A New Breed of Consumers

Madeline, a woman who was previously earning a 6-figure salary, she said she gave her up her upper-class lifestyle to start digging for food in dumpsters. She even organized “trash trips” for those interested in her community.

You’re probably asking yourself why anyone in their right mind would give up a great-paying job for…dumpster diving?

The answer, my friends, can be found in a new movement aptly named the “Freegan movement.”

Freegans are people who want to get everything for free, the one-man’s-trash-is-another-man’s-treasure sort of approach. They are the ones you see grabbing various pieces of furniture off others’ lawns, the ones lingering around college campuses long after students have gone home. In a nutshell, Freegans want to live off of the things people don’t want.

“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.“
[Source: freegan.info.com]

The word “freegan” is compounded from the terms “free” and “vegan.” Like vegans, freegans completely avoid products which are made of or are tested on animals–but they take it even one step further.

According to their website, freegan.info, “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.” In other words, instead of just avoiding all animal products and byproducts, freegans essentially stay away from consumerism.

They recognize all levels of production (i.e. sweatshop labor, rainforest deforestation, global warming, and air and water pollution) as “pests.”

What struck me the most about O’s episode on freegans, was the amount of stuff our society wastes. Americans, which account for 5% of the world’s total population, consume 30% of the entire world’s resources.

Furthermore, $30 BILLION of food is wasted annually in the US. Now wouldn’t it timely if certain people (the CEOs of failed companies ahem ahem) started embracing a freegan lifestyle?

Vietnam Burn Victim Continues to Spread Hope

Even those not yet old enough to realize the impact of the Vietnam War recongize this iconic image above of a Napalm attack in South Vietnam. The moment, captured by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut in 1972, has forever immoralized the horror of warfare in the minds of humans.

This past summer in an attempt to obtain the number of credit necessary to graduate an entire year early, I took and completed a history course. It was in this course that I was first exposed to this photograph–an image that will forever haunt my memory.

The girl in the center of the photo has not only had her clothes burned completely off her frame, but sixty-fiver percent of her body is burned as well.

Now, nearly four decades later, the girl– now a woman– named Kim Phuc, is spreading hope to others.

She is a peace activist, United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, public speaker, and mother of two. Though the 46 year-old said she still feels pain as a result of the third degree burns which once covered more than half her body, that discomfort has not affected her optimism or hindered her ability to reach out and help others.

What an inspiration.

Midnight Snack

“Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.”

National Man Day

Two Indiana men have declared Monday June 15th as “National Man Day.” Nineteen-year-old Joel Longanecker and his 26-year-old brother Aaron have for months been rallying thousands to their masculine cause on Facebook. More than 260,000 people have pledged to “stand up and do manly things” on National Man Day.”

“National Man Day” is a chance for men to spend their day however they want, either alone or with a buddy doing “manly” things. Kids and women are not allowed in addition to “honey-do lists.”

No, this is not a joke. Apparently men want another chance to exert their manliness by peeing all over something else. What do you think?

The Oprah Effect

(Media Credit: Stars Magazine)

What is it about Oprah? She has been known to make entrepreneurs successful by simply mentioning their name, pull businesses out of near-bankruptcy, and has even been said to have that “Midas touch”–whatever she touches turns to gold.

Now, as a communications student, Oprah is extremely interesting to me: her style, her mannerisms, her ability to satisfy the needs of housewives everywhere with her world-famous talk show.

So, when a CNBC exclusive, “The Oprah Effect” aired last night, I jumped at the chance to watch it.

It detailed her “rags to riches” story and spotlighted several businesses touched by her golden hand.

A “must-see” for every O fan.

Progress

“For all it’s benefits, progress can be a painful and disturbing experience. Our reactions to it are often ambivalent: we want the improvements and comforts that progress provides, but when it forces upon us the loss of things we value, compels us to change our basic assumptions and makes us adjust to the new and unfamiliar, we are inclined to resist it.”

                                                                                    -exerpt from Images of Progress  by Adriane Forty

Vive la Olive Oil…?

(Media Credit: onlinestore.smuckers.com)

Sure, every true Italian food lover wants to know that what they’re eating is pure–the Caprese salad, the pasta carbonara, and of course the vino. But have Connecticut residents (Nutmeggers) gone too far?

