Summary Of On Dumpster Diving By Lars Eighner

The effects of Eighner’s attention to language in the first five paragraphs emphasizes that he is knowledgeable and confident about dumpster diving. As he states, “I live from the refuse of others. I am a scavenger” (Eighner 108). Eighner create an appeal to ethos when he displays his own experiences on the lifestyle of dumpster diving and its different aspects.

Eighner’s rhetorical direction that he plans to follow throughout his essay is to inform the readers about dumpster diving practices and his abstract thought on the subject that he has gotten through experience. The rhetorical direction Eighner plans to take sets as he begins to explain how to evaluate if something is good to eat or not. Sine Eighner starts informing the reader on the basic practices of scavenging that has become a form of art to him, the reader can follow as a type of instructional guideline, “using the senses and common sense to evaluate the condition of the found materials” (Eighner 108). This takes Eighner’s unpleasant exposure to scavenging in a different more constructive and informational direction. After Eighner explains

The article "On Dumpster Diving", by Lars Eighner relies upon a man who discusses his survival as a vagrant joined by his canine Lizbeth. Not only does he tell us his techniques living out of dumpsters, yet furthermore the lessons he has learned as a scrounger. Specifically I think the message he was endeavoring to get transversely finished is that we misuse considerably more than we figure.

Many people feel that they need a large house, an expensive car, and brand-name clothes to feel satisfied. Ray Bradbury’s story The Veldt introduces the concept that it is not always beneficial for a person to value their possessions so greatly; in fact, your prized possessions can harm you. In his story, Bradbury explores this idea by crafting a scenario where an extremely high-tech house creates cracks and instability within a family unit. Through the use of foreshadowing, symbolism, and imagery Bradbury conveys the idea that grave consequences come from valuing material possessions over family.

Summer informs his readers about plastic bags and their effects on the environment with large amounts of credibility. Citing several major sources and individuals, Summer appears extremely knowledgeable about this topic. He states, “according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, plastic bags, sacks, and wraps of all kinds (not just grocery bags) make up only about 1.6 percent of all municipal solid waste materials”. Throughout his argument, Summer clearly demonstrates his opinions that plastic bags do not harm the environment near as much as reusable bags do. Attempting to persuade his readers to think the same, he creates a tone of credibility as he cites numerous credible sources.

Jonathan Bloom, in his book American Wasteland, raises some hightailing issues and resolutions that are geared towards the American culture of food waste. The food waste in America today is ever so present in households across the nation that a “quarter of the food squandered would provide three meals a day for 43 million people” (Bloom 47). Taking those numbers into consideration, Americans need to make some radical decisions in changing the way they consume food and ways in discarding the leftovers. Bloom brings up reoccurring phrases in his book in order to get his messages across to readers. Three key phrases that stand out in Blooms’ writing to discuss and argue his message are food insecurity, redistribution, and guerrilla giving.

I first read the essay, “On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner on New England Journal of Public Policy. The first lines of the essay amazed me, for I have never heard about a person going dumpster diving or scavenging. Eighner’s “On Dumpster Diving” is a part of his latest work, “Travels with Lizbeth” (1993), which is based off of his homelessness travels with his dog (Lizbeth).

Homeless people are viewed as the rats and inferior people in society; often ignored and looked down upon, homeless people have the deficit of not being able to have many of the comforts in life that we may have. This is not only hurting our society morally, but it also helps us economically since there are people that aren’t buying/selling things or working. This is a major issue, since in the meanwhile, we as a society are throwing away things that still have worth or can be used. This is elaborately described in Eighner’s essay “On Dumpster Diving,” where he narrates his life of homelessness, detailing the struggling and analytical life of homelessness. During his narration, he emphasizes the fact that he has been able to survive due to

In the essay “On Dumpster Diving”, the author Lars Eighner informs us about the art of dumpster diving. The writer, who speaks from personal experience of gathering things from dumpsters, prefers to be called a “scavenger” rather than “foraging” for scavenger, in the writer’s opinion, has an honorable meaning for doing something that takes skills and experience. In the beginning, Mr. Eighner demonstrates the stages that any new dumpster diver goes through. Feeling of shame and Self-hatred is the first phase which the author explains as they hate to be seen. However, after they realize how perfectly good stuff people throw in dumpsters, they become obsessed by gathering anything their hands lay on. Yet, eating from dumpsters, according to the writer, is not for everyone for it takes more experience and carefulness.

