Freeganism free essay sample

There are a slew of good people who helped me write this piece. When John Boe, my UWP journalism professor, announced that we could write on literally anything we wanted, I felt like a housecat looking out the front door. Unsure of where to step, and without any of my own ideas, I asked my good friend Liz what I should write about. It was she who turned me on to the Davis â€Å"dumpster diving† culture and its protest of the food industry through gleaning. These gleaners, whose names I changed to protect their privacy, welcomed me into their homes and showed me the utmost generosity. And now, from my soapbox, I can see that religious capitalism has yielded an American culture of excess, a culture that transcends our own borders, and wasted food remains a physical testament to our negligence. Though gleaning may not solve the planet’s food problems, it does illuminate these problems, which is a start. We will write a custom essay sample on Freeganism or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page And who can turn down free cheese —Ronny Smith Instructor’s Comment: I have to admit that when Ronald Smith pitched his idea of doing a dumpster diving story, I was not wildly enthusiastic. I had had a student do a similar story a year or so previously, and her result was more a personal essay (â€Å"Look, I went dumpster diving! †) than journalism. But Ronald took a different approach and ended up with a fabulous final product. Sure the highlight of the piece is in his first person experience of dumpster diving, which he renders skillfully: I feel as if I am in the dumpster with him, and I cringe when he actually eats some of the found food. But Ronald puts the diamond of his first person story in a rich setting: information from a UCD American Studies class, interviews (a grad student in Community Development, several dumpster divers, the Grocery Manager of Davis Foods Co-op), information from newspapers and other sources, reports on Sacramento’s efforts to regulate dumpster diving (including an account of a Sacramento Council Chamber Meeting), and a summary of author Raj Patel’s remarks when he spoke at UCD earlier in the quarter. And the final element that Ronald brought to the piece was the ability to write strikingly elegant sentences and create vivid scenes. From the lead to the ending, there are sparkling sentences and memorable moments in this superbly written piece.? —John Boe, University Writing Program Americans hate trash. They hate it. So much so that some American lawmakers want to pay other countries to take our trash, just so we don’t have to deal with it. Trash smells, it looks gross, and it’s everywhere.