On Dumpster Diving: A Wasteful Consumer

Everyday we are extremely wasteful with our resources and freeganism is a movement to fight that. “For those new to the term (free + vegan), a freegan is a person who has decided to boycott capitalist society by severely curtailing consumption of resources through reusing, recycling and Dumpster diving” (Kelley). Freegans simultaneously fight the system while also minimize waste, by utilizing the items that would otherwise serve no purpose. “Freegans want to put an end to waste and to the damage

Homelessness in America in Dumpster Diving by Lars Eighner Lars Eighner's short essay, "Dumpster Diving," reveals the stereotypes about homelessness in America. In order to confirm these known stereotypes about American culture, Eighner includes autobiographical accounts of the economically inferior class, as well as revealing his elitist rules that governs the life of a homeless person. According to Eighner, homeless people fall into the following categories, 'can scroungers', 'Dumpster divers', and 'scavengers

out on. The book "On Dumpster Diving" by Las Eigher describes a man who went from the infinite, yet meaning choice of consumerism and academia, to the difficult, fulfilling and possibly more infinite world of homelessness and dumpster diving and conveys just how deprived humanity's consumer life has left it of critical thinking and general appreciation for what we have. This scene is set with the definitions of dumpster, scavenging, scrounging, forwarding, and dumpster diving, giving synonym it's

In 1993, Lars Eighner, a homeless college dropout, published his memoir titled Travels with Lizbeth. Within, an essay titled “On Dumpster Diving” shares his experiences and how they define his identity. Eighner views identity not solely on his status of a scavenger, but rather on how his experiences shape his identity and how he acts despite his circumstances. Similarly, as a student, my own identity is not based on my status, but rather on how my behavior is shaped in my situations. The identities

toss the jar towards the garbage, I was reminded of an essay I had just read. In his essay Dumpster Diving, Lars Eighner suggests that when we throw away items, homeless people can find a way to make use out of whatever it is. Therefore, if we don't want there to be bums on the street, it is inferred that we shouldn't throw anything extra out. I myself was not supporting the homeless community, or being wasteful, I was just trying to make room in the cabinet. If I would have kept that inch of peanut

are one of the best days for consumers in America, because everything is on sale with an unbelievable low price. According to CNN Money, business made over 50 billion dollars in the year of 2013 after these special sales event in America. In these special occasions, people purchase product base on the recommendation of the media. When consumers realized that they have no use of the product or an improved new product releases, the old product will end up in a dumpster. Americans will create environmental

that blonde girls are dumb or Asians are bad drivers. In the two articles “On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner and “The Lady in Red” by Richard Lemieux, Eighner provides for himself free of cost by dumpster diving, but Lemieux is simply at what most people would call “rock bottom” of his life at the time, so he resorts to begging people for money. These two men are not your typical drunk bums hanging out behind a dumpster, they are

Eighner chooses to dive into dumpsters not because he needs the material items he finds, but rather because he does not. In the conclusion of his essay “On Dumpster Diving,” Eighner makes it clear that he believes excess material objects are unnecessary and that they do more harm than good for a person, and this is true. Eighner accurately describes how having large amounts of material goods does nothing to improve the well-being or morality of the human race because holding onto physical possessions

has increased and wastefulness has also increased. Dumpsters are full of consumer’s unwanted possessions that will eventually be replaced with more binge purchases. Do material things make us happy? Is there a price to pay for being materialistic? Consumers could be happier if they focused on the people in their lives rather than the things in their lives. In his article, “On Dumpster Diving,” Lars Eighner, writes a how-to guide on dumpster diving by relaying what he observes, learns, and practices

myself how much food I have wasted. Maybe it was because it was spoiled or maybe I just didn't like how it tasted. All this waste adds up and all of it ends up in dumpsters or landfills. After reading “On Dumpster Diving” I have learned that America's waste is a problem and I now want to become a “. . . slightly less wasteful consumer” (61). If others plus myself learned to and understand how much food they waste our landfills may see a reduction in size. In reflecting back on this essay I have become