"If you have a problem with consumer culture in American society, do all you can to stop participating in the system," he says.

If that mass culture weren't producing all that waste, the freegan lifestyle would not be possible. It depends on the mainstream's excess.

Yay for reducing waste; I have no qualm with the lifestyle, but the perspective is horrendously short-sighted and "look at me" -ish.

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Both of the above comments tragically miss the mark and sound almost jealous of this student's success.

The point is not whether or not the trash would be there if more people lived like this guy. We in the Western world are obviously not in any shortage of trash. Even if this guy's philosophy changes the habits of 1,000,000 people (which it won't), there is no end in sight to the ability to live via Dumpster Diving.

The second point is that he is directly bypassing corporatism when Dumpster Diving. He is not even buying used. He is not buying at all. Therefor, his dollars are not going to spin the wheel of consumerism and he can do more worthwhile things with the reminder of his money. In today's world, we vote with our money. One's purchases are a political statement, and if "Made in China" isn't the political statement you want to make, you should re-think your buying habits.

The third point is that he is reducing trash by re-using items. As we have yet figured out a way to make unwanted crap disappear, over an entire lifetime, Dumpster Diving could considerably reduce one's contribution to a land-fill.

Dumpster Diving is clearly not short-sighted, but addresses key issues: corporatism and consumerism and land-fill space, neither of which is going to be solved any other way any time soon.

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