Freegans object to the overconsumption and environmental degradation on which they claim our economic order depends, and they register that dissent by opting out of it, recovering, redistributing, and consuming wasted goods, from dumpster-dived food to cast-off clothes and furniture. Through several years of fieldwork and in-depth interviews with freegans in New York City, Alex Barnard has created a portrait of freegans that leads to questions about ethical consumptionlike buying organic, fair trade, or veganand the search for effective forms of action in an era of political disillusionment.
Barnard’s analysis of this pressing concern reveals how waste is integrally bound up with our food system. At the same time, by showing that markets do not seamlessly translate preferences expressed at the cash register into changes in production, Freegans exposes the limits of consumer activism.
Freegans object to the overconsumption and environmental degradation on which they claim our economic order depends, and they register that dissent by opting out of it, recovering, redistributing, and consuming wasted goods, from dumpster-dived food to cast-off clothes and furniture. Through several years of fieldwork and in-depth interviews with freegans in New York City, Alex Barnard has created a portrait of freegans that leads to questions about ethical consumptionlike buying organic, fair trade, or veganand the search for effective forms of action in an era of political disillusionment.
Barnard’s analysis of this pressing concern reveals how waste is integrally bound up with our food system. At the same time, by showing that markets do not seamlessly translate preferences expressed at the cash register into changes in production, Freegans exposes the limits of consumer activism.
Freegans: Diving into the Wealth of Food Waste in America
280Freegans: Diving into the Wealth of Food Waste in America
280Paperback(New Edition)
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Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780816698134 |
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Publisher: | University of Minnesota Press |
Publication date: | 03/14/2016 |
Edition description: | New Edition |
Pages: | 280 |
Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d) |