Comments on: 3 Extreme Ways To Go Green

By: Wren Tuatha

Wren Tuatha — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:30:10 +0000

Thanks for putting these ideas out there, especially the work of Food Not Bombs.

I would add Intentional Community as the way to go green that too few people are talking about. FNB started as a collective house.

Living cooperatively can help one live more simply and form better habits through collective effort, such as recycling more. Pooling individuals’ food budgets can help make eating whole, organic foods more affordable…I’ve lived in Community for 15 years.

http://www.ic.org

By: treen

treen — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 20:37:06 +0000

I used to work for a steak store, and if someone would walk out of the store with a box of steak, even for 2 seconds and turn around and walk back in, saying they bought the wrong kind, etc, we had to damage the steaks out.

To deter said dumpster diving, we were told to put the empty steak boxes in one garbage bag and the steaks in another garbage bag and throw them out at varying times, in different dumpsters. I thought this was ridiculous, as most times the steaks were legitimately fine and were just a case where someone bought sirloins and wanted filets or vice versa. I would either put the steaks in front of the dumpster at night or take them to a food bank. After all, who doesn’t want a free filet mignon that someone paid 30 dollars for??

By: Christina

Christina — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:52:39 +0000

The tire building is very interesting. It reminds me of the glass bottle temple built by monks (though the temple is a bit more aesthetically pleasing). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1148758/Pictured-The-Buddhist-temple-built-using-1-5million-recycled-beer-bottles.html

There are also some great houses made with architectural salvage materials and reclaimed materials from demolished buildings.

Regarding the dumpster diving, I would certainly eat food that is a bit old (day-old bread, etc.), but I’m not sure I’d be able to eat something that had already been in the dumpster. Blech. I have gotten some nice bits of furniture from the dumpster. Check out a college apartment complex around move-out time… they will literally throw anything away, even if it is perfectly good. It’s how I got my tennis racket!

By: Kiersten

Kiersten — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:52:13 +0000

I’ll have to admit, dumpster diving in the right locations can be quite lucrative. My college roommates and I use to go to Trader Joe’s late at night to jump in their dumpsters with flashlights. It sounds kind of gross, but really, you can find some amazing things in there on a good day – fresh bread, dented canned goods, cakes, pies, hearty produce, bottles of wine. I would assume, by some government regulation, they throw things away that are completely edible, but are barely past the “use by” date or are “broken” in some way. It’s funny – they double bag the fresh items and keep them separate from actual garbage. Maybe they just expect people to rummage through.
It’s an adventure!

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:55:06 +0000

This was titled “3 EXTREME Ways to Go Green” just saying people.

Also I love dumpster diving and driving around the night before big trash pickup (every two weeks for big items that don’t fit into city trashcans) and seeing what people put out. You can get nice stuff that way. I’ve never eaten out of a dumpster, but I might try it.

Great post!

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:54:23 +0000

The Earth ship thing sounds neat, if not 100% practical for all areas. And I’ll pass on the dumpster diving–no thank you.

As far as all the political unrest in these comments–if you don’t like it here, either get involved in the politics to change it, or move.

By: duke

duke — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 10:40:36 +0000

or join the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (for those who believe that Earth’s survival depends on Mankind’s elimination) :)

By: Uncle B

Uncle B — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:42:18 +0000

Detroit City a monument to corporatism! Just like Johannesburg only dirtier! Dumpster diving required where? in America! Capitalism and corporatisms homeland!(not commie China!) No Way! You’re putting me on! Folks building houses from garbage to escape from commies? no… corporatism again! maybe? You got no job! You die without medical care! corporatism, not communism! Some folks are so propagandized to knee-jerk reactions it is hard to believe! Sweden exists in happy socialist democracy, so does Canada! They all get a lot of things, including welfare, free food, no need to dumpster dive! Somewhere between hard ass, uncompromising bloody American vulture capitalism, and flat out communism are many shades of pale! The Chinese communists survive, and supersede Americans in schools, science, arts, engineering, languages,manufacturing, heavy industry, and other fields like economics, and actually own America, lock, stock, and barrel right now! They turned down Timmy Geithner and Obama and did not lend Trillions of our dollars back to us just recently! How very arrogant of such an inferior system! Dammit Folks! What we got in America is not all goddamned roses! Grow up and realize that improvements are possible, and we don’t always have it right every damned time! We just want to believe that, for comfort’s sake! and remember, thanks to our vibrant vulture capitalism, and corporatism, GM (America) went broke! The same year, GM (China) showed a 30 % profit! Using our technologies, our capital, our patents! and costing us our jobs! Here’s hoping you will be comfortable in your new Shanghai Buick, while I move to Hooverville and live in a tent, Yankee Doodle Dandy!

By: Jes

Jes — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:12:55 +0000

capitalism is opressive? maybe they should live in some of our planet’s lovely communist countries.

By: PurelyCotton.com

PurelyCotton.com — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:09:49 +0000

Okay… the dumpster? I thought this was a green article not a homeless handbook. WTF.

So go check out purelycotton.com – it is the only TREE FREE toilet paper. It’s 100% cotton – made from cotton linters – which is a by-product of the cotton harvest – so it’s recycled cotton. Good for the environment being a renewable crop and sustainable.

Peace out.