Freegans...
 

so my girlfriend in an oprah induced self hypnosis is actually considering becoming a freegan and wants me to join her in this adventure... any opinions, thoughts, comments or adnecdotes on freeganism?

for those of you who don't know what a freegan is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOEF75VwAtY

Well just from watching the video, its a good thing thats helping the earth and the group it self, you should do it if you want just be careful with what you eat and how clean it is. Also tell your girlfriend to go near public school when they are talking out the trash because there are tons of leftovers from lunch, because really they always have more of every thing.

I don't really feel strongly one way or the other about dumpster diving. And I doubt that a small number of people would really have much of an effect on anything anyway.

However, I fail to see how such a thing would really reduce one's carbon footprint, as the food has already been grown, shipped, stocked and then thrown away... all of the dirty work has been done, whether one is paying for it directly or not.

If it's something you want to do, hell, go for it. Save yourself some money blah blah blah... but... if you're doing it for the environment or for some grand purpose.. please don't fool yourself.. because the people who shop at that grocery store are ultimately paying for it.

I am with you on this one ape, but i am trying to convince "her". I just though that this thread would help me build a better argument against hers so far my argument was that "going freegan" would actually hinder the economy and piss off alot of homeless that do this not because "oprah" said so, but because they have no other choice.

but you bring some good points yourself thanks.

No problem, darlin, always happy to help. :D

Its pretty shitty when hippies are taking all the dumpster food from people who have no money.

why are you putting quotations around "her"? Or does your girlfriend have an ambiguous gender? And Oprah's all for dumpster diving now?

Anyway, it doesn't necessarily have to be picking through the garbage. Around here lots of people go to Tim Horton's at night when they're about to toss the bagels and donuts that they didn't sell that day out, or some farms give away produce for cheap because its about to go bad. There's lots of different sources that doesn't OMG STEAL FROM THE HOMELESS. Which, by the way, if you expect the homeless to eat out of garbage all the time thats horrible. Support your local soup kitchen if you're concerned about the homeless population.

Saya, thanks for posting I put quotations on her to enphesize that she is really hard to convince when she gets hell bent on something.

Oprah had a show on it and my girl loves oprah.


ok, i am just saying if you wanna save money don't do it on "Food" man the political statent is nice, but come on it seems pretty wrong to me to lie to your selfs to save money.

Not at all. Food is getting expensive for some pretty bullshit reasons. Some big farms toss out meat or produce to keep prices high, probably why farms are willing to give away produce to people who ask. And the consumer themselves are extremely wasteful, we throw out tons and tons of perfectly edible food just because we don't want it.

Free food is free food, I'm not freegan but I get why someone would be.

I am not disagreeing with you that free food is free food,

the core argument on freeganism is that is helps the enviroment and the world as a whole and i fail to see where getting free food achives that.

Again, it cuts down on waste, and its not just the environmental reason but an anti-consumerist protest against buying food you're not going to eat and throwing it all out, and charging an arm and a leg for food people need.

Anyway, organizations like Food Not Bombs does get a lot of work done, last summer here they gave away a lot of free food. Its not an individualist thing, sharing and community is a big part of it too.

thank you saya, you were very helpful with your bit of insight on the culture and what it means i will consider telling my girl that instead of going dumpster diving for our own food we could just join a reputable organization that helps in a more meaningful way.

You guys both in Charlotte? FNB has contact info on their website for local groups:

http://www.foodnotbombs.net/northcarolina.html

Er...what about finding a way to grow a garden.. even if you don't have the land yourself, you can help set up a community garden.

Not only does it help cut down on the food that is shipped in from around the world, it adds green, growing things to an area.. and places need green, growing things.. cause well.. plants kick ass.

There are plenty of alternatives. Gardening is one of my favorites. I hope to have one next year.

I think some freegans do some guerrilla gardening, the local FNB does a bit of everything, but no one option is going to be available for everyone.

It sounds a lot like being a homeless hippie, except without the strong anti-war stance.

Eh, if that's what people are happy with, more power to them. I just hope they don't expect me to go dumpster diving with them when I can afford to go to the grocery store.

If you don't fancy dumpster diving, you should look around for a local CSA (Community supported agriculture). it is by far the best way to support farmers. You buy in-season produce directly from the farmer - no middleman. I think the majority of CSAs also do a lot of ecologically sustainable farming practices.
Much nicer than dumpster diving.

Organic/Biodynamic produce is much better than conventionally grown produce, because it does not use the chemicals etc.

There is an entire world of alternative farming/food production out there if you are interested - many better options than dumpster diving.

The problem I have with "freegans" is that they actually believe that because they're eating food out of a dumpster, they're more interesting or revolutionary people.

It's not good or bad, it's pretty much just eating out of a dumpster.

Fruitbat: I'm well aware of the farmer's market; they're all over the place down here in the South, right down to the dude selling watermelons out of his pick-up. And I've heard that about how it's supposed to be better for you, but thus far I haven't seen how; I don't feel better or worse from eating a peach from the farmer's market than from the grocery store.

The reasons I don't go more often are

1. They are usually held outside, and right now it's getting over 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and I like shopping inside with the air conditioning;

2. This is the time of year when flies are covering the fruits and veggies, and that's just a huge turn-off to me;

3. I really don't feel that the farmers who harvest the veggies at farmer's markets work any more or less hard than the farmers who work for the supermarket.

Like I said, if others want to go that direction, then more power to them. But it's just not my thing. I am a consumer whore, and I'm perfectly fine with that. ^_^

This. Underwear ++

Freeganism relies on people who aren't freegans for it to be a viable philosophy anyway. If everyone takes up freeganism then nobody will buy, stores will go bust and dumpsters will be empty. It's a parasitic, window-dressing revolution.

Freeganism is more than dumpster diving.

True, I should've just said 'ethical dumpster-diving' or something, but that sounds so ridiculous I can't bring myself to. The funny thing is that I actually started a thread about freeganism a couple years back like 'look how cool this is' and now I think it's more than a little odious (and odorous).

Hate its lifestylism, but the concept itself is no different than recycling, and even a little more consistent with ethical consumerism.

This type of thing is going on here too. I think it's pretty cool and a great way of getting free fruit and veg. The people who do it often just use areas of waste overgrown ground between factory units and so on. Even roundabouts in busy roads !!

Some do club together to buy these little bits of land for community gardens as well.


d0p3y - I have no idea how popular or widespread allotments or community garden plots are where you live, but have a look around and see if you and your girlfriend can join one.

It really seems to me to be another example of upper to upper middle class white kids fetishizing the poor.

When JCC posted that thread I remember there being a video of some eighteenish white kids in designer jeans driving a minivan up to a grocerystore (with a digital camcorder w/ "night vision") and giddily laughing as thy grabbed a packet of muffins and some butter.

"freeganism" sticks in my craw, mainly because it just seems to be class tourism with a quasi environmental justification.

Plus, now that Oprah endorses it, it's officially mainstream class tourism.