Imagine a life without any spending. Is it even possible? Apparently it is if you live in Britain, where squatters have some rights.
I found this piece about living for free in London totally engrossing. The article comments on the disposable nature of British, and really Western, society. And of course, a big part of that is food. The author, Katharine Hibbert comments on how the timing of retail system means produce currently ripe has almost no value for wholesalers.Â
For fruit and veg, I would visit New Covent Garden, the wholesalers’ market. The bins were surrounded by fresh produce, most of it perfect to be eaten that day or the next – no good for retailers but fine for us. I feasted on melons and mangoes, blueberries and raspberries, cherries and ripe avocados.
One of Hibbert’s takeaway lessons was music to my ears:
Even if the businesses and homeowners couldn’t reduce the amount of waste, they didn’t have to dispose of their surplus as rubbish. FareShare, the food redistribution charity, say they could redistribute 15 times more surplus food than they currently do.
I don’t often think of freegans choosing they feel like eating, but Hibbert soon found that she had plenty of options:Â
I learned when cafes and shops threw out food and could adjust my foraging route according to what I fancied eating. I learned that bags containing food weigh more than those full of empty cups and boxes, and that the more upmarket the supermarket, the more they throw away.
Unfortunately, the story doesn’t have the happiest ending. Things are getting harder for scavengers:
Several skipping spots that were reliable sources of meals have been sabotaged – a large branch of EAT, for example, used to throw away sacks of sandwiches, wraps, salads, yoghurts and fruit every day. It still does, but now the shop assistants open every packet before putting it in the bag, emptying yoghurt over salads and sandwiches to make them inedible.
But, there is a happy ending to this post–Hibbert has a book on her experiences coming out this month (Free: Adventures on the Margins of a Wasteful Society). I bet it’ll be good, based on this excerpt and that it’s less ‘my year of living for free’ and more ‘my new life of living for free.’ And, if you get it at the library–it’ll be free.
Comments
8 responses to “Going Gratis”
Glad to see I’m not the only one who gets annoyed by all of these books “My Year of This”, “My Year of That”. They’re such gimmicky things, geared to entertain the most mainstream of folks and not really encourage a mentality of change.
Readers can sit back comfortably and think, “Oh my gosh, she went a WHOLE year without a cellphone” or “How did they ever go a whole year without buying anything from China?”…that sort of thing. What about books about people who have been doing these things day-in-and-day-out for years and years without making a big hoopla out of it, simply because it’s the sensible way to live? Let’s profile THOSE people–they are by far more interesting and can teach us a lot. And maybe even inspire real change.
Thanks for sharing this interesting book and its highlights you discovered.
I just viewed this documentary film “I LOVE Trash” where a few folks decided not to buy anything for 3 months and found everything in trash they needed to live on. It is a very similar adventure and project that Katharine Hibbert embarked on. Link to the film: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/i_love_trash/.
The snagfilms.com is also a wonderful website for all kinds of (FREE) documentary films. Including a few films on food and environment, like the ‘Future of Food’: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/the_future_of_food.
Hope this is helpful to share with others.
I am a volunter with an organisation that deals with the homeless and those that have lost all hope; I don’t recognise this story.
Melanie,
Thanks for giving me an idea for my next book–Sino Evil: One man’s quest to avoid all goods ‘Made in China.’ Juuust kidding. That format is getting a bit old, but I think we see it so much b/c it’s something anyone can do and provides a ready-made structure for the book. Also, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say you shouldn’t watch I Love Trash.
But, Greenminute, I’m sure others will enjoy that documentary on living for free for 3 months. Thanks for sharing.
Fr. Peter, what do you mean by that? Please tell us more.
My initial thoughts were that this woman was not homeless nor is she a true example of just how one can live for less. Good as an experiment and as a way to earn a living as a writer perhaps but irrelevant to the majority of society.
She said that she felt guilty about her lifestyle, OK then, and so do many of us and we have changed it. Initially she said that she had ‘left’ her job, later that she was ‘made redundant’, yet in First Post she is listed as a freelance journalist http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/author,419,katharine-hibbert but whatever the case she left the flat she shared with her sister.
I wonder what happened to the sister when Katherine walked out when the “landlord phoned to say he was putting the rent upâ€. Also in her own words she had “friends and a lovely boyfriendâ€, so where was he when all this was going on, looking after the possessions she said she had packed away perhaps?
