Freeganism

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Jogeephus

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Ever heard the term? I hadn't till the other night when I watched a show on it. Seems people are dropping off the radar and pilfering through trash cans for food and clothing. These are not bums. Many are quite educated and are doing it to save the environment and leave a smaller "footprint" on the earth. The ultimate recyclers some profess. I tried to picture myself doing this but I kinda like wearing a big boot and leaving my mark on the world. What do ya'll think of this? Do you know anyone who is like this? Myself, I have a relative who is a bum. Not in the sense that you might think. He is actually rich enough to burn a wet mule with hundred dollar bills but grew tired of the rat race and cashed in his chips. Now he wanders the roads. Every now and then we will get a post card from some neat place letting us know he is still rambling. Not for me. But he seems happy so I guess this is all that matters.

In trying to find more info on Freeganism I found this site. Seems the gov't is wanting to get involved with it to to "help out". Might just be a guilt offering on their part.

http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm? ... e=s2i31147

Though the link is ficticious, there are many more on web that are not. Others just don't make for as enjoyable reading. ;-)
 
I've heard the term, but not in this context (it's also a term for a vegan who will eat dairy products or wear leather as long as they didn't pay for them).

I saw a special report on homelessness and foreclosures. Part of the story showed what happens after families leave foreclosed homes. The banks hire companies to come in to do a "trash out" which just means getting rid of anything left in the home, trash, broken stuff etc and making it completely empty. But what was eye opening was that most of the stuff left in the homes was nice, usable stuff like curtains still hanging, computers, TV's, lamps, tables, toys, clothing, couches. The trash out companies job was just to get it all into dumpsters as quickly as possible and they did. Nice usable stuff that other people could not only use but couldn't afford themselves - in the trash. It seemed so wasteful.

Anyway, I'm all for a little dumpster diving. Too many good things, including food, are thrown out when they should be used and too many other things are bought new needlessly.
 
Nine years ago Kathy and I were in Washington D.C. We stayed in a very nice Hotel about three blocks from the White House. Late at night we looked out the window at the businesses across the street and there were Hobo's sleeping in the door ways and eating out of trash cans. We were shocked at what we saw. There is just something wrong with that happening in America.
Tom.
 
Jogeephus":ozw5sn2p said:
Seems the gov't is wanting to get involved with it to to "help out". Might just be a guilt offering on their part.
One would think the gov had screwed up enough things that they wouldn;t need to "get involved" in this. But maybe it's cause the gov helped these people so much that they've decided to bow out.
 
dun":1l2ld4dt said:
Jogeephus":1l2ld4dt said:
Seems the gov't is wanting to get involved with it to to "help out". Might just be a guilt offering on their part.
One would think the gov had screwed up enough things that they wouldn;t need to "get involved" in this. But maybe it's cause the gov helped these people so much that they've decided to bow out.

That was the gist of the documentary. It was a blend between environmentalism and dropping out of the system. People interviewed seemed very educated.

We have a more commercialized version of this in my area. Some folks make a living off yard sales. During the week they collect stuff to sell on the weekend. Its under the radar and cash money. I imagine they do pretty good at it. Like 2B pointed out, there are some good things to be had. I am a scrounger by nature but don't know about eating meat out of a dumpster like they showed on the show.
 
Jogeephus":1bd67ha4 said:
dun":1bd67ha4 said:
Jogeephus":1bd67ha4 said:
Seems the gov't is wanting to get involved with it to to "help out". Might just be a guilt offering on their part.
One would think the gov had screwed up enough things that they wouldn;t need to "get involved" in this. But maybe it's cause the gov helped these people so much that they've decided to bow out.

That was the gist of the documentary. It was a blend between environmentalism and dropping out of the system. People interviewed seemed very educated.

