"Freegans are scavengers of the developed world, living off consumer waste in an effort to minimize their support of corporations and their impact on the planet, and to distance themselves from what they see as out-of-control consumerism. They forage through supermarket trash and eat the slightly bruised produce or just-expired canned goods that are routinely thrown out, and negotiate gifts of surplus food from sympathetic stores and restaurants.
They dress in castoff clothes and furnish their homes with items found on the street; at freecycle.org, where users post unwanted items; and at so-called freemeets, flea markets where no money is exchanged. Some claim to hold themselves to rigorous standards. “If a person chooses to live an ethical lifestyle it’s not enough to be vegan, they need to absent themselves from capitalism,” said Adam Weissman, 29, who started freegan.info four years ago and is the movement’s de facto spokesman." (source)
Freecycle's main page
In the spirit of this article, know anyone who wants/needs a tv and vcr? Otherwise, it's going in the tag sale (which should happen on the 30th).
3 comments:
Freegans probably hold the moral highground to vegans, though I doubt it will catch on (for one thing, they almost by definition lack sufficient resources to spread the word); and, for another, if they were globally to succeed, where would they get the discarded stuff?
True. (I was curious how they managed to start, and maintain, a website...) It's a movement that can't go very far outside of the system in place. However, I don't see the system changing any time soon, so it's at least possible for Freeganism to gain in popularity (especially amongst those who are broke).
Besides that, if Freeganism succeeded globally, then the message would have reached enough people for a change to actually happen... and Freeganism would no longer be necessary.
(And besides that -- I'm sure there's enough discarded stuff to go around for at least a year... Food might be an issue. But other random items, sure.)
It's possible that something similar holds true for other intriguing "isms" like Marxism and socialism; that, if globally pursued, are no longer necessary.
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