In the Guardian article she states the she “called in to “London’s advisory service for squattersâ€, yet in a March 2009 letter of that organisation http://www.squatter.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=167&Itemid=2 she states that she works for them.
She has been involved in journalism for some while. Among her work there is http://www.newstatesman.com/200310270019 and http://www.newstatesman.com/200311030014 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/katharine-hibbert-there-are-good-reasons-why-amanda-knox-was-found-guilty-1842978.html http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article575367.ece
As an independent journalist, see http://www.journalisted.com/katharine-hibbert she is then working well from her “little squatted flatâ€, but that is the power of modern communications, and the Web I imagine.
So, if you are an undoubtedly talented writer with an income from journalism as well as, possibly, an advance from this book, then you are in a privileged position indeed and you may succeed in existing on very little. But let’s take off the rose tinted spectacles look at the real problem of those without homes, rather than a 26 year old university educated woman who has the option of choice.
We all should (please note that word ‘should’) know what is wasted and discarded in today’s society, but very few include human beings in this knowledge base, simply assuming that it is goods; it is also people. It is when you work with a man that has lived on the street for thirty years after being thrown out of his home by his parents when he was fifteen, or talked an in debt woman who was in danger of losing her house out of committing suicide that you look at these articles in rather a different light.
The food that society wastes is 100% obscene, and in the knowledge of this there are many that have changed their lives around and are truly inspirational in the way they live out their total environmental concerns. Their stories are rarely heard, perhaps because they are not talented young journalists?
I agree with Melanie about this book. As she said “They’re such gimmicky things, geared to entertain the most mainstream of folks and not really encourage a mentality of change”.
Hi all
Thanks very much for your interest in the Guardian article extracted from my book. Although I endorse the article that was published in the Guardian, it was a very short section of my longer book, and I hope the book as a whole will address some of Fr. Peter’s concerns.
As I explain, I was made redundant from a job as a reporter I did two days a week. I worked as a freelance journalist three days a week, but due to the continuing economic crisis, this kind of work is less and less available – the cuttings you highlight are pieces I wrote before deciding to stop working, and one piece I have written since I finished my book. It seemed easier, when I had so few words to get my story across in the Guardian, to keep things simple.
I freely acknowledge that I had choices other than the one I took, but I do not feel that I was pretending to be homeless – another point I address in my book. As I understand it, you are all based in the US, where squatting is entirely illegal. In England and Wales it is not a crime, so many of those who live in squats here are less desperate than those who live on the streets here or in the US. There is a long history of squatting among people who want to find time to work on projects that are important to them, rather than just to get a roof over their heads. I realise I am very privileged indeed, but many other squatters are university-educated – I am not exceptional.
Writing your first book is not (or wasn’t for me!) a particularly lucrative passtime – no one in their right minds would spend almost two years living in a squat simply in order to get rich and famous by writing a book about it – it’s a tough way to live, but it makes sense for me, and I doubt it will make me either famous or rich.
My boyfriend and I are close, but we didn’t at the time have a relationship in which we were co-dependent – I couldn’t have just moved into his house to save on rent. My sister earns more than I ever did, so she found a new flatmate who could afford the rent and stayed in the flat.
I was invited to become a member of the Advisory Service for Squatters after I had been squatting for about six months, and I was very glad to join the group because I wanted to contribute to the squatting community as best I could – and since I am better at writing than DIY, I felt that helping to provide legal and practical advice was the best thing I could do.
I am well aware that many people without homes have a very different set of problems for me, but I hope that by being part of the ASS – and by informing the public a bit more about the problems we face, such as the widespread practice of ruining waste food, and evictions from buildings which then continue to lie empty, I can help everyone who lives on next to nothing.
I’m responding to the comments on this blog because this is an issue I feel very strongly about, and I’m keen to participate in the wider debate about it to develop my own thinking. Please do feel free to tell me your opinions.
With best wishes,
Katharine
My take: Just because some are less fortunate than Katharine doesn’t mean that there’s no room for her book. I think it will raise awareness and ultimately help those who might not be choosing to live for free.
Also, the fact that Katharine has taken to time to respond in such detail and has acknowledged her position of privilege bodes well for the tone and content of the book.
Katharine, thanks for your thorough response here. I can certainly empathize with and vouch for freelance journalism being anything but lucrative. And I look forward to seeing the book.
As for location, I’m in the US, but Father Peter is in your part of the world–the UK.