There are many different reasons why people escape to a freegan lifestyle
By Monica C
This is part three. Find part two here.
Freeganism can be labelled as a subculture of people. In this subculture, there are different types of freegans who are classified according to their motivations to adapt to the freegan lifestyle.
The feeling of remorse for wasted food and products.
They are aware of how much food is wasted each year. They know that there is mass waste of clothes, gadgets, and furniture all bought in order to keep up with the recent trends and fashion. With that in mind, freegans take advantage of the opportunity to find useful items in the bins and dumpsters.
Love for the animals and environment.
Freegans are aware of the toxins and negative effects of the by-products used by a company. They also know how much non-biodegradable things are thrown away by people who are not aware of their negative effects. They know that there are abused animals in every fur and wool products.
For these reasons they adopt a freegan lifestyle with an aim of saving the environment. They want to eliminate waste and the dangers of some products by scouting the dumpster and reusing or recycling whatever they can find. They also don’t want to subscribe to purchase of products that cause the abuse of some animals.
They are against consumerism and capitalism.
They are the real freegans because they believe strongly that they know the real principles behind freeganism and who the real culprit is. Because of this they avoid everything that can make the capitalists stronger. They achieve this by not buying their products, insulting them by getting these products from a dumpster for free, proving to them that they can live without buying their products, or sometimes by shoplifting (this is the exception not the rule).
They are just extremely frugal.
Some people are just extremely frugal. They adapt to the freegan lifestyle for personal reasons. They just want to save lots of money, because it is an obvious fact that you can save a lot when you dumpster dive.
Aside from these common motivators for adopting a freegan lifestyle there are other various reasons. Some are encouraged by friends who are freegans while others just hang out with other freegans, because there are various events and activities held in freegan communities.
How to be a real freegan?
The first and the most important thing that you have to do is to ask yourself, “What are you fighting for?” or “Why do you want to become a part of a community who are willing to face the prejudice of the society?”
Although it may seem easy to adapt to a freegan lifestyle, the difficult parts are mainly the battles that you will have to face in your everyday life. To become a serious freegan, there are a lot of sacrifices that you will have to make. These include your pride and career – that’s if you are a capitalist or you working for a capitalist.
What’s important is that you are prepared and you have the confidence and bravery to face these battles. These battles include the fight against capitalism and consumerism. That’s why if you have this so-called career that includes working for a capitalist, or being a capitalist yourself, you may want to say goodbye to it. Not to mention the personal battles against the prejudice and discrimination of closed-minded people who can’t even figure out the difference between a freegan and a bum.
If you think you are ready to face life as a freegan, here are some important practices you have to apply:
Work less
As was mentioned before, time is the most valuable thing for a freegan. A freegan devotes most of his or her time to family, friends and community. He devotes most of his time taking actions against consumerism and capitalism. He also devotes his time teaching the others on how to create something good out of trash.
Squat or couchsurf
A freegan believes that lands should be publicly shared. That is why he doesn’t bother paying for a rent or mortgage. He would squat or couch surf instead or live in a communal area.
He would squat in an abandoned house to provide housing for those people who want it, or he will use the place to provide education for the community. On the other hand, couch surfing is also encouraged to all the freegans worldwide, because this is a way to build stronger relationships between likeminded individuals.
Waste Reclamation
This is a trademark of a freegan. He does it to eliminate the wasted stuff and food items. Many hungry people in the world are living in poverty. That’s why freegans try to extend their help by saving the foods and stuff from a dumpster and sharing these to the others for free.
Gardening and farming
Freegans are against GMOs and corporate food production systems. That’s why they create their own food by planting fruits, vegetables and herbs.
They minimize waste
They organize activities like free markets and free stores. During these events, you can swap the things that don’t seem useful for you, but can still be used by others. You can also swap your recycled stuff through internet-based swapping sites.
They don’t own a car
To get from one place to another, a freegan hitchhikes or uses the train or a bike because they know that owning a car will only contribute to pollution. In addition, they are fully aware that buying a car is a form of subscription to consumerism. This said, a documentary aired in the UK some years ago showed freegans driving around in a camper van using doctored vegetable oil as fuel!
The perks of being a freegan
It is a fact that there’s a movement or even an ideology behind freeganism and anyone who practices it can enjoy other benefits including the following:
Free food, house, furniture and other stuff
Your food and your housing is always free. You can find food in a dumpster or you can pick it from your garden. You don’t need to pay for rent or a mortgage because you have an abandoned house as your home, or you can find a place to stay with likeminded people. The same goes to the other things that you can find in a dumpster. If you’re lucky enough, you may even find something unexpectedly beautiful.
You don’t have to please anybody
You don’t have to follow any rules. You do not have any bosses to please. You don’t have any irate customers to deal with.
More friends
Freegans are social people. They promote couch surfing and gathering events to meet up with the other freegans in different parts of the world.
References for all three articles
Freegan.info. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2016, from http://freegan.info/
Blood Diamonds are still a reality. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2016, from https://www.amnesty.ie/news/blood-diamonds-are-still-reality
Global Exchange. (n.d.). A How-To Guide That Shows What You Can Do to Promote Fair Trade for Cocoa Farmers. 2017 Mission Street, Suite 303, San Francisco, CA., from http://www.globalexchange.org/sites/default/files/ChocolateActionPack.pdf
Lindeman, S. (n.d.). Freegans: The Refined Art of Dumpster Diving. Retrieved April 24, 2016, from http://www.utne.com/mind-and-body/freegans-dumpster-diving-zm0z12sozlin.aspx
Smithers, R. (2013, January 10). Almost half of the world’s food thrown away, report finds. Retrieved April 24, 2016, from http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jan/10/half-world-food-waste
The Chinese Fur Industry. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2016, from http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/fur/chinese-fur-industry/
The Wool Industry. (n.d.). Retrieved April 24, 2016, from http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/wool-industry/
Wilson, S. (n.d.). The Story of Cascade Locks, and The Story of Nestlé. Retrieved April 24, 2016, from http://storyofstuff.org/blog/the-story-of-nestle/
Further Reading and viewing
Further reading materials and videos can be found below.
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