Going Batty for Trick or Treat Night

Video of the bats at the Congress Street Bridge in Austin TX


OK, I know that when kids show up at your door to trick or treat they are expecting goodies. Why not take advantage of a teachable moment, however, and “treat” them to some interesting information about some spooky Halloween favorites?

My little ones were inspired to love bats on a bat boat ride in Austin TX two years ago. You can check out the video link above to see the spectacle of the Austin bats yourself.

When children show up on my doorstep this year, they can pick up a handout about bats from Bat Conservation International which tells them why bats hang upside down, how they move in the dark, what they eat, where they live and many more fun facts on these furry winged friends. Also posted on the door will be information on the endangered Vampire Bat, and a large stuffed Vampire Bat from the World Wildlife Fund. The stuffed bat came with our family donation to “adopt a vampire bat” along with information about the endangered species.

Not to worry little tricksters, I also have a multitude of sour gummy bat candies to dole out!

Here are some fast facts to drive you Batty:

• There are over 1,100 different species of bats in the world!
• Bats are not blind, but some use echolocation (a special sonar system) to fly around in the dark.
• Many small insectivorous bats can eat more than 1000 mosquito-sized insects in one hour!
• Bats are not birds! They are mammals and are warm-blooded, have hair, bear live young and feed their babies milk.
• Vampire bats really do suck blood (but they only take 2 Tablespoons at a time) and a component of their saliva has been recreated artificially and used in medication for human heart patients!

With preparations for Halloween underway, I've been thinking about more macabre topics. As I contemplated making a faux cemetery of recycled cardboard on the front porch for the trick or treaters, questions about the earthly remains of the departed came to mind.

I mistakenly thought cremation was the most eco-friendly method of disposing of human remains. When my mother brought up the topic prompted by a recent article by Susan J. Tweit in Audubon magazine, I realized I had much to learn. From Tweit’s article, it seems that the ashes to ashes concept has many more consequences in terms of fossil fuel consumption and air pollutants emitted than I suspected. In her Dying to Be Green article, Tweit reports that approximately 350 pounds of carbon dioxide are put off per cremation in addition to “soot particles, sulfur dioxide, and trace metals…Then there are the fossil fuels consumed in heating the ovens” (Tweit, 2010).

Traditional burials turn cemeteries in to toxic waste sites. After being “pumped full of formaldehyde-based embalming fluids, which cause elevated rates of cancer in workers who handle them every day…our remains are often sealed inside “decay-proof” metal caskets, and entombed in concrete vaults”. As if this weren’t enough, we need to consider the upkeep of the cemetery grounds which can require a host of pest and weed controlling chemicals (not to mention the use of fossil fuels for mowing, digging, etc.)

Opting instead to be buried in a simple shroud without embalming fluids in a natural preserve is becoming an increasingly popular (and less expensive) option, but one which requires planning. Talking to loved ones now about these important choices can help us carry our green values to the grave and beyond.

For more information on this interesting matter of life and death, check out the Green Burial council or Mark Harris’s blog, Grave Matters.

The October Better Your World Challenge

This month I was thinking of how frightening the conclusion of October can be… This reminded me of other things that scared me(the dark, spiders, war, famine) and how horrifying the world might be if so many concerned individuals didn't try every day to make the world a better place.

With these thoughts prompting us, the October Better Your World Challenge was created! Respond to this blog post with details of how you make the world a better place, and recieve "Thanks" with a coupon good for $5 off of a $25 purchase, $10 off of a $50 purchase, or $20 off purchase of $100 or more at betterworldbuys.com (good through December 31, 2010!).

How do you make the world a better place?