apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

The freegan people are, I think, a bit misguided. Their own philosophy is self-destructive.

Their anti-capitalist stance is not just that *they* shouldn't engage in capitalism, but that *no one* should engage in capitalism because capitalism is evil and brings about destruction and suffering for all of humankind. Ok, fine. But, when even digging in the trash, they are taking part in someone else's engagement with capitalist pursuits.

So, if we all started listening to the freegans and decided that capitalism is evil, which I assume they would want, there would no longer be the Sharp televisions, the bread from Le Pain Quotidien, the Tide detergent, etc. that these people end up finding in the trash (or private universities like NYU for that matter, or very many universities at all, actually). And then we'd all likely starve to death (or at least, have a seriously deleterious effect on our wellbeing), proving that capitalism has helped humans out of abject poverty, death at age 30, etc., rather than thrown them there.

The problem with the freegans isn't that it's just a lifestyle choice. It is a universalizable political philosophy about capitalism. So, if everyone adopted it, it would lead to massive suffering, for there would be no trash to dig around in (I am oversimplifying somewhat, of course, but they would have to prove how people in society could still get all of their needs and many of their wants fulfilled in their model universe).

People in sub-Saharan Africa are starving not because of capitalism but because of its lack in that part of the world. And by that I also include corporations being in cahoots with the government. That's not very capitalist.

I can attest to the fact that high rise buildings are the best places to find perfectly usable items that have been thrown away. Everything from left over building materials that contractors have already charged the homeowner for and have decided are easier to throw out than store somewhere (100 s.f. of wood flooring) , televisions, stereos, lamps, clothes (north face ski jacket with one ski tag on the zipper), furniture, sinks, vanities, granite, tools, garden hose, plants, magazines, books.

And my most valuable find--PACKING MATERIALS! boxes, tape, bubble wrap, packing paper.

One building maintenance guy writes off over a thousand dollars from donations of items he collects from the two buildings he works at.

I'm with Gene. Well said, Gene.

That said, I furnished probably 80% of my place through Craigslist.

I used a leather hide from a scrap bin ($45 for an entire hide was too cheap to pass up) to use for an ottoman I had custom built.

I am curious... I worry about picking stuff up curbside in NYC because of the aforementioned bedbugs. Opinions?