Debt is on the rise. Recession worries linger. Many of us are feeling the crunch. But what if, instead of saving your pennies, you didn’t spend them at all?
In growing numbers across North America, “freegans” are putting away their wallets – permanently. They live for free. They eat for free. Or as close to free as they can manage. But, as Global News’ current affairs program, 16:9 The Bigger Picture found out, freeganism is about more than saving a few bucks.
What exactly is freeganism? 16:9 asked Michelle Coyne, a York University graduate student who is writing her PhD thesis on the subject, to explain. “It’s people who have chosen to opt out of a consumer lifestyle as much as possible, “she said, “choosing not to purchase but rather to make use of the excessive amount of waste that is produced by our society.”
Some freegans choose to live according to more extreme standards – completely off the grid. They might dumpster dive for food. Or squat in abandoned houses for shelter. But that’s not the only way to live a freegan life.
Blythe Blois is a Nova Scotia woman whose picture perfect home is actually furnished with garbage. She told 16:9 about 80% of the furnishings in her home, from the cabinetry to the piano, are items she “rescued” from the trash.
Sure Blois is frugal, but she’s also living according to freegan ideals. “Being super consumers has a trickle down effect on our children and our children’s children,” she said. “Also, doing what I do with my family has a trickle down effect – so they’ll learn to take care of the environment.”
In fact, spreading the word is one of the most important aspects of the freegan movement. And in Buffalo, NY, one of the poorest cities in the United States, the free culture message is being heard.
Albert Brown helps organize Buffalo’s “Really Really Free Market” where everything is free for the taking. Each market is an opportunity for Buffalo’s large freegan community to mix with people leading more conventional lives. For Brown, freeganism is a way to create social change. Reaching out to the community at large is key. But Brown hesitates to embrace the term “freegan.” He told 16:9 a label goes against everything the movement represents. “I don’t want it to turn into some style that gets sold in Saks Fifth Avenue,” he said, “with the cool t-shirt that has an A for Anarchy.”
Freeganism may not be a brand, but you could call it a trend, and it’s gaining followers in some of the world’s biggest urban centres. After all, the bigger the city, the more the waste. New York City, for example, produces about 15 million tonnes every year. It’s practically a freegan’s paradise.
Madeline Nelson is a prominent NYC freegan. She took 16:9 on a guided trash tour, sharing her insider’s look at the piles of bagels, produce, meats and sweets NYC businesses throw out every night.
The tour included dozens of people from all walks of life. Some were drawn by ideals. Others by curiousity. But some were drawn by need. After showing 16:9 her finds, including organic tomatoes and a whole roasted chicken, one woman named Dierdre said for her, going through garbage is a way to survive. “Not everybody is making a political statement,” she said. “I mean, I’m environmentally savvy but I definitely need to do it.”
In a consumer’s world where new is always better than old and more is always better than less, making someone else’s trash your treasure can be a revolutionary act – whether you intend it to be or not.
Pointing out the bounty the New York freegan group gathered in a single, typical night, one tour organizer told 16:9, “If thirty or forty of us are all coming home, loaded with enough food to feed ourselves and our families, there’s something wrong with our system.”
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