07 July 2006
Gleaning and culture
There was an interesting article in The Province today (front page, actually) about dumpster-diving. A group in east-side Vancouver has put together a pamphlet with tips for people who depend on food refuse for sustenance. It got me thinking about our culture and how it insulates us from other cultures so thoroughly, even those that exist in our midst, and about how little most of us understand about how other people live.
The average person would see someone eating out of a garbage can and express complete revulsion. When I see it, I wonder what it would be like to eat like that, but change little else about my lifestyle. I wouldn't, mind you, not because I find it objectionable, but because there's little enough to go around as it is, what with locked dumpsters and growing competition. However, if someday I was turned out onto the street with nothing but the clothes on my back, I wouldn't have a problem stepping into that realm.
I saw a French documentary a while back called "The Gleaners & I" about those who eke sustenance out of the detritus of the mother culture. It's a way of life which has existed for so long that old laws exist to protect the rights of gleaners and define the times and places that gleaning can occur on private property. Even so, the gleaner subculture exists beyond the recognition of the average person. They never see it, and if they do, they don't understand it or acknowledge it. The caste system is alive and well in the world outside of India. Those with little or nothing, the untouchables, are so remote from the concerns of the rest of the population, they might as well be invisible.
This is just one aspect of the overriding culture of the industrialized world, but I'd like talk about more in future posts. It's frightening how far removed we have become from the pre-agricultural lifestyle of our forebears. That level of abstraction is less pronounced in the dumpster-diver. Another thing that comes to mind when I see them at work is the image of the gatherer-hunter of umpteen-odd millennia ago. The relative abundance of the natural world they thrived in is reflected in warped similitude by the abundance of our garbage.
The average person would see someone eating out of a garbage can and express complete revulsion. When I see it, I wonder what it would be like to eat like that, but change little else about my lifestyle. I wouldn't, mind you, not because I find it objectionable, but because there's little enough to go around as it is, what with locked dumpsters and growing competition. However, if someday I was turned out onto the street with nothing but the clothes on my back, I wouldn't have a problem stepping into that realm.
I saw a French documentary a while back called "The Gleaners & I" about those who eke sustenance out of the detritus of the mother culture. It's a way of life which has existed for so long that old laws exist to protect the rights of gleaners and define the times and places that gleaning can occur on private property. Even so, the gleaner subculture exists beyond the recognition of the average person. They never see it, and if they do, they don't understand it or acknowledge it. The caste system is alive and well in the world outside of India. Those with little or nothing, the untouchables, are so remote from the concerns of the rest of the population, they might as well be invisible.
This is just one aspect of the overriding culture of the industrialized world, but I'd like talk about more in future posts. It's frightening how far removed we have become from the pre-agricultural lifestyle of our forebears. That level of abstraction is less pronounced in the dumpster-diver. Another thing that comes to mind when I see them at work is the image of the gatherer-hunter of umpteen-odd millennia ago. The relative abundance of the natural world they thrived in is reflected in warped similitude by the abundance of our garbage.
Labels: freeganism
// posted by Parge @ 10:57 AM
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dumpster diving is kool. your attitude is all wrong. you won't do it because you think you're too rich. dumpster diving is not about garbage or being poor but is about stuff that is perfectly good and clean and useful that some dumb ass is going to throw away. the high school across the street from me just threw about one half a chemistry lab in the dumpster, boxes of unopened lab equipment, glass ware, aprons, test tubes, etc. cheers .. doug watts, augusta, maine usa.
Hey Doug,
I thought I made it clear in my post that I thought dumpster diving was cool as well. Beautiful, in fact. It's reuse, which is far more sustainable than recycling or sending it to the land fill, as the contents of a dumpster would inevitably be. I also made it clear that the only reason I wouldn't do it is because I don't need to, not because I think I'm too rich. I don't and there is a difference. I'm certainly not wealthy, but I don't need anything that I could glean from the trash. I have an elegant sufficiency, as they say. But if I lost my job and my home tomorrow, I would have no qualms whatsoever about feeding my family that way. Check out that flick "The Gleaners" if you can and see what I mean about the beauty of it.
Nice score on the lab equipment though :)
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I thought I made it clear in my post that I thought dumpster diving was cool as well. Beautiful, in fact. It's reuse, which is far more sustainable than recycling or sending it to the land fill, as the contents of a dumpster would inevitably be. I also made it clear that the only reason I wouldn't do it is because I don't need to, not because I think I'm too rich. I don't and there is a difference. I'm certainly not wealthy, but I don't need anything that I could glean from the trash. I have an elegant sufficiency, as they say. But if I lost my job and my home tomorrow, I would have no qualms whatsoever about feeding my family that way. Check out that flick "The Gleaners" if you can and see what I mean about the beauty of it.
Nice score on the lab equipment though :)
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