Coal Free Mizzou celebrates Halloween

The group used the theme 'coal is scary' to show dangers of coal usage.

By Megan Donohue

Published Nov. 3, 2009

Correction appended

Despite the 22 mph winds Friday, Coal Free Mizzou members could be seen dressed up in costumes that followed their Halloween theme "coal is scary," brandishing props and petitions in Speakers Circle to raise awareness for their Campuses Beyond Coal Campaign.

"Well we were trying to have a really fun time, have a great Halloween event, but also really raise awareness about the dangers of coal-fired power use," Campuses Beyond Coal organizer Ryan Doyle said. "We've been joking around a lot and having a good time with our costumes, but the fact of the matter is it is pretty scary the amount of health impacts, environmental impacts, climate change impacts that come from coal."

Most of the costumes represented coal miners, with dirt smudged across the members' faces, hard hats, tombstone props and even several capes.

"We just want to show that we are representing coal miners that are seeking something better and are seeking clean energy," spokeswoman Melissa Vatterott said. "So we came out and we talked to students and petitioned a little bit as well, and tried to get more student involvement and participation."

Coal Free Mizzou saw wide support for its campaign Friday, Vatterott said.

"I feel like people were definitely looking and interested," Vatterott said. "I talked to a few people that were really interested in the idea of moving towards energy. I talked to someone who said their future is going to be in working with energy types, so I definitely think it was successful."

Events and Grassroots Coordinator Mallory Schillinger, the person responsible for organizing the props, said she thinks the props were effective due to the large numbers most displayed.

"One of our props is one about deaths," Schillinger said. "We have 53,000 deaths a year due to coal. Then there is one about asthma. I just think that it really gets across just how many people are affected."

Schillinger, sporting a "coal is scary" cape, said MU's dependency on coal-fueled energy is un-American, and referred to a prop that had the date of the first coal burning plant and the acronym ASAP to demonstrate the need to change to a newer energy source.

"It shows how long we have been using this type of energy and how far we've come with other technologies," Schillinger said. "Why are we still using this? It's so un-our type of society. We always want the best, we always want everything new."

Schillinger said she wished it weren't so windy so they could display the paper tombstones and signs better. She said people were taking note of them when the group was taking group photos though.

Some of the more effective props were the costumes, Schillinger said.

"Obviously I wouldn't be wearing a cape to class or we wouldn't have dirt on our faces to class," Schillinger said. "It engages people, then they ask questions, then we can tell them what's going on and how they can get involved or how they can help as well as if they do agree, because of course we want to speak for the students. That's why we do petitioning."

Coal Free Mizzou is hoping to set up a meeting with Chancellor Brady Deaton sometime in the next few weeks to present its petitions and letters from the student body that represent the widespread support it has received and discuss the issue, Doyle said.

At the moment it is still focused on gathering tons of student support through events such as this, Doyle said.