We have a more commercialized version of this in my area. Some folks make a living off yard sales. During the week they collect stuff to sell on the weekend. Its under the radar and cash money. I imagine they do pretty good at it. Like 2B pointed out, there are some good things to be had. I am a scrounger by nature but don't know about eating meat out of a dumpster like they showed on the show.


You know. Just think about it. With the "high standards" the media has shown itself to be and the lengths some will go to get noticed. Are you sure you can trust what you have not seen in person or know for sure to be fact. What did they not show in the 5 minutes before the dumpster dive for the meat?

Tell a lie to three people, have them corroborate the story among themselves and wha-la. News.
 
Jogeephus":2zeb7qnt said:
I am a scrounger by nature but don't know about eating meat out of a dumpster like they showed on the show.[/quote:2zeb7qnt said:
I just couldn't bring myself to eat food that someone else ate on already.But on the other hand after watching caught on tape on tv some of the things the people were caught doing in the kitchen has caused me almost to quit eating out at all.
Man that urinates in a coffee pot and I find out about it better be making peace with his maker,cause he's fixen to go face to face with him.

And I also know if a man's starving he'll eat anything in order to survive.
I sure did eat a lot of werid things back in the sixty's in survival school.

Cal
 
I will probably get rebuttal on my opion but I believe the majority of people that live like this want to. You can not change people,they have to want to better themselfs, examples: government houseing tenants destroy their own apartmenst,= lotto winners blow it= sports figures make millions end up broke in later years, 70% of the people that got houseing bailouts are back in the same fix,
people that abuse their credit cards not intending to pay it off, there is no stopping point
 
I agree with you Cowboy.Reminds me of some of the hurricane katrina victims that were given all that money.

Cal
 
I agree with the thought that most of the homeless choose the way to live. Lot are pretty smart, got the way of life figured out. Some of course "maybe 25%" just don't mix with the conventional, not employable, anti social. For the most part there is help for all if they know the ropes.
Freegans remind me a lot of the hippies of the 60's somewhat different motives and goals but same type of people.
Why the dumpster raiding, I don't know? Is it hunger? Do they hate waste that much? Not to many would be willing to eat thrown out food with out being really hungry. But most all of us would before starvation.
 
mnmtranching":pob024lq said:
Freegans remind me a lot of the hippies of the 60's somewhat different motives and goals but same type of people.

Same impression I got. None blamed anyone for their situation in life. All freely admitted that they chose this lifestyle for various reasons. Some lived in pretty good looking houses. None were homeless. This is what made it interesting to me. Reminded me of an old song by The Who.
 
Sounds pretty mis-guided to me. How big a favor are you doing Mother Earth by diving in dumpsters when you still have that nice house in the suburbs sucking up electricity, gas and municipally treated water and so on??? How are they getting to the dumpsters, in an SUV? Wouldn't you be helping the enviroment more by keeping your job and buying "organic" and "sustainably produced" food and supporting those activities if you believe they are so important?? There's a lot of mis-information and mis-understanding about the impact of different things on the environment. Some of the "greenies" slam beef production as harming the environment, when a cow/calf operation on grassland is probably one of the most environmentally friendly activities in existence.
 
cowboy43":1xtos5f1 said:
I will probably get rebuttal on my opion but I believe the majority of people that live like this want to. You can not change people,they have to want to better themselfs, examples: government houseing tenants destroy their own apartmenst,= lotto winners blow it= sports figures make millions end up broke in later years, 70% of the people that got houseing bailouts are back in the same fix,
people that abuse their credit cards not intending to pay it off, there is no stopping point

Won't get a rebuttal from me. I totally agree with this.

Most people that live like this work their system just as hard as if they had a job. Living like this is their job and it is their way of life. I know some of them, and they choose to live like this.
 
