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!