Photo of the Day + "Garbage Revolution"

From our most recent meetup - "Back to school Freegan Video Potluck - Garbage""
Check out the movie we screened: http://www.garbagerevolution.com/

Getting Back Into It

It's been a little while since I last wrote. My last post was about July's Dumpster Ride, and we're going to be having the August one this weekend! Hopefully we will have scouted out some new spots by then...

I took a little break from things this month. It had even been a while since I had gone "bin-raiding" (another term for dumpster diving). Thankfully, I have been getting back into it, now that I am home from vacation. My blog is another thing that I need to get back into.

While I was away on vacation, Eric had been a busy freegan. He had found a whole case of "two buck Chuck" (cheap Trader Joe's wine). It's the same old story: one bottle of wine had broken in a case of twelve. They "chucked" the whole case out, leaving 11 unbroken bottles for my Eric to take home from the trash! He's been sharing them around with friends, hosting little dinner get-togethers and sharing his gardening skills. I didn't actually know a lot about composting until I starting dating Eric. :)

The other day, Eric and I took a friend bin raiding for her first time (another familiar story). We hit the dumpster in the middle of the day, being wary of employees. In less than five minutes, we hauled in two large bags containing a likely $200 worth of quality food.

Our friend's ten year old daughter (who came with us), was so excited about the excursion that she was bubbling about our dumpster food inside the store, when they went in to buy a few things they hadn't found outside. 

Photo of the Day

Here's a bountiful basket of beautiful fruit. Eric and I took two of the new LACW interns dumpster diving at our favorite Pasadena spot last night. We hauled home about ten boxes of fresh produce. I'm about to make dinner from it all, including the abundance of packaged mushrooms we scored.

"You People Don't Look Like Criminals"

As many of you may know, we hosted our 7th monthly "Dumpster Ride and Freegan Meal" event on Saturday. We rescued a lot of food, as usual. In fact, we filled up most of our cargo capacity (including the space in two accompanying cars) at our very first stop. The event was a success in all aspects. After the ride, we had a party at our gracious friend Eric Michael's house and enjoyed the bounty of our harvest (and the company of his pet boa, René). (more pics here)

But we had an extra element of excitement in our event this month. As we were leaving our first supermarket stop, some of us noticed that a helicopter seemed to be following our small band of about 8 cyclists. Less than a mile down the road, we paused at a stoplight and were surrounded by police cars! The issue was that an employee of the store was there when we were and he called 911 to report theft. He thought that we were stealing the stock that they keep behind the fence next to the dumpsters. We never met the employee, but the cops we talked to made sure he knew that we were not stealing.

The officer who confronted us asked one of our friends to open a wine box that was mounted on his bike ("That box looks familiar", the cop said). It was a classic moment when the opened box revealed not bottles of wine, but dirty potatoes and lemons. The encounter was a little tense at first, but it relaxed quickly after the cop shared our disgust in the amount of food that goes to waste. He told us that his brother, who works for a large food warehouse company, tried to start an organization to redirect his company's food waste to needy people. The effort crumbled because of tough legal requirements and food standards. Millions of tons of edible food are still wasted every day. In that light, the officer said he could understand why we were dumpster diving. He had to remind us, though, that trespassing is illegal (which I am sure we all knew). At the store we first stopped at, the dumpsters are locked behind a fence near the loading dock, where new stock is also kept. When we climb under or over that razor topped fence, we are incurring the law and suspicion of theft, even though we are careful to never take anything but trash.

One of the first things our officer friend told us was that "You people don't look like criminals". My haughty mumbled response was, "That's because we're not". (To which he replied with a lecture on trespassing laws). The scenario reminded me of a video in which my friend Ashwyn encounters a security guard while dumpster diving. The guard is telling Ash to leave, saying, "It's illegal". Ash counters with, "It should be illegal to throw some of this stuff out". Seriously, who are the real criminals here? The people who break laws about private property in order to make good use of edible waste? Or perhaps it's the corporations who are breaking laws of humanity by denying people food. The huge amount of waste has a negative effect on the environment, and keeps millions of people hungry.

On another note... What exactly did the cop mean when he said that we didn't "look like criminals"? Was he referring to the fact that we weren't hiding (since we don't feel that we do anything wrong, we allow ourselves to stick out like sore thumbs)? Or did he say that because we were a group of white people on mediocre or nice bikes? Just some food for thought...

Freegan Flowers

First, I would like to report that the LA Catholic Worker 40th Anniversary Party was a blast! There will be pictures of the madness, I promise.

But for today, I would like to "consider the flowers". Here at the house, we have beautiful flower gardens in our yard. When I enjoy them, I am reminded that a number of the plants in the gardens were actually foraged from dumpsters by myself and Eric. There are three wonderful permanent "guests" who tend to the yard and they always appreciate bringing new things to life.

This flourishing fuchsia is one out of a box of 12 that Eric and I found in a supermarket bin a couple of months ago. Even the planter is "freegan", thanks to Alberto's clever use and painting of an old coffee can.  