Last November, the Nutmeg state became one of the first states to set stricter standards for the purity of olive oil. State officials site the prevention of allergic reactions as one of their goals for the bill.

But a New Yorker is now challenging these standards. Earlier today, Dennis Kangadis, vice president of New York-based Kangadis Food Inc., asked a judge to stop the state from enforcing them.

Kangadis stated that Connecticut’s new standards for olive oil are unfair and has already filed paperwork in Hartford Superior Court according to a recent article published by boston.com. He asked for a temporary injunction to stop the ban on olive oil that contains other oils such as peanut oil.

Glad to hear that something other than the failed economy is keeping those CT reps. busy!

Wilkinson Preggers?

(Media Credit: USmagazine.com)

It has been confirmed that Kendra Wilkinson–of the Girls Next Door Fame–is preggers.

Wilkinson and fiance Hank Baskett exclusively confirmed this juicy little tidbit to E! News Tuesday.

The two, set to marry on June 27 at Wilkinson’s former abode–the Playboy Mansion–say they’re more than excited.

“Hank and I are thrilled to announce that we are expecting our first child together,” Wilkinson told E!. “We are touched by the outpouring of support by our family, friends and fans.”

Wilkinson, 23, and Baskett, 26, announced their engagement last November when the pro-footballer popped the question at the top of Seattle’s Space Needle.

And with last Sunday’s premier of “Kendra,” E!’s new hit reality show, this looks like it will be a busy month for the California couple!

Cash for Clunkers

(Media Credit: www.cleveland.com)

The House approved a “cash for clunkers” bill yesterday that seeks to increase auto sales by allowing consumers to turn in their gas-guzzling cars and trucks for vouchers worth up to $4,500 toward more fuel-efficient vehicles.

In an attempt by the Federal Government to restructure General Motors and Chrysler, President Obama encouraged Congress to approve consumer incentives for new car purchases. The House approved the bill 298 to 119.

But how does this plan actually work and will it be as effective as it seems?

Instead of putting cash in your pocket, the government will actually send up to $4,500 to the car dealership on your behalf. However, the catch is that the “clunker” you are trading in must be registered under your name, been in use for at least a year, and has a federal combined city-highway fuel-economy rating of 18 miles per gallon or fewer.

Plus, the new “energy-efficient” car, must be priced at $45,000 or less and rated at least 22 mpg. If the car is at least four mpg better, you get a $3,500 voucher. But if the car gets at least 10 mpg better, you get the full $4,500.

For trucks-it’s more complicated.

Standard duty models–most SUVs, vans, and pickups– must be rated 18 mpg or less while the new vehicle must be at least 2 mpg better to receive a $3,500 voucher. If it’s five mpg better, you get the $4,500.

For heavy-duty trucks (6,000 to 8,500 pounds gross vehicle weight rating) the old one must be rated 15 mpg or less and must be at least 1 mpg better for the $3,500.

Work trucks (8,500 to 10,000 lbs.) don’t have mpg ratings, so age is the criteria. The old one has to be a 2001 model or older. And only $3,500 is available.

Speidi Tortured in Costa Rica?

(Media Credit: NBC)

Apparently, the new Mrs. Heidi Pratt was hospitalized this past week on the recently launched NBC television show, I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!

According to a recent tweet by sis Stephanie Pratt, Heidi was tortured on the set. She said Pratt was held in a dark room for three days with no food or water. The younger Pratt added that spiders were dropped on her back and Heidi actually went unconscious.

The show, dubbed “the ultimate Swiss Family Robinson,” is designed to test the survival skills of various celebrities including Janice Dickinson, Sanjaya, and the other half of the Speidi duo, Spencer Pratt.

The show’s Executive Producers have reported the rumors of torture as false. Speidi was actually held in the chamber for 14 hours and there WAS food and water.

Do I smell another Speidi publicity stunt?

The ten celebrities were dropped into the heart of the Costa Rican jungle. But wait!-NBC claims the show is for a good cause. Whoever America deems King or Queen of the jungle will win an unspecified amount of money to donate to the winner’s favorite cause.

Though Heidi looks a hell of a lot better without all that cakey make-up, I bet she’s regretting the decision to do this show. Quite a change from the Hills…