Thursday, February 28, 2008

A thought about Freegans


The topic on Oprah yesterday was "Freeganism." For those of you who don't know, Freegans are people who are anti-consumerism. Practically everything they live off of they find in dumpsters, mostly food thrown out from grocery stores. They go dumpster diving late at night and find all sorts of food that they take home eat. They are also vegan, hence the word "free"+ "vegan" = "freegan."

A few thoughts I had about this: I can definitely understand the need to consume less. They have some good points, like avoiding the seek of happiness in bought objects. I could work on that. And the fact that grocery stores are throwing away millions of dollars of perfectly good food away each year is definitely a waste.

Here is my big question: Aren't freegans still dependent on the commercialized and consumer-driven system? I mean if we weren't paying so dang much for groceries to cover the 2-3% loss caused by the stores having to throw so much food out, where would they get their food from?

This entire thing reminds me of "The Bee Movie" which we watched at the dollar theatre on Carson's birthday. A bee decides to sue the human race for stealing their honey and wins the lawsuit. But then after the bees stop making honey, all of the world's flowers die (with no pollenation) and the entire world suffers.

So sorry freegans, I will continue to buy my food from the grocery store. But maybe instead of me apologizing to you, you should be thanking me for contributing to the system that provides your free food. And if that's how you like it, from a dumpster, go for it!

7 comments:

ray-ray says said...

Dude! That's gross. I think that they're just lazy, freaky people who came up with their "reason" for dumpster diving just so they sound cool. Sometimes Blake is a freegan....he loves to tip over our garbage. ;)

ciara said...

I'm okay with some dumpster diving Mitch found a really nice golf bag that he sold. But food that's gross. I'm going to contiune shopping at the store and paying extra for the freegans to keep eating. Hope all the birthday celebrations were fun!

Natalie said...

I have never heard of Freegans. That's extreme! I couldn't eat food found in dumpsters. Ick!

I'm with you. I'll continue to buy and consume. It makes me happy.

Lisa said...

Nicely said Marci! I am with you and Natalie - I will buy my food at Harmon's and continue to feed the ducks at Wheeler Farm with our stale bread ... so no dumpster diving at this house. Our stale bread is already spoken for.

Momoko Photography said...

good point

Kelly said...

I felt like I was reading an editorial in the paper - nicely written!

V and Co. said...

gross! i bet that's a sure way to get really sick! as for dumpster diving, jake and i did it when we were first married, we found great stuff it was just a cheap way to be entertained, and we got a few software things and some great furniture, (this was in california) and just a few months ago my brother in law did it just for fun once and actually found an ipod (the ones you can watch videos on) STILL IN THE BOX!