Halloween isn't just an occasion to be frightened by witches, vampires, and prepubescent girls in revealing Halloween costumes. It's also a great time to spread a bit of social conscientiousness to revelers in the form of organic and fair trade candy.

Before grabbing a bag of bite-sized Hershey bars, consider where that chocolate comes from. An estimated 40 percent of chocolate comes from Ivory Coast, where most cocoa farmers are impoverished. Farmers in the other top cocoa-producing nations, including Brazil, Indonesia, and other West African countries, don't fare much better. Responding to a fair-trade inquiry in her column, Grist's Umbra Fisk details some of the not-so-fair practices in the chocolate business. With Ivory Coast cocoa farmers netting approximately one cent from a 60-cent candy bar, farmers are using their children as laborers. The work is endangering: "[T]hink swinging a long machete when you haven't had enough to eat, or spraying pesticides without the proper protective gear," writes Fisk.

-From "Trick-Or-Conscientious-Treat: A healthy and socially responsible Halloween can still be sweet" by Rachel Anderson, Utne.com, October 26, 2006

It's too late to order Hallowe'en chocolate online (Fair Trade, Organic Trick-or-Treat Chocolates - keep this in mind for next year!), but here are a couple of links to help you find and give out vegan-friendly, healthier, not-so-scary treats on October 31.

-Go Dairy Free: No tricks, Real Treats for a Non-Dairy Halloween

-Asbury Park Press: Give Out Vegan-friendly Sweets this Halloween

Check out your local health food store. Or make your own treats -- they don't have to be sweet, they could be fun instead!

Also, try boycotting the big chocolate companies like Nestle. We buy only fair trade, organic chocolate from stores like Planet Organic, and it's a million times better than anything you'll find at the counter at 7-11. We really like Cocoa Camino products, among others. Sure, a bar is a lot more expensive than a Hershey's, but the quality isn't even comparable. Besides, we support fairly traded products, not child slavery. And when I think of it that way, it makes a $4 chocolate bar seem very inexpensive.

Google Inc. is converting its renowned headquarters to run partly on solar power, hoping to set an example for corporate America.

The Internet search leader announced what is believed to be the largest solar project undertaken by a U.S. company during a solar energy conference in Silicon Valley on Monday. Google believes the sun eventually can deliver as much as 30 percent of the power at its 1-million-square-foot campus in Mountain View — a suburb about 35 miles south of San Francisco.

The ambitious project will require installing more than 9,200 solar panels on a high-tech mecca nicknamed the "Googleplex." After leasing the offices for several years, Google bought the campus for $319 million earlier this year.

Once they're in place next spring, the solar panels are expected to produce about 1.6 megawatts of electricity, or enough power to supply about 1,000 homes.

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Despite technological advances since the first photovoltaic cells were invented 50 years ago, solar power is still two to three times more expensive than fossil fuels in the U.S. and relies on government subsidies to compete.

The solar energy industry nevertheless is expected to grow from $11 billion in 2005 to $51 billion in 2015, estimated Clean Edge Inc., a market research firm.

-From "Google to convert HQ to solar power" by Michael Liedtke, Yahoo News, October 17, 2006