Freegans

The film about gleaners today reminded me of an article I had once read about freegans. Freeganism promotes saving what others consider as waste and attempting to live without using money. Freegans use dumpster diving as a method to collect food that is still good, just as some subjects did in "The Gleaners and I." Some also are squatters-like the people Rebbecca met in Detroit. The New York Times does a much better job of explaining freeganism here.  

(Also, above is a link to a short youtube video about Freegans.)




The article mentions that many of these freegans, like the hipsters we discussed in class, come from middle class lifestyles. "The majority, however, seemed to be iconoclastic young people from middle-class backgrounds living some version of the freegan dream. They Dumpster-dive for food, mend their clothing with dental floss and brew dandelion wine.”

It is interesting to note, something I didn't realize, is that freeganism is not a new phenomenon. "Freeganism is often described as a recent phenomenon, but its premises date back at least to Gerrard Winstanley, a 17th-century English cloth seller. In the 1640s, Winstanley’s business failed, and he resettled in the Surrey countryside, where he herded cattle. These were tough times in England, marked by violence, famine and low wages. Winstanley decided that the solution was to form a community without money. The poor would till the soil and fill communal warehouses with their crops, which would be distributed to all. Winstanley, who abhorred waste, eventually took over some uncultivated public lands along with his followers and founded what was known as a Digger colony."


Why do you think these freegans are so resistant to the middle class lifestyle from which they come and instead choose to live as squatters and dumpster divers? Is it rebellion from the norm? An attempt to challenge the status quo? An attempt to make a statement about waste? Or is it something deeper?

Hana