Freeganism is a lifestyle that has the abandonment of consumerism at its core. Freegans go to stores as a last resort. Most of what they eat and wear is recycled. Why do they do it? Read!
The forerunner of the freegan movement is considered to be the American initiative “Food not bombs,” active since 1980 and bringing together various activists with the same philosophy – against militarism, poverty and hunger. The activists collected food from markets, markets, and markets that was destined for garbage, and made food out of it, which they distributed to all hungry people.
From the point of view of freegan advocates, if governments and corporations spent as much money and energy on feeding people as they currently spend on wars, there would be no problem of hunger in the world. As a direct result of capitalism and militarism, vast amounts of the world’s food are thrown into the garbage just like that.
Adepts of “Food Instead of Bombs” also espoused the idea of veganism, believing that if all agricultural land devoted to meat production were planted with vegetable crops and grain cultures, the problem of world hunger would be solved. Moreover, in their view, giving up meat meant giving up violence. The organization gained popularity in the 1990s with the spread of actions in various American states. In the first decade of the 21st century, Eat Instead of Bombs volunteers actively participated in the anti-war movement, protesting against the invasion of Iraq. Today, the initiative operates around the world. In addition to distributing food, its participants help immigrants and fight poverty.
Adam Weissman, the founder of the freegan.info website, has popularized the idea of freeganism in the USA. Here is what he writes about this phenomenon:
“Freeganism is a full boycott of an economic system in which the desire for profit has overshadowed ethical considerations, and highly complex production systems have made everything we buy have disastrous consequences. So instead of avoiding buying products from one evil corporation just to support another, we avoid buying anything to the greatest extent possible for us.”
Freegans find everything they need to live in death containers. In them, in addition to food, they also find books, magazines, appliances, musical instruments, clothes, toys and much more.
Freegans are against owning a car, instead they use hitchhiking. They explain this by the fact that the hitchhiker takes up space in the car that could be left free, and thus does not increase the consumption of gasoline, which pollutes the environment. Overall, freegans prefer to travel by bicycle, train or on foot. Those among them who decide to buy a car convert it to biodiesel by fueling the car with clean diesel.
Freegans argue that being able to live is a human right, not a privilege. This is why so-called squatting is very common among them. Squatters believe that the need to have a roof over one’s head is more important than ideas of private property. That is why they occupy vacant and dilapidated buildings. Very often they adapt them into cultural centers, where they organize exhibitions, lectures about the environment, meetings of activists and other social organizations.
Main photo: Greta Hoffman/pexels.com
