Could u be a Freegan?

[suburban george3]

Cruising around the net tonight, I came across the topic of being 'Freegan.' This is a lifestyle choice that a small number of people participate in who shun consumerism. Freegans seem to live with progressive principals and oppose materialism, conformity, and greed. These folks will try to live their lives by spending as little income as possible on consumer goods. How do they acheive this? By scavenging the streets for throw away items and dumpster diving for food. These people connect and form groups which will go on organized hunts thru trash thrown out by grocery stores and restaurants. For furnishings and clothes, they will look for discarded items thrown out on the side of the streets. Some may hold meager jobs, but some live like a 'feral colony of humans.' This is living quite on the fringe, the question is, could YOU be a Freegan???

Delish.com article on being Freegan

Greenlivingtips.com article on the Freegan lifestyle.

Freegan.info, website for NYC area Freegans

[Neo]

There is no way I could. I do what I can to reuse what I have and when I do buy something I make sure to get a very high quality version of it to keep it from breaking down and to keep it feeling 'new' for much longer. I think there is a point where you can go overboard with being too restrictive in how much you consume.

Dumpster diving for food? That's just disgusting. Go to the local market and get some cheap plants and create a garden. There really is no need to dumpster dive for food in this country.

[The Voice of Reason]

Right there with you Neo,

Grow a garden, or at least use window boxes, raise your meat, go fishing

anything that you give a title to is too extreme for me.

these people might as well become Ludites

the reality is that if your goal is consumer free, you need to move to a place where not even the roads are paved. So if you are willing to accept that this is not an option and you plan on living this lifestyle in an urban environemnt you will never be successful. all civic services are a form of consumerism, and even if you are a non participant in the purchase of cars or bicycles, your taxes are paying for the subsidy of roads to encourage this consumerism. Any use of any media is also encouraging people to buy radois, tvs computers etc. just because the one you currently use was attained for free does not make you consumer free. hell you could steal what you want and have the same effect. the fact is that you might be using a used radio means that resources were used to create the one you have and the one that the previous owner replaced it with. so again the concept is not about waste but about your specific means of acquiring things, and I see no difference wether you get it for free or you get it as a gift or you steal it. Hell some section 8 renters are the ultimate Freegans. everything provided by the government.

leave the dumpster diving to the homeless that need the food.

[Gard]

I'm right there with Neo and Voice of Reason on this. There is no reason to be dumpster diving either in a country like this. If your too lazy to grow your own food, fish, and so forth, then you can easily go to a soup kitchen. Consumerism is almost impossible to avoid in today's world. You even encounter it is such traditional and undeveloped places as Papau New Guineau.

[Charlotteman]

The very idea of Americans not being materialistic as hell would be...........unamerican.

[monsoon]

My grandparents, who lived through the depression, would laugh at the comments above. However to put this in perspective lets clear up some of the confusion that has been stated. Consumption vs Consumerism

• First is with Consumption. People do consume resources to live. They need air, water, food, clothes and place to sleep as a minimum. Consumption is not consumerism.

• Consumerism is an economic theory. It's premise is based on the idea of first creating a "want" with potential customers then satisfying that "want" by selling them something. A key component to consumerism is advertising. It doesn't exist without it. Consumerism basically didn't exist before the 20th century. To put that into perspective, humanity has over 7000 years of recorded history.

The point of this movement, and it isn't an new one as it has existed in one form or another since WWII, is to escape the trap of consumerism. It's understanding the difference between wants and needs, not succumbing to advertising, and making clever re-use of items. Pointless consumerism means we are consuming the equivalent to 7 earths where the model is to dig it up, manufacture it, ship it around the world then dump it in a trash dump. In the process we are ruining the earth. It's unsustainable.

[The Voice of Reason]

while those definitions are find and dandy, the freganism is not about being consumer neutral or whatever you would call it. if that were the case the coal would to be reasonable, and well I am reasonable, I drive a 1995 car, not because its all I can afford, because its all I need.

But dumpster diving is extreme. I think in general I guess we need some extremists to counter the extreme consumers, but if anyone was really trying to change the worl it would have to come down to getting every tom dick and harry to become more concious of consumerism, and try and be more sustainable.

There will always be the conspicuious consumers, but the better part of valor herre is not diving dumpsters and recycling 1963 TVs. it is reasonable responsable consumerism.

[monsoon]

.....

But dumpster diving is extreme. ...

[ironchapman]

There are at least a billion people on this planet, if not more, who would be very happy to peruse the contents of American dumpsters.

[The Voice of Reason]

There are at least a billion people on this planet, if not more, who would be very happy to peruse the contents of American dumpsters.

[aboutmetro]

I think I'm a freegan enabler...

[krazeeboi]

In this case, I say let these folks do what they want to do. I don't understand why everyone's up in a tizzy about it, especially when they aren't harming anyone else or breaking any laws. The amount of perfectly good food and household items we throw away every day in America is almost an abonimation; I don't mind that people are taking advantage of this at all.