Oh good grief. No joy, it seems, is to be permitted in the new eco-friendly world order. No silly, whimsical childhood rituals can hope to escape the censorious notice of the green police.

Halloween, which is being transformed into a hyper-supervised activity due to exaggerated safety concerns, now also gets routinely criticized for its environmental impact.

Costumes that will be worn only once. Non-recyclable packaging. The farming, processing, and shipping of millions of pounds of cocoa and corn syrup. There’s a desperate need, apparently, to counteract all that bad karma with organic pumpkins, pesticide-free locally grown snacks “that aren’t so bad for the planet,” and a compost pile.

Yes, well. I’m off to binge, now, on a double-butter caramel, topped with pecan, shrouded in chocolate, garnished with toasted coconut, wrapped first in cellophane and secondly in foil, and tied off with a shimmering length of ribbon.

Read it here, here, here and here – and weep

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