A Freegan Awesome Idea

Also known as not putting your money where your mouth is.

Freeganism (def): dumpster diving as a conscious lifestyle choice. It's pretty self-explanatory, so I won't go into details. You can get a comprehensive view of the movement at www.freegan.info.

Freegans are not bums or street people. They are seemingly normal Americans who choose to boycott the waste and materialism of modern life by completely removing themselves from the economy.

Obviously we couldn't all do this, because there would be no waste to forage through. But--what a concept! what a world that would be! I look forward to the day when empty dumpsters and landfills are our largest problem.

My only issue with www.freegan.info is a political one. I think that when environmental and activist groups ally themselves with one or another of the two major parties, they effectively alienate half the country. There should be no political or religious slant to conservation. It's about doing what's right. And the left has done nothing for the green movement except talk. Al Gore had eight years of office to DO something about this impending global crisis and instead he did... ummm... well, I'm sure he did something, but it wasn't anything green. As I recall, he and Clinton were too busy kissing Monsanto's big backside and loading their pockets with polluted cash. Also,our friends at www.freegan.info are union supporters, and I've never heard of a union using their considerable clout to encourage environmentalist changes in the numerous companies they control. My point is that the political issues divide us on a topic more important than economics and foreign policy.

You probably won't see me in a dumpster any time soon, but I wholeheartedly support this lifestyle. If there are any would-be dumpster divers in Yakima who want to take me on a tour, I'm willing to try it for a test run and report back to the internet community.