Freeganism

Yesterday I caught the first half of the Oprah show. She had some guests who were explaining about their freegan lifestyle. I hadn't ever heard it called that but as they explained, I thought it was sort of a great idea. Freegans don't buy into the consumer culture of our country and as a political statement choose to get the things they need, including food, from post consumer dumping grounds, yes I mean the garbage. It was a little overwhelming to see how much edible and packaged food was simply tossed in the garbage. We could probably feed two or three other countries with the food that is simply discarded in the US. While I'm not ready to go dumpster diving this afternoon, it did cause me to think about how much my family and I consume and if we could reduce that in some way. There is a drought where we live but with a couple of rain barrels I think we can manage to produce our own produce this summer. Our furniture is mostly gently used before it comes to our home anyway, and I drive around in a 15 year old van. So maybe I'm helping more than I'm harming. If only I could stop the shoe shopping!