Photo taken from www.weburbanist.com
I was watching TV one night, and an episode of “Secret Lives of Women” was on titled Extreme Diets. This show spotlighted a movement called Freeganism. I have never heard of it before that show. Somewhat of a new movement, it started in the mid 1990’s. The basic idea behind Freeganism is to live with little or no involvement in conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. I was very impressed to see an average woman digging through garbage off the city streets to find what she will eat that night. I was surprised how much good food there was; non-expired, day old bread, and everything was wrapped and fresh.
This show compelled me to find out more about what Freeganism is and what it means. It involves dumpster diving, foraging, gardening, sharing and squatting. Squatting is the same sort of idea as dumpster diving, but instead of food not being used its buildings. The squatters inhibit these vacant buildings since they consider them underused resources.
Another aspect of Freeganism is belief that you should work less. Working provides you with money and also the desire to accumulate material things. Freeganism involves leading a simplistic life, and that you should spend your time with your family or volunteering. I think this is very noble. I do, however, really enjoy working and don’t see myself cutting my hours, but I like the idea of living minimaly. Do we really need a bigger house when we only use a portion of it? Do we really need that brand new cell phone when our current one still works? Do we need brand new furniture when it’ll just get dirtied by our pets? People may call me cheap, but I call myself thrifty.
A good example of how much of a problem waste is, take a look at New York City. They had to close down the largest landfill in the world (Fresh Kills) because of air pollution. Yet today New York City recycles no more than 13 percent of its waste stream. Sadly, the landfill developers are trying to rid the recycling markets because they get paid more for collecting solid waste than selling recyclables. This information may be a few years old, but this is a big problem. If I ever travel to New York, I would love to take a trash tour of New York to see firsthand how much good food goes to waste.
It is obvious that food waste has hazardous consequences. Landfills filled with decaying waste releases methane into the atmosphere that and is eight times stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. The only solution is to plan our grocery shopping to meet our actual needs and composting any waste. I have to mention again how wonderful it is to have my NatureMill composter we use in the winter. It will give us great soil for spring planting. If you have any other facts or information you would like to share about being a Freegan or tips of reducing our consumption, please comment below.
Hi, we came here after a good yahoo search. Neat site you got here! Keep it up!