Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Freegan Phenomenon
Given the current state of the economy, magazines have been featuring various articles dealing with “money- saving techniques” or offering advice on living off of the smallest expenditure of income. As soon as I stumbled across an article that described a lifestyle where you could essentially live sustainably with all the essential resources but without having paid a cent for them, I was definitely curious.
The lifestyle that I’m discussing is called “freeganism.” Obviously being a play on “veganism,” the article described them as a group of urban foraging eco- extremists. According to the official “freegan website”, they define themselves as “people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources.”
Going back to the article, it chronicles the lives of two twenty-somethings that are practising freegans in Manhattan. In both cases, they lived in apartments and their rent is the only thing that they pay for. They also meet with a group of other local freegans and go “dumpster diving”, which is where most of them find their furniture and fresh food that has been thrown out by restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores.
An interesting element in the article was the stress that the freegans placed upon their opposition to the captialist system and materialism. However, it can be argued that the only way these freegans can live a sustainable lifestyle is through the materialism of others. It is also interesting that the article mentions that a large population of freegans live in such a large city as New York. This is ironic in a sense since this would be the area where one can have access to the most waste. With that being said, it brings a whole new meaning to the saying: “don't bite the hand that feeds you.”
Freegan Website:
http://freegan.info/
Freegan Article:
http://www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/latest/freegan-lifestyle-trash#comments
The lifestyle that I’m discussing is called “freeganism.” Obviously being a play on “veganism,” the article described them as a group of urban foraging eco- extremists. According to the official “freegan website”, they define themselves as “people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources.”
Going back to the article, it chronicles the lives of two twenty-somethings that are practising freegans in Manhattan. In both cases, they lived in apartments and their rent is the only thing that they pay for. They also meet with a group of other local freegans and go “dumpster diving”, which is where most of them find their furniture and fresh food that has been thrown out by restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores.
An interesting element in the article was the stress that the freegans placed upon their opposition to the captialist system and materialism. However, it can be argued that the only way these freegans can live a sustainable lifestyle is through the materialism of others. It is also interesting that the article mentions that a large population of freegans live in such a large city as New York. This is ironic in a sense since this would be the area where one can have access to the most waste. With that being said, it brings a whole new meaning to the saying: “don't bite the hand that feeds you.”
Freegan Website:
http://freegan.info/
Freegan Article:
http://www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/latest/freegan-lifestyle-trash#comments
Labels: Freeganism, Materialism, Sustainability
# posted by Alessandra @ 10:53 PM 
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