We found these roses in a different dumpster about six months ago. They have bloomed twice so far.

The beautiful plant at the right was dry and suffering when we brought it home in October. It's now growing rapidly.

Last, but not least, I will display the first pictures of Eric's and my vegetable garden. These are beet sprouts, with pretty red stems! It's really exciting, watching life sprout from the dirt. If only more people could experience this natural wonder.

Meeting Up

My dumpster dry spell was finally broken on Saturday, when we held the 6th "Dumpster Ride and Freegan Meal". It was a successful event. The ride was nice, the meal delicious. Thanks to our friend Eric Micheal and his  roommates for sharing their kitchen with the group. For more pictures of the event, click here. We hosted another pair of student journalists, this time from USC. The above photo comes from the project of one of the USC girls who tagged along. More pictures from her collection can be found here.

A friend of mine who visited the LACW last summer has started a new Freegan Meetup in her hometown! I was ecstatic when she let me know, because I was the one who introduced her to dumpster diving and Freeganism while she was in LA. It's so rewarding that she took charge like that. It seems like the group is doing well. Here's a bit of advice for anyone seeking to start dumpster diving meetings: just be patient and consistent. It may be a little hard at first to get attendance, but the more you just keep meeting and passing word of mouth along, the more regular members you will attract.

Here at the house, we've been gearing toward the upcoming 40th anniversary party! It's pretty inspiring that this Los Angeles branch of an immensely positive movement is turning four decades old. many intentional communities can't last even half that. Even more inspiring is that Jeff and Catherine have both been here, keeping order, for the whole lifetime of the LACW. Wow.

I've been in Los Angeles for an entire year now and am still enjoying the experience. Sometimes I yearn for travel again and know that I cannot stay in one place forever. But I feel confident that I belong in this place for now. When it's time to move on, I will know.

That's all for now. Peace!

Dumpster in Peace

Busyness condemns us all. (Don't ask.) Where does the time go?

Just a quick "catch-up" for you all:

Two weekends ago now, we had our last Dumpster Meetup. Unfortunately, these events have not been as frequent as I would like them to be. We shall correct that as soon as our personal lives are stable enough. Ha. The last event was a "success". We had a good turnout for a non-bike event (between 12 and 15 people), found a goodly amount of food, hosted a friendly pair of student journalists and had no security run-ins. We did discover that yet another of our favorite bins was locked. Publicity for the deeds of Freeganism is a double-edged sword. We hope that the public will begin to think about the ramifications of a consumer- and material-based society and that businesses will be pressured into facing up to their waste. But it also means that stores are going to take measures to keep people like us from exposing their dirty secrets. We won't be able to live off of the waste forever; one way or another, it will become unavailable to us. Our hope, of course, is that there will be no more waste to pick through because resources will be used in the most efficient ways possible. That goal, realistically, is a long way away.

Above, at right is a picture from that event (note the mic in the foreground). For more, click here.

That same weekend (an insanely busy one, it was), Eric [holding the "P"], his daughter Celina [hiding behind the "C"] and I [with the green "A"] attended the "Palm Sunday Peace Parade" in Pasadena. It was an enjoyable event, family friendly and very peaceful. :) Pictures for that here.

Dumpster in Peace, ya'll.

Photo of the Day

Pretty Veggies. Can you believe this sort of high quality, healthy product is thrown away in enormous quantities every day?

Sorry for the bad, grainy quality. This is cellphone camera technology here.

Fruit and Photos

Last night we had the video potluck showing of the Howard Zinn documentary "The People Speak". Because the event was hosted by our Dumpster Diving Meetup, we went out dumpstering after the meal, film and discussion were over.

It took a long time until the employees were finished closing up, but it was worth the standing around and hiding. While we were waiting, we watched from the shadows as workers dumped three shopping carts of fruit into the bin. There was no way that we could use it all, so we took what we could handle. There were a lot of other items in a different store's dumpster to give us a nice variety to "shop" from.

A box of fruit that hold perhaps a tenth or less of the fruit we saw thrown out.

A selection of colorful veggies.

Our bread box and a strategically placed pie.

The must-refrigerate items, including many boxes of fancy Brie cheese. 

The Freedom to Share

On Saturday, Eric and I attended an event that we had a tiny hand in organizing: the Arroyo Time Bank's Really Free Market and Bizarre. It was a lovely taste of what freeganism is all about; it represented people sharing things they no longer needed instead of wasting or selling such things.

In a main room, tables were spread out and stacked with items visitors had brought to share. There was a constant stream of people browsing the unwanted goodies and shopping for absolutely no cost. The goods were of a surprising quality and the turnout was quite impressive. In a corner, a group of children engaged in a free art project while their parents socialized and meandered among the free stuff. Later in the evening, a local band came and played for the event, attracting a lone couple to dance.

