“Freegans?”


Growing up I've always learned to not waste food especially from my grandmother who personally faced the Great Depression and learned to see food as something precious. A few years back I learned about people who actually do the opposite of wasting food; they save it; and here is what I've learned about them over the years and how they are miss understood and should be acknowledged.
Freeganism is an anti-consumerist lifestyle practice of reclaiming and consuming food that has been discarded. To further elaborate, most food companies waste products by throwing away food that hasn't been purchased or is past its sell by date. Often times the food hasn't even gone bad or hit its expiration. In these cases the people who practice freeganisms; (Freegans) take the discarded food (left by grocery stores or food companies) and consume the products that would have added to the U.S land fills. Even now, the United States is constantly producing food while wasting copious amounts of food. In a study by the National Resources Defense Council; in 2012 40% of food in the U.S. was wasted. This added up to $165 billion in waste. Thankfully, Freegans take advantage of the potential waste and make wasted food their treasure. Unfortunately Freegans; the people who are trying to decrease the waste in the U.S., are criminalized for scavenging discarded food. And even though there was a 1988 supreme court ruling stating that when a person throws something out, that item now belongs to the public domain; police and grocery store owners still press charges against Freegnas. But; they do this at their own risk and use their methods to teach society, feed their communities, and essentially survive. These people are trying to change the way resources are used; yet they are getting punished even though they are trying to help; and it is wrong to chain up people who don't deserve to be punished in the first place.

In all honesty, if someone is given the chance of getting perfectly good food even with the circumstances of it being discarded; they should take it. As it is, the United States alone produces enough food to feed the whole world several times, and America is 5% of the world's population but consumes 30% of the earth's resources and that 30% isn't guaranteed to be used. To add, the Freegans methods are teaching society to live off of less and appreciate what one has; not necessarily advocating dumpster diving and trespassing. Moreover, Freegans are also helpful to their communities and provide aid to people in need, often by giving up their time and resources to ensure others are fed. This is great because when help is available and voluntary, people will appreciate it and pass it on.

Furthermore, there are many people in the United States that are in need of food; 1 in 6 Americans face hunger everyday. And although, there are only 400-500 Freegans in New York by itself; the diversity of New York and other people of the nation have been able to recognize Freegans, and in return the Freegans help their communities, hence helping people with their hunger. They are able to contribute their dumpster diving, foraging, and harvested resources to their communities; they even go as far as renting out soup kitchens or even restaurants. In doing this they help feed the poor or even just regular people that desire a cooked meal. Freegans are also able to trade with one another and start community gardens. Yet the average person might deem these people crazy; Freegans just want what's best for society and are doing nothing to harm people or to deserve to be put in jail. To add, this has lead to differences in society,and leaves Freegans in hiding.

Not all people believe that Freegans are good contributing citizens. When society hears Freegan they think thieves, bums, or nuts; still Freegans are more diverse than that. In actuality Freegans are regular people who have been converted to the lifestyle. One of these people was Madeline Nelson, a 51 year old former high-ranking employee of a major publishing firm who gave up her six figure profile to become a Freegan. She since then has joined a New York based group of Freegans from Wetlands Activism Collective group that fight for earth, human, and animal liberation. Most importantly Nelson is happy doing what she does and she wouldn't change anything. In my opinion Freegans are well educated people who are unknown and often radical, but they are also articulate innovators trying to make a difference.

If you (the reader) had the chance to save or a least help in aiding a population even if it meant going to jail or being punished would you do it?... Knowing the ways of Freegans, they would. That is all Freegans are... not controversial but peaceful...not scavengers but providers...not criminals but heroes.

For this last and closing message it can be said that Freegans are change. They are change to the consumer system; they are change to thinking; and they are change to society and differing lifestyles. Freegans are people trying to make it through life just like everyone else; they just choose to see through a different glass full of new ways of living. These communities of Freegans have been ridiculed, out casted, judged, and criminalized for trying to improve the lives of people who deserve to live a good life. And they just want people to consider the habits of living off less, appreciating what one has, and sharing what one doesn't need. So... is it too much to ask to stop hindering people who actually make a positive difference; and start pointing fingers at the people who aren't doing anything?