"Outside the Box"

With a tip o' the cap to my anarchist friend up north:

Is anyone familiar with these people? I think it's very interesting.

What is a Freegan? Freegans are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. Freegans embrace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed.

After years of trying to boycott products from egregious corporations responsible for human rights violations, environmental destruction, and animal abuse, many of us found that no matter what we bought we ended up supporting something deplorable. We came to realize that the problem isn't just a few bad corporations but the entire system itself.

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.

If you have the constitution for it, living outside society's mainstream is a way to challenge the universe to meet you on your own terms. But is it possible? Yes and no. The further outside the boundaries of society you go, the more diffcult life can be. But to some, it may also become more rewarding. Of course, you take on responsibilities that others take for granted: healthcare, for example (know your herbs!). Still, it's fascinating. And, the very notion that it is possible is comforting during these times when the writing on the wall does not describe a bright future.