m not one of those curmudgeons opposed to change in general. But I have concerns about change that’s “good” for the economy isn’t so good for the environment.