POSTED: 6:17 a.m. EST, December 6, 2006 By Jackie Dent for CNN
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Ever felt guilty about the food or the old television you chucked out? Perhaps you are a freegan at heart. Ever seen a group of healthy-looking young people going through the garbage and wondered what they are up to? Perhaps you have had a rare sighting of a freegan.
What is a freegan? A freegan is a social activist who, repulsed by the waste produced by modern society, has taken to eating food and collecting goods that have been thrown away. Freegans are driven by an anti-capitalist dogma, mixed with environmental, anti-globalization and some vegan ideals.
As the movement's manifesto (click here) declares: "Freeganism is a total boycott of an economic system where the profit motive has eclipsed ethical considerations and where massively complex systems of productions ensure that all the products we buy will have detrimental impacts most of which we may never even consider. Thus, instead of avoiding the purchase of products from one bad company only to support another, we avoid buying anything to the greatest degree we are able."
Where does a freegan eat? A freegan usually finds food that has passed its use-by-date from large rubbish bins outside supermarkets, fast food outlets, bakeries and farmers' markets. Other freegans forage in woods or in parks for edible plants or fungi. To get some handy hints, watch British restaurant critic Giles Coren going freegan for the day on YouTube (click here.)
What else do they believe? They are basically iHippies, endorsing working less, recycling, hitchhiking, cycling and squatting.
Where did the word freegan come from? "Freegan" comes from the blending of the words "free" and "vegan". It has also been suggested it comes from "free" and "gain".
What about meagans? A meagan is a meat-eating freegan, unconcerned by use-by-dates on dumped meat and dairy products. Meagans and some freegans also argue that a vegan diet is not pure as it consists of products that have an unethical provenance.
"The freegan goes further than the vegan," declares the manifesto, "noticing the plastic the tofu hot dogs are wrapped in, and thinking of fish and birds asphyxiating in slicks of oil in seas turned black with spilled crude."
Is there a movement leader? No. But Adam Weissman, a U.S. freegan, has set up freegan.info, a site which outlines the movement, as well as offering a guide to hot foraging spots across the U.S.and Canada.
For example, in Brooklyn, on Remsen street, freegans reported: "On a recent weekday night at about 10 p.m. we found abundant supplies of spelt bread, yogurt, smoked salmon, some tofu and other non-produce goodies in great shape."
How much food is wasted each year? According to the anthropologist Tim Jones, from the University of Arizona, as much as $90 to $100 billion worth of food in the U.S. is wasted each year. Meanwhile, in the UK, the Environment Agency estimates the food and drinks industry generates 10 million tonnes of waste each year, a third of which has the potential for consumption.
Are freegans taking food from the homeless? Some food retailers and wholesalers, frustrated by stringent policies that mean they must throw out food when it is past its use-by-date, donate food to homeless charities. In the UK, the charity Fareshare collects donated food from over 100 retailers and regular wholesalers, and distributes it to the homeless. Furthermore, freegans claim they only take what they need.
How much hunger is there in the world? The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimated in 2004 that more than 30 percent of the world's population in more than 70 developing countries are hungry.
日本为保护环保，在垃圾处理上，近年来变得很严。现在我们市，
扔垃圾是花钱的。必须买指定的垃圾袋才可以仍，根据垃圾袋的颜色，
区分是可燃烧和不可燃烧的垃圾。各种垃圾的回收日一般也不同。
还有，干电池，饮料瓶，玻璃瓶，一拉罐，废纸，报纸，衣类等等，
都是分门别类回收。只分门别类还不说，在仍前还要处理一下，瓶类的东西
都要用水清洗，饮料瓶外面的商标朔料纸得揭下来，商标纸作为可燃垃圾，
瓶盖也得拿下来，牛奶纸合得按规定的方法打开放平，玻璃类得包好，
写上“危险”2字。仍大型垃圾就更麻烦了，还得自己先给市里的管理部
门打电话，按规定的日时才可放到指定的地方。贴上“联络完“的纸条。
电器产品一般电器商店给回收。。
回收垃圾的事，不花点时间学习一番是不行的。即便学习了，有时没记准确，
经常是把准备好的垃圾拿到垃圾站，又得拿回来。像我先生总不爱好好学习，
仍垃圾的说明书也不读，一到丢垃圾时就得来问我。作者: fanghuzhai 时间: 2008-5-31 15:29 I am attending an environment forum organized by a local NGO. Got some info and will write about them later. Pretty alarming info about how cell phones cause damage to environment. etc.作者: thesunlover 时间: 2008-6-3 16:10 孔方兄，不，方兄，
你用不用 craigslist.org？里面的 Free Stuff 破烂宝贝都不少，但是你得自
己去拉，汽油费自付，所以许多好东西不得不放弃。上周一个老美送给我１６
辆各式各样的玩具车，我每周转送小女儿一辆。作者: 月满西楼 时间: 2008-6-3 20:08 我想捡点酸奶、面包和熏鱼，你们美国人真浪费。
