How Freegans Work

[joeblow]

How Freegans Work

For most people, consumerism is an ingrained and unavoidable way of life. We work, we spend, we trash and we buy again. It's a cycle that seems all but inescapable in an industrialized society. But a group of people that call themselves freegans think they've found a way out -- a way to exit the consumer cycle and live off the grid. They scavenge instead of buy, volunteer instead of work and squat instead of rent. But there's a catch -- to live off the grid, they have to eat out of the trash.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeganism

Foraging

Many freegans get free food by pulling it out of the trash, a practice commonly nicknamed dumpster diving in North America and skipping or bin diving in the UK, as well as bin raiding. Freegans find food in the garbage of restaurants, grocery stores, and other food related industries, and this allows them to avoid spending money on products...

Wild foraging and urban gardens

Instead of buying industrially grown foods, wild foragers[5] find and harvest food and medicinal plants growing in their own communities. Some freegans participate in "Guerrilla" or "Community" Gardens, with the stated aim of rebuilding community and reclaiming the capacity to grow one's own food.

Sharing

Sharing is also a common freegan practice. Food Not Bombs recovers food that would otherwise go to waste to serve warm meals on the street to anyone who wants them. The group promotes an ethic of sharing and community, while working to show what they consider to be the injustice of a society in which they claim fighting wars is considered a higher priority than feeding the hungry.

http://freegan.info/

What is a Freegan?

Squatters are people who occupy and rehabilitate abandoned, decrepit buildings. Squatters believe that real human needs are more important than abstract notions of private property, and that those who hold deed to buildings but won

[haribol]

I lived like this for a few weeks. We lived like kings!