Down the hall in a smaller room, presentations were held by community groups such as the Time Bank, the Arroyo Food Co-Op and the Los Angeles Dumpster Diving Meetup (that's us!). I gave a short power point about Freeganism and Eric held an interactive discussion on Carbon Footprinting.

There was, of course, a table with free food. Much of it was from the dumpsters, thanks to an outing Eric and I did, along with the main organizer of the event, our friend Janine. It was her first time, but she was a natural. She even dropped her wedding ring accidentally into the dumpster, but it didn't bother her! "Don't worry, I'll just keep taking stuff out 'till I find it" - which she did. It took about 10 minutes. She also prepared the food for the event, using food that we found that night. Thank you, Janine!

Janine is on the right, I'm on the left. Those boxes represent three of the below final haul.

Photo of the Day

Here's the photo of last night's haul (more about it later). Take note of the bottle of Guinness in the front. That was one of three that we found, tossed because it was leaking slightly from the top. It was still a tasty beer. Oh yeah.

 

Photos - "No Peace, No Prize"

I'm the second in line, with the "Afaganistan" sign

The six who were arrested (including Ernie, our camera guy on the right)

in support

Catherine and Jeff arrested. 40 years of resistance and service!

Catherine being led away. The group was released within two hours with a "disorderly conduct" charge each.

Pictures from Dumpster Ride #4

Eric and "the trailer"

Cyclists boxing food, and a yummy pecan pie

My once-nervous friend happily selecting her "shopping"

More photos here.

"Patients not Profits"

Here are some belated pics, from both healthcare actions:

For more pictures, at least of the first event, check out this album.

So Much Waste, So Little Time

Here are some pictures of Eric's and my last dumpster outing. We actually brought home quite a bit more fruit than what is pictured here. In fact, we had to leave a lot of perfectly good fruit behind in the dumpster because even the Catholic Worker can't use that much fruit fast enough.

Eric's full fridge, with only about a quarter of what we found last night.

Most of what we found, including 3/4 of a bottle of wine and so much beautiful fruit (I have to make pie now, with dumpstered flour, too).

Eric's hands washing fruit.

An Accepted Collective Insanity

Last night, Eric and I decided to try some new territory in our dumpster diving adventures; we went for a couple of spots that had been mentioned to us as having a tendency to be locked. It turns out that these two stores had locked fences, but open dumpsters. And thankfully, they were an easy hop, at least for an enthusiastic Freegan couple with a penchant for climbing things.

The resulting haul was huge (click the pics for a huge-er peek), and mostly from one of the two grocery retailers we checked out. The abundance was overwhelming; my first tendency is to yell, "Score!!!". But I soon realized how the whole thing was equal parts exciting and mentally devastating. The whole time we were cleaning, arranging and photographing the food, I kept saying, "This is insane."

For me, just the sheer waste was a sign of the craziness of our society and the ineffectiveness of our economic system. There was probably around 80 pounds (if not more) of perfectly edible meat (as well as a lot of of beautiful fruit and chesses): well packaged and still-cold packs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, fully cooked smoked salmon, thinly sliced beef sirloin and two whole chickens. Each little pack (usually around a pound or two or three of meat, my guess) was priced around $10. Their "crime"? (As my mother would say.) They were expiring that day or the next. Now, an expiration date is a suggestion, not a ticking clock on a rotting time-bomb. Why throw away perfectly good meat that could have been given away (and which will now, thankfully, be given away) ? It is likely that this particular store was overstocked and/or that meat sales are particularly down at this point in time. Meat that is close to the "suggestion date" is not likely to be bought by picky consumers and therefore, is not profitable. Better make room for fresher, more "in-demand" product!

The second insanity is the state of mind promoted by a consumer- (and profit-) driven system. A state of mind that says the locking up of and barbed-wire protection of trash (albeit perfectly edible trash) is an acceptable practice just doesn't make sense! It is such an unhealthy sign of the state of things that we have to sneak around like little kids breaking into a toy store just to liberate food that belongs to the people of this planet. I have literally had management tell me before (not anytime recently, thankfully) that I was "stealing [their] garbage". What?!? 1. You've thrown it away as an unwanted possession; 2. Food is a shared necessity that should be freely available to those with the need for it; 3. Waste is a costly, dangerous and pointless thing! We should make use of it as best we can. Try telling that to well-trained employee of a mega-corporation. You'd be better off cooperating and moving on to try your luck somewhere else. Some people don't want to change their minds.

Enjoy this well done video of my friend Ashwyn showing off the insanity to an Australian nightly news reporter.

Protest Against Nuclear Testing - August 9, 2009

Here are some pictures from the protest at Vandenburg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California. This vigil took place on the 64th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing.

Check out http://vandenbergwitness.org/ for more info and more photos.

A quote by Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic Worker movement.


Does such a banner even need an explanation?


I was enjoying watching the different reactions of the drivers in passing cars (we were situated on a fairly major intersection).


Click on the photo to make it larger and to see the wonderful detail on the banner.

Peace on Earth!