Who wants to be a freegan?

A vegan is a person who declines to make animal products a part of their diet. Vegans go even a step further than making food choices similar to vegetarians in that they use no animal products whatsoever. No leather coats or shoes. So what is a “freegan?”

For the answer to that question, let’s turn to England’s Katherine Hibbert, author of the recent book Adventures on the Margins of a Wasteful Society. Hibbert decided to store all her possessions in her mother’s garage, abandon her flat, and live for free with what she could scavenge. Turns out she was able to manage very well. Her first day on the streets was a harrowing emotional experience, not so much for physical trauma but for her first exposure to living without a safety net.

She soon found a temporary squat, made friends, found clean furniture and household goods freely available to anyone who would pick it up. Hibbert learned the ropes of finding edible food from her newfound fellow “freegans.” She soon was dining on pristinely packed sandwiches from the local grocery store bin, slightly bruised fruit from a nearby market, and suffering the scornful looks of passersby.

Hibbert’s experience brings to light a few interesting facts:

1. A person really can live for free on what our wasteful society throws away.

2. When you have no money, depending upon the kindness of strangers works.

3. In the grand scheme of things, possessions really aren’t that important.

For us modern survivalists, take a lesson from Katherine Hibbert regarding how much you DON’T need to live.

The Holistic Survival Team

Flickr / brewbooks