Via Claire, a tale of How to live a middle-class life in New York City on less than $5,000 a year. Chapter One, in which we meet Marie the Freegan Frenchwoman. The opening scene…
Marie was mixing basil for pesto on the kitchen counter of a brownstone in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn when the doorbell rang. Her friend Janet Kalish was early for lunch: the butternut squash was still cooking. “I found kilos of carrots yesterday,” Kalish said joyfully. “I have to give them away before they turn bad!”
Kalish had collected the carrots on the street, just like the parmesan Marie was grating had been rescued from the trash. The pair became friends when Marie started dumpster diving three years ago.
I’m not going to fisk the whole article. Go read it yourself, it’s interesting. But it also takes me to that vaguely unpleasant place where I always end up after reading about dumpster-divers and freegans: Even though the basic ethic is pretty much exactly what I’ve practiced for nearly a decade, I think I’d have a hard time getting along with these people in person.
Maybe it’s the whiff of earth-friendly superiority…
Drifting from the American philosophy of incessant consumption, some have adapted to a system of interdependence and sharing – and eating for free is just the first step.
…and yet I’m pretty sure if you page-dove this blog you wouldn’t have to dig far to find similar examples of self-satisfaction. I’m not in a position to throw stones. So I’ve no rational basis for it. But still…
I don’t believe I’ve ever read anything by or about freegans without coming away thinking, “I don’t like these people.” But they’re really not doing anything I don’t do.
I’m indifferent… doesn’t matter at all to me what others choose to do or think, as long as it doesn’t aggress against me or others. I suspect that’s pretty much the way you are too.
Eating out of dumpsters seems seriously dangerous to me, however. Far too much potential for unknown contamination or disease… but that’s just me. I’d much rather grow my own food or buy it from known sellers who stand to lose substantially if the product is bad.
Doesn’t have to be all or nothing either. I’m delighted to find something useful another person has discarded or wants to give away. I’m happy to buy things I need and pay a fair price where possible. I’m happy to provide a valuable service or product and sell it at a fair price so I can buy what others have or produce. You seem to be that way too.
I see problems when people try to isolate one aspect of that, and massage it into philosophy and morals – then get judgmental about those who don’t accept or live that way. People can label themselves as “freegans” – or locavore, vegans, pacifists, etc., but what do I care what they do or think unless they attempt to use coercion, especially the power of government, to force my life into that pattern as well?
The difference Joel, is that you do not espouse the lifestyle for everyone…you are very upfront about the fact that the decisions you have made are for you, and you alone, and may not be suitable for anyone else. Freegans tend the preach from a position of automatic righteousness. “I did this, you can do this, everyone should do this.” They miss the idea that in order for a few (VERY few) to live the way they do, outside of society and sponging up the excess, there has to be a society bought into by the vast majority of the population. They also seem to feel that society owes them the cast offs because they are standing there with their hands out.
You on the other hand, make no bones about the fact that yes, a society has to exist, but they don’t owe you a damn thing and can be very much left alone, thanks anyway.
It’s interesting that someone would even pay any attention to this, because in every large city I know of – and maybe not so large – in this country the homeless, the old, the children and the poor make the rounds of their favorite dumpsters every day, eating directly out of them. When I was in college in a smallish city that had very limited employment prospects and a lot women students with young children who had been dumped, these women regularly inspected dumpsters behind restaurants and grocery stores and took home milk, eggs, bread, cereal, fruit, vegetables, canned goods and anything else that would feed their families. There wasn’t any moral superiority about it, just survival and a better diet for their families. (No, the so called “entitlement” programs don’t provide enough food or money for families and there isn’t enough clean rent subsidized or inexpensive housing to not devastate their budgets.) I participated in a gleaning project that intended the food as a fresh vegetable supplement for local Medicaid extended care facilities, only to find out that they couldn’t take the food because it would violate their federal agreement and cause them a loss of federal funds. I’ve found that there’s a huge amount of unnecessary food waste of all kinds, often caused by local, state and federal regulations that don’t allow donations or gleaning or other food rescues. Dumpster divers I’ve known advocate for less waste, recycling and less impact on landfills as a common sense solution to some very obvious problems. It’s just another path through life and I’ve not detected any freeloading superiority put downs about it.
It’s a useful skill. I have always thought that growing up poor (before welfare) prepared me for life better then had I grown up with much more. I could easily live on rice and beans and in fact I like beans. These two things (scavenging and surving on bare basics) go together well. Where if I were thrust into poverty or homelessness tomorrow my adjustment to it would be faster then someone who grew up and lived their adult life with more.
It is mental illness masquerading as frugal, with a topping of Earth freind moral superiority. That’s why you don’t like it.
It makes you wonder how close your own practices resemble that and you have to question if you are like those asshats. Chances are good that you are just a minimalist, which is nothing like these people. These women are hoarding cat ladies who are just on a different path.
Just think, if everyone became freegans (or whatever the f*ck they call themselves), they would be reduced to Donner Party status within a month. That said, different strokes…