Free Lars Eighners Dumpster Diving Essay Sample
Lars Eighner wrote an article on "On the Dumpster Diving." The article is about a person without a home and accompanied with his dog making a living and surviving from the dumpsters. The author exemplifies the nature of wastefulness of Americans. The article begins by the author making outlines and guidelines on selecting what is fit for eating. As argued by the author, the selection of what is edible depends on the senses of a person and the common sense. This also involves the specific dumpsters in different areas and ensuring that the dumpsters are regularly checked. Lars is convinced that many dumpsters discard a lot of good food. Lars argues that dry food such as crackers, cookies, cereals and pasta is safe. Drinks that are carbonated were also safe if they were still fizzy. However, there are other types of foods that are not very safe he always had to be aware of them in order to avoid frequent illness. For instance, leafy vegetables, grapes, cauliflower and broccoli were unsafe for his dog and him because they contained some contaminants that washing away was difficult. Lars was very cautious in the selection of the food that he ate from the dumpsters. However, despite his cautiousness, he still suffered from dysentery at least once per month.
It is evident that Lars in this article "On Dumpster Diving" wanted to portray the wasteful nature of Americans
The author scavenged from an area that contained a number of wealthy college students. There was a lot of food that the students wasted at the end of the semester and during the intermission within the semester. The in such areas, the author would a lot of edible food than in any other place. Additionally, the students threw away drugs and other things that the author found valuable during important feasts such as dad's day and after big party celebrations. All these dumped food and products shows the wasteful nature of Americans.
The third and last purpose of this article was to show the reader the etiquette of the dumpster
According to Lars, dumpsters have many valuable things, though it is not sensible to acquire everything one encounters. The author only collects things that are of benefit to him and leaves the rest for the benefit of others. After anticipating his needs, he collected small things such as calculators and sunglasses. His needs also dictated that he collects warm beddings and antibiotics drugs whenever he came across them. As pointed out, the author thinks scrounging is not beneficial and there is not point going through individual cans since it is time consuming and messy.
Lars Article is similar to that of Juordan Cole, "One Student Dives into an Untapped Resource." This article is one of the latest to replicate the theme of the article of Lars. The article is about Will Morgan who developed his culture of making the environment a better place since his tender age. He began by considering himself a free thinker that is open to different perspectives and has a calling in nature. He joined the cycling club and his impact to the club was immense. He led the club to begin practicing sustainable existence while practicing the three "Rs" of sustainability (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle). Just like Lars, the group observes that man should minimize the waste thrown away. Morgan began by collecting plastic bottles and now he collects aluminum and other things. He recycles the wastes he picks up making them useful for his use and that of his group. This also helps him reduce his operating costs. He cuts his diet by eating food from dumpsters. He argues that it is not hard to eat a healthy diet from food found in the Dumpster.
From the above discussion, it is clear that there is a lot of wasted food and resources that are being dumped into dumpsites. Lars and Morgan have benefited from the dumpsters and they posit that there is a lot of opportunity in dumpsters that can increase ones fortune. Americans should live a sustainable life of reducing waste, reusing products and recycling products. Such a motive will sustain the environment at a cheaper cost.