Ewen uses historical background to allow the reader to comprehend the argument. Ewen states, “In the United States, by the 1830s, even budding cities of the recently settled West boasted an up-and-coming merchant middle class” (Ewen 185). The background allows the reader to understand that people were striving to live the ideal life then and continue to do so to this day. Without giving the background, the reader would not know when this ordeal began which could lead to confusion. Ewen also incorporates historical facts that strengthen his argument. “Within the so-called yuppie culture of the 1980s, we find the ultimate expression of such a middle class ideal, as well as its inherent anxieties. Amid a declining standard of living for many, these professionals scramble to surround themselves with the ever-changing latest in designer clothing, electronics, and other symbols of the good life” (Ewen 196). The historical facts support his argument that people aim for the materials in life to display to the world that they are not poor. All the middle class cares about is the images and

About 40% of food in America is thrown away, roughly 20 pounds per person. The amount of food we waste, we alone can stop world hunger all together. The point is eat wisely and don 't be afraid to save food for the people in need.

The thesis of our age has an even stronger anti-thesis. We are all obsessed with having an amazing lifestyle with the latest gadget that is on the market, that we forget about the problems. We do not live on a perfect planet. Across the globe, people are starving to death, our planet is dying , and our new subjectivist society is destroying the values founded with objectivism that has guided us throughout the years. The first problem is that people, mostly children, are dying from lack of food. Every year, consumers in industrialized countries, such as the U.S waste almost as much food as the entire food production of sub-Saharan Africa (222 million vs. 230 million tons). Our lifestyle of wasting food is killing millions every year, yet many people throw away leftovers like its nothing. The chart on the left puts this issues in numbers, and the result is staggering. 40 percent of all the food produced in the United States is wasted. It is absolutely unbelievable how much we are throwing away when 21,000 people die a day from starvation. We are stuck in the cave,

I used to be a super fan of sneaker collection when I was in high school. What kind of shoes others wore in that day would always be my primary impression and I classified people with my preference of shoes. Conversations with friends were related with my hobby in collecting shoes all the time. I knew what kind of Jordan shoes would release in what specific day and spent most of the time searching information online. “A large part of many people’s lives is consumed by an obsessive preoccupation with things.”(37) When I was bound up the sense of worth with things people possessed, this incorrect idea occupied my mind and made me

Every day an estimated 24,000 people die from hunger or hunger related causes. Three-fourths of these deaths are children under the age of five. One may wonder how this can be living in a country where it seems so much food is wasted every day. Food restaurants and grocery stores throw away food every night before closing. Many Americans waste food every day within their own homes. With so much “leftover” food in America, how is it that an estimated 800 million people around the world suffering from hunger and malnutrition? 800 million are starving in today 's world because in under developing countries, people can 't provide for their families, they don 't have the money, or resources to provide daily meals for their families.

When people buy new goods, they often have trash that comes from the packaging or the goods that they buy create trash; after we use these items until we feel the need for a newer version, we often just throw the used item into the nearest garbage can for it to sit in a landfill and cause harmful effects to our environment rather than recycling it or finding someone in need to give the item to. The topic of how Americans are producing excessive trash as a result of their compulsive-consumer lifestyle is brought to attention in the documentary in a scene where Nicodemus is discussing global warming as a result of this lifestyle Americans have adapted to. In the documentary, Nicodemus is voicing over a video montage of landfills with trash stacked as tall as city buildings, while the visual aspect of the film is showing how much of this waste is from packaging of goods; the auditory aspect of Nicodemus’ voice is discussing how much we could reduce our carbon footprint if we reduce how many items we compulsively