Naturally, all the friends I’ve shown the magazine to have cracked up laughing. A word to those who don’t know me: I’d probably be voted “Least Likely to Be in CosmoGIRL!” — if such a designation existed in high school year books. (And for another thing, I don’t even identify anywhere close to whatever a CosmoGIRL is supposed to be! I’m gender-queer and probably one of the queerest looking people they’ve ever had in the magazine.) But, despite laughing along with my friends, I have to say that I hope that the CosmoGIRL! piece does more than amuse. I hope that it exposes a generation of young consumers to Freeganism. I look forward to seeing more people, from fifteen-year-old CosmoGIRLs to young activists to suburban kids looking for fun, reclaiming trash from the curbside, the dumpster, and the local dump.

I personally think that dumpster divers are excavating the future in our society. We’re seeing the effects of runaway consumption and a crisis of overproduction first-hand. It’s a fascinating movement, Freeganism, and worth checking out if you’re interested in environmental activism, anti-consumerism, alternative economics, and all kinds of other yummy foods-for-thought. For many activists in on this end of the spectrum, it seems that becoming a practicing Freegan is the next step towards realizing their political, social, and environmental views.