Freeganism
Where I first heard about Freeganism:
One Man's Trash Is Another Man's... Dinner? Sep. 13, 2007
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=4008966&page=1
All following taken from the Freegan.info site:
Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. Freegans embrace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed.
Perhaps the most notorious freegan strategy is what is commonly called "urban foraging" or "dumpster diving". This technique involves rummaging through the garbage of retailers, residences, offices, and other facilities for useful goods. Despite our society's sterotypes about garbage, the goods recovered by freegans are safe, useable, clean, and in perfect or near-perfect condition, a symptom of a throwaway culture that encourages us to constantly replace our older goods with newer ones, and where retailers plan high-volume product disposal as part of their economic model. Some urban foragers go at it alone, others dive in groups, but we always share the discoveries openly with one another and with anyone along the way who wants them. Groups like Food Not Bombs recover foods that would otherwise go to waste and use them to prepare meals to share in public places with anyone who wishes to partake.
Lots of used items can also be found for free or shared with others on websites like Freecycle and in the free section of your local Craigslist. To dispose of useful materials check out the EPA's Materials and Waste Exchanges directory. In communities around the country, people are holding events like "Really, Really, Free Markets" and "Freemeets". These events are akin to flea markets with free items. People bring items to share with others. They give and take but not a dollar is exchanged. When freegans do need to buy, we buy second-hand goods which reduces production and supports reusing and reducing what would have been wasted without providing any additional funds for new production.
We live in a society where the foods that we eat are often grown a world away, over processed, and then transported long distances to be stored for too long, all at a high ecological cost. Because of this process, we've lost appreciation for the changes in season and the cycles of life but some of us are reconnecting to the Earth through gardening and wild foraging.
The freegan spirit of cooperative empowerment can be extended into the workplace as part of worker-led unions like the Industrial Workers of the World.
Urban foraging locales
Online Freegan Groups
A group I learned of through my hurricane relief efforts who have been employing the Freegan lifestyle for far longer than it has had a name...
The Rainbows
http://www.welcomehome.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Family
http://rainbowguide.info/index.php
The Rainbows at work in Hurricane Relief - the New Waveland Cafe - they brought all of their equipment they use for their gatherings to keep several thousand people in healthful food for months following Katrina:
http://ashevillecommunity.org/hawker/katrina/
(the blog - Arjay's using it for other comments at this time - so ignore the first link on this page)
One Man's Trash Is Another Man's... Dinner? Sep. 13, 2007
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=4008966&page=1
All following taken from the Freegan.info site:
Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. Freegans embrace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed.
Perhaps the most notorious freegan strategy is what is commonly called "urban foraging" or "dumpster diving". This technique involves rummaging through the garbage of retailers, residences, offices, and other facilities for useful goods. Despite our society's sterotypes about garbage, the goods recovered by freegans are safe, useable, clean, and in perfect or near-perfect condition, a symptom of a throwaway culture that encourages us to constantly replace our older goods with newer ones, and where retailers plan high-volume product disposal as part of their economic model. Some urban foragers go at it alone, others dive in groups, but we always share the discoveries openly with one another and with anyone along the way who wants them. Groups like Food Not Bombs recover foods that would otherwise go to waste and use them to prepare meals to share in public places with anyone who wishes to partake.
Lots of used items can also be found for free or shared with others on websites like Freecycle and in the free section of your local Craigslist. To dispose of useful materials check out the EPA's Materials and Waste Exchanges directory. In communities around the country, people are holding events like "Really, Really, Free Markets" and "Freemeets". These events are akin to flea markets with free items. People bring items to share with others. They give and take but not a dollar is exchanged. When freegans do need to buy, we buy second-hand goods which reduces production and supports reusing and reducing what would have been wasted without providing any additional funds for new production.
We live in a society where the foods that we eat are often grown a world away, over processed, and then transported long distances to be stored for too long, all at a high ecological cost. Because of this process, we've lost appreciation for the changes in season and the cycles of life but some of us are reconnecting to the Earth through gardening and wild foraging.
The freegan spirit of cooperative empowerment can be extended into the workplace as part of worker-led unions like the Industrial Workers of the World.
Urban foraging locales
Online Freegan Groups
A group I learned of through my hurricane relief efforts who have been employing the Freegan lifestyle for far longer than it has had a name...
The Rainbows
http://www.welcomehome.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Family
http://rainbowguide.info/index.php
The Rainbows at work in Hurricane Relief - the New Waveland Cafe - they brought all of their equipment they use for their gatherings to keep several thousand people in healthful food for months following Katrina:
http://ashevillecommunity.org/hawker/katrina/
(the blog - Arjay's using it for other comments at this time - so ignore the first link on this page)
posted by Leslie at
7:16 PM
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