MoCows its funny you should mention the SUV since this is how one of them got around. Of course, he said, he was going to convert it over to bio-diesel instead. :lol2: I agree, I don't think they are doing the environment any favors. I think this is just their justification of copping out of society's demands. Impression I got was that most were just falling beneath the tax radar. With rental houses, no jobs issuing w2's they are able to live cheaply. Just thinking, but in my situation I know this year I've already paid five times my annual salary in taxes compared to what I made when I first started out. When I first started out, I had time to do what I wanted but I didn't have any money. Now I have the means to do about anything I want but I don't have the time. I sometimes thought of just cashing in my chips and dropping off the radar but I have responsibilities to my children who I will one day pass the torch to. If it wasn't for them, I'm pretty sure I would practice Joeganism which is an idea inspired by Jimmy Buffet. This is where you cash in your chips on Jan 2, write a note to the IRS cancelling any future services with them and sail off to a little island south of Cuba where my only worry would be the rate of ice melt in my glass. :lol2:
 
Joe, heck of a plan. Take your puter so's we know how to get there. :nod:
And if you got young ones approaching college age, may I suggest you implement your plans to include the kids. By the time you pay for getting them educated it may be to late for you to head out. Those colleges are good at getting ALL your $ if they get a chance. And once down there, why would the kids need all that education? :compute: To bad BL and I didn't do this about 10 years ago. :cry2:
 
alacattleman":ilji6bzx said:
alota bums with bank accounts,,aint seen one with a lap top yet

:lol2: :lol2: While I was browsing this subject I found a link to someone who had a blog on the subject. Was referred to by several other sites. Went there and it was shut down. I suspect they didn't pay the server bill. :lol2:

mnmtranching":ilji6bzx said:
And if you got young ones approaching college age, may I suggest you implement your plans to include the kids. By the time you pay for getting them educated it may be to late for you to head out. Those colleges are good at getting ALL your $ if they get a chance. And once down there, why would the kids need all that education?

Its to late now. Got two in college and one more to go. #2 son is going to a private college and is studying to be a doctor. His yearly tuition is equal to the cost of my first house. :shock: #1 son is about to graduate from Air Force Academy but he is now home on rehab for some knee injuries. Even so, its still expensive. I guess that's another reason sailing off into the sunset and shirting my fatherly responsibilities is somewhat entertaining in my mind. :lol2: But I'd do anything for my kids.
 
Freeganism..also known as 'Dumpster Diving' is not taking food from a dumpster some else has been eating and thrown away, it is or supposed to be from dumpsters outside the big supermarkets, when the sell-by date is up on food and they throw it away, dumpster divers go in and take that food to either live off of themselves or sell it on to other drifters, as their philosophy is not to waste food, as a few days doesn't matter on the freshness of the food. They are not usually Hobos',Tramps, Bum's what ever you call them, they are a kind of modern day hippie. Then there are the ones who go around skip surfing/raiding, when shops or houses being done up throw out good stuff, i.e furniture, clothes and household goods into skips then people come along and raid or as they would say re-cycle. I have re-cycled a few things that have been thrown away, got a real good push bike once. Why send it to a waste site to rot if it is usable, my good stuff I get fed up with and no longer want I take to the local Thrift/Charity shops. and they are grateful for it. My son who doesn't seem to have the concept of money yet, never having to go without, buys a new pair of trainers (sneekers) every two weeks, how can you say a pair of Nike or Addias has worn out in that time so the Charity shop gets them. One day when he has to pay for a house a car etc he wont be able to be so extravogent but he earns it so I can't say anything, he tells me.
 
I think the whole thought is they feel they are getting something for free.Like searching to find what kinda prize they can get.Like I think jo mentioned I knew a guy who searched all the dumpsters and would take his good stuff and set up at the flea mkt.
Also know a guy who drives one of those dumpster trucks in St.Louis and picks up at the walmarts,lowes,sams and those kind of places.He has a second hand store and makes real good money on their throwaway's. Seen him have brand new rider mowers for sale before that runs good but slightly damaged.He will take a couple damaged ones and make one good one and have extra parts for sale.
He told me one time that working his job is like having christmas everyday.

Cal
 

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