The Freegan Lifestyle

[Elle]

Freegans. Ever heard of this alternative lifestyle? I just learned of this on Oprah the other day. It's not to be confused with "Vegans", with regards to eating only certain types of foods.


I put this in the Phil/Debate section because it involves opinions and discussions of consumerism, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumerism).

When you go to the Freegan website, Freegan.info, this is the first paragraph you will be presented with:


What is a Freegan?

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.

(More definitions):

Freegan.info | whatis

Sounds lovely and all, right? But, what it entails is deriving almost all of your food from dumpster diving. These groups go around to local grocery stores, bakeries, etc. and dig through the store's dumpsters. Sounds kinda nasty, huh? Well they have some good points, in regards to why they chose this lifestyle. These are MY pros and cons:

The pros, (in regards to food):

1. Free food - duh! Along with that is the obvious money that is saved.​

2. A LOT of the food, like salad mixes, muffins, canned food are packaged, so the sanitary issue is no longer a thought.​

3. Fruit is fresh and may contain nothing more than a mere, tiny nick on the rind/skins, so the store simply tosses it, wasting a shitload of fruit per year. As much as a billion pounds of fruit per year!! ​

The Cons:

1. Sanitary issues! With regards to food derived from say, bagel shops, where it isn't packaged. You have no idea what kinds of hands have touched them. Someone could have spit in the bag or something, and you can't wash them!​

2. I know once anything is thrown in the trash, it becomes a free for all, but what about taking that food and giving to the homeless? Since these people go out in large groups, this actually leaves nothing for the homeless. While this leaves a whole range of issues open to debate, still the fact is, these people are supporting THEIR lifestyles with claims to help reduce waste and consumerism, yet, they're literally taking from the homeless.​

3. The obvious - having to "shop" for your food - in a filthy dumpster. Gross!​

Obviously, I could list many more on each side...But, just for the sake of starting a discussion, I am trying to keep the actual post short and sweet. Here is the website, to learn more of this lifestyle.​

Please keep in mind my pros and cons. And PLEASE, don't make this a big shitfest with comments like, "ewww, effing gross." I really am interested in a discussion here!​

4. While the amount of frivolous waste these stores accumulate per yer is depressing, The Freegan website has this information to offer us:​

http://freegan.info/?page=FactsStats Information from 1994 and 1995!! LOL!​

The website again: Freegan.info

Also: What are you doing in your part against consumerism? Do you think about it, at all?

 

[Pudding Time]

Omg. That post gave me a hard on!


I'm gonna have to read up on this before I form an opinion.

 

[Peter Parka]

Torturing oneself unnessacarilly? Almost sounds like being religious!:ninja

 

[COOL_BREEZE2]

Very interesting Elle. And well laid out. The information you put there pretty much gives a good understanding even without having to go to the website.

The cons are what concerns me the most. I would think there was good reason to throw out the foodstuff. Businesses would hardly throw out stuff just for the heck of it to throw out money. May have been for reasons of contamination, expiry issues or whatever. The trash bin is not the most sanitary place as everything is open to that immediate environment. Open foodstuff naturally so. Packaged foodstuff also tho to a lesser degree but then the question of expiry and other contamination issues still remain. Thing is too, scavengers are not overly concerned with leaving dump/trash areas neat and tidy afterwards either.

It's a helluva life to live and not very sanitary IMO.

 

[Elle]

Very interesting Elle. And well laid out. The information you put there pretty much gives a good understanding even without having to go to the website.

The cons are what concerns me the most. I would think there was good reason to throw out the foodstuff. May have been for reasons of contamination, expiry issues or whatever. The trash bin is not the most sanitary place as everything is open to that immediate environment. Open foodstuff naturally so. Packaged foodstuff also but to a lesser degree but then the question of expiry and other contamination issues still remain. Thing is too, scavengers are not overly concerned with leaving dump/trash areas neat and tidy afterwards either.

It's a helluva life to live and not very sanitary IMO.

Thanks. But, all I discussed was the food issue. Even though that is their main issue as well, they employ many other ways of minimalism in different aspects of their lives.

With regards to the trashed food. That's just it, there really is no reason to toss the food. For example: a supermarket will toss the food if they fruit contains "unsightly" nicks or bumps. this fruit is perfectly fine otherwise, save for their outward appearance. Of course, every food store is different with their standards, but nonetheless, the frivolous waste is a very real issue. And one may question, "well not give it to the homeless?" Well, plain and simple: fear of a lawsuit. Someone could claim they got sick from the fruit, or whatever else that was given to them. To throw it away, leaves it up to the public to take it or not and no liability falls to the store at this time.

With restaurants: Say you get a bread basket, you never touch it. They throw it out. It's common practice to throw it out, even if it was covered with a cloth while it was on the table.

 

[Pudding Time]

Well I think these people create a great point about how much we waste. I'd love for us to go through another great recesion for all the people out there to stop taking everything for granted. The amount we waste is disgusting, and IMO there should be laws create to combat this problem.

I was also thinking of the sanitary issue, but pro #2 clears that up.

 

[iced_shrapnel]

Almost sounds like REDICULOUSLY extremist hippies...lol...