FREEGANS

So about a week ago on Oprah she talked about freegans. I had heard about them a few years back and thought gross, how dumb. However, this time I really listened to what they had to say and was quite surprised. Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. The man you see in the picture is an optometrist and his wife is an engineer. Their house is furnished from items found on the street etc. They dumpster dive in grocery store dumpsters for their food. A businesswoman in NYC took Lisa Ling on a trash tour. In NYC they keep their garbage out in front of the stores. Outside the grocery stores they found many unopened jars of food, bags of unopened produce, boxes of unopened cereal etc. I was shocked and disgusted at the wasting of that much food. Apparently they can't give it to homeless shelters for fear of being sued. Am I going to dumpster dive? No. Am I going to try and be more conscious of what and how much I use? Yes. Lately I've been noticing little things around me that people are doing to help our environment. At JoAnns a lady said I don't want to waste your bags. Duh! Why have I been taking bags for items I can throw in my purse?! At Kohls, I didn't take a bag for a pair of shorts and the cashier looked at me like I was crazy but what was I really going to do with that bag anyway? At Winco the lady bagging next to me brought her old bags...why haven't I been doing this? The Andrus household is taking a page from the freegans to be more aware of our surroundings and how we can waste less. Thank you freegans!