Does the thought of buying a cheaply manufactured Halloween costume made of questionable materials make you want to scream? Does the idea of your kids consuming candy made of dubious ingredients make you howl?

If you said yes, you aren’t the only one. In fact, there’s an entire movement across the country to make Halloween a healthier holiday, thanks to the leadership of Seattle-borne grassroots initiative Green Halloween.

Locally, Green Halloween is a collaboration of health organizations, environmental groups and arts-focused nonprofits – as well as Bay Area parents, teachers and kids – who are working to make their holiday healthier and eco-friendlier while still keeping its ghoulish, fun spirit alive.

“We have to start someplace if we want to improve the health of our children and our planet,” says Green Halloween’s founder (and mother of two) Corey Colwell-Lipson. “Halloween is a beginning. It offers a platform for us to focus attention not just on this holiday, but on how we have become consumers of things that do all of us harm. It’s not about one day, it’s about changing a lifetime one step and one holiday at a time.”

Rachel DeMicco of Marin County serves as Green Halloween’s Bay Area coordinator. To inquire about getting your own family, school or neighborhood involved, email her at rachel@sustainablefairfax.org. For more tips on going green this Halloween, visit GreenHalloween.org or attend Sustainable Fairfax on Oct. 24, from 1-5 p.m. at 141 Bolinas Road.