Dumpster Diving Dumpster Diving History Dumpster Diving Thesis Dumpster Diving Summary Dumpster Diving Essay Dumpster Diving Eighner

1. Dumpster Diving
"On Dumpster Diving" by Lars Eighner is an essay about the author's personal struggles of
homelessness and the art of getting his daily necessities from local Dumpsters. Even before he was
homeless, he had started to "Dumpster dive," or "scavenge," as he calls it, due to the depletion of
his savings (Eighner 161). Despite the fact that the essay is about the author's homeless experiences,
he manages to remove most of the emotion from the essay and takes more of an approach that
seems like he's writing a Dumpster diving guide. Eighner utilizes many style elements including
writing with a strong sense of reason and judgment, contemporary information, and his general
dejected tone. This essay seems like it could have been written for two...show more content...
Although it is not as apparent, Eighner also writes with an underlining sense of sadness. Emotion
only plays into his essay a couple of times for the reader, but for the most part, the essay is
primarily logical. One big factor that plays on the reader's emotions is the fact that he is homeless,
which is the main reason he has
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2. Dumpster Diving History
The offenders came up with a new method of stealing information in those early ages, called
"dumpster diving". The offender would usually scout the trash of an individual who is under target
and would just look for vital information or bank statements that may help to claim the person's
identity and receive benefits under someone else's name. Yet, in a long run this was identified and
people began using personal shredders (See www.spamlaws.com).
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3. Dumpster Diving Thesis
Eighner's main point of this essay was to contend that Dumpster diving is a somewhat viable
means of living for some, but the human tendency of overvaluing sentimental items can get in the
way. His SMB statement would be, "While frowned upon by some, Dumpster diving provides
certain commodities of life for individuals with enough will; however, individuals must stress the
importance of each item they acquire as opposed to the perceived value." When writing this essay,
Eighner chose to include and disclude different details so that his SMB would be supported. In
order to address his SMB, Eighner focused more on the need for Dumpster diving rather than the
possible alternatives. By focusing on this, Eighner was able to develop the idea of value
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4. Dumpster Diving Summary
Lars Eighner begins by recalling a time from before he began to dumpster dive as an attempt to
reveal to his readers that his fondness for garbage cans was not something forced upon him. He
quickly transitions to the time when he began to dumpster dive and describes the overall experience
of it. Once he has completed his general description, the essay takes a detailed turn into what
dumpster diving through the years has taught him: everything from determining good food from the
bad, how wasteful students in college can be, making sure drinks are safe, the stages a beginning
dumpster diver goes through (self–disgust, curiosity, realization, and possibly the dangerous
hoarding), and how dumpster diving has a hand in gained weight. Further
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5. Dumpster Diving Essay
Green Lifestyle
Tips
Dumpster Diving: Thinking Dirty or Clean?
Although ideas like The Real Food Project are making great strides to raising awareness and
reducing waste when it comes to food surpluses and what the major supermarket chains do with
them, millions of metric tons of foodstuffs, not to mention other manufactured products, are going
straight from the production line to the landfill with no discernible use in between. Dumpster diving
may seem like a dirty concept, but if you're taking unnecessary and harmful waste away from the
landfills, well doesn't that make it a "clean" practice?
Whether you're a struggling college student (for whom I would definitely advise giving it a try!), or
just an environmentally conscious adult, there are clear benefits to diving in to the dumpster of your
local supermarket chain. For one, food isn't the only item you can reclaim from a landfill, before it
even gets there. Household appliances like phone charges, hair dryers and even the occasional
bottle of vodka have all been reportedly gleaned from a successful dive, and those are some of the
worst items to be trashing, seeing as they can, at very least, be easily recycled.
Moreover, rotting foodstuffs produce methane gas in landfills, which is a potent greenhouse gas and
makes up approximately 40–60% of the gasses...show more content...
Fruits, vegetables and breads are all thrown out well before their time because their sale is based on
aesthetic appearance, but just because a banana is starting to brown doesn't make it inedible. In fact,
even if you don't feel like eating it now, you can just as easily throw that banana in the freezer and
make banana bread later on! The same goes with bread items, most often just having hit its
"expiry" date doesn't mean it's gone bad. Throwing a loaf or two in the freezer will prolong the life
of bread extensively, which can then be toasted or made into French toast for a tasty morning
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6. Dumpster Diving Eighner
Eighner chooses to dive into dumpsters not because he needs the material items he finds, but rather
because he does not. In the conclusion of his essay "On Dumpster Diving," Eighner makes it clear
that he believes excess material objects are unnecessary and that they do more harm than good for a
person, and this is true. Eighner accurately describes how having large amounts of material goods
does nothing to improve the well–being or morality of the human race because holding onto physical
possessions leads to the development of bad habits and traits within society.
Having more material possessions makes people less grateful for what they have and more likely to
be wasteful. In his essay, Eighner describes how college students "throw out many good things,
including food." Because the students are accustomed to having so many material possessions, they
do not think twice before throwing a portion of it into the dumpster. On the other hand, Eighner
thinks of himself as very non–materialistic, so he only takes what he needs and is not wasteful
because he does not have many remains or unused items to throw away. It might not seem...show
more content...
During the 1920s, the middle–class in America embodied Eighner's description of the "rat–race
millions" who were constantly racing to get more material goods. From radios, to the newest
appliances, to Henry Ford's automobiles, the people in the middle–class wanted more and more
money to purchase these items, so they turned to the stock market (Garraty 426). The materialistic
greed within Americans led them to recklessly buy thousands of stocks in hopes securing more
money, but the greed they had brought about the stock market crash which led America and the rest
of the industrialized world straight into the Great Depression. The poverty and the suffering that
came along with the economic depression showed how harmful greed and materialism can
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