DIVE!

Everyday Problem

                “Dumpster Diving is definitely not for germophobes, the faint of heart and high-browed souls who look down on we who brave the cold, heat, rain and snow for unwanted items discarded in dumpsters.” (Dumpster Diver’s Paradise) I myself am not a germophobe but I most certainly do not have the heart to go diving into dumpsters.  Some people do it for the right reasons, donating to charities and shelters but then others do it just to save money and giving them the benefit of the doubt who wouldn’t want to save money. “Dumpster diving has become a hot new trend in America. In fact, dumpster divers even have a new trendy name. They call themselves freegans.”(Michael)   Incredible and mind blowing amount of foods are wasted every year, even every day.  Unfortunately a larger group of grocery stores throw it out instead of donating which is why groups of people go and spend time looking through dumpsters.

            First off, why don’t we start off with a few facts a statistics?  It’s obvious that everyone waste food even though we would like to think we do not;  whether its food we buy when dining out and we only it half, not taking the rest to go or if it is food that we buy for the week, forget to eat, and then it expires before we know it. “Consumers in North America and Europe waste about 209 to 253 pounds of food per person every year . . . the amount of food we each waste in the U.S. per year would feed us for about one and a half to two months.” How crazy it that to you, think it all the money that can be saved! It gets even more shocking when you look at it globally, “one-third of the food produced for human consumption is lost, about 1.3 billion tons.”(Webber)

            Some grocery stores throw out the foods that will be expiring in two days or if the packaging says “sell by:” and the date is the next day. These foods gets taken off the shelves and thrown into dumpsters in the back, some of these dumpsters are behind gates, and some aren’t.  After doing some research on a local grocery store, Publix, is donating to Second Harvest from stores in Clay, Duval, Nassau, and many more local counties and other states.  242 different Publix’s donate to Second Harvest, perishable and nonperishable items. “The company estimates it has already donated thousands of pounds of food to Feeding America food banks since the programs pilot and rollout over three years ago.” (Second Harvest) Pounds of foods like cheese, milk, meats, fruits, and vegetables are sent out on trucks. As I mentioned above sometimes the dumpsters are locked behind fences. This puts the dumpster divers (freegans) at danger because hopping that gate is illegal, the type of people diving into the dumpsters are the same type of people that are going to neglect the laws and will be determined to get the food.

            Unlike the above reason some people do it just because it’s easier and cheaper.  Dive! The video we watched started with the main guy diving through different dumpsters and taking home most of the food to his house.  The few times his wife was spoken to on camera she once made it seem that it wasn’t that they didn’t have the money to buy groceries but  they didn’t want to spend the money. I think that he was wasting the food by always bringing it home, this is a negative I see in dumpster diving. The main guy on the video said that most of the time the meat thy brought home wasn’t able to fit in the freezer and it sat in the house and rotted. Just because you are pulling the food out of the dumpster and its not being throw away and wasted by the store doesn’t mean you are not wasting it. 

            All in all dumpster diving is not a bad thing if you are doing it for the right reasons.  Shelters and charities are always offering room and food for thousands of people, in and out every day and they need more food to guarantee every person is fed. The dumpster divers that search every night to send food for people in more need than themselves are fantastic people.  The freegans probably aren’t likely in donating food, as defined in one article, “freegans consider dumpster diving to be a great way to save money on groceries. Others do it because they want to live more simply.”(Michael)

Journal-Dive

After watching the film Dive! in class last week I was educated on a lot more than what I thought dumpster diving was.  Honestly, I was ignorant to the subject of dumpster diving, when I hear dumpster diving I think of homeless jumping from dumpster to dumpster looking for food, that was not the case in the video.  There are people that go to different grocery stores after closing and collect all the left over, thrown out foods from the day.  They take what they can and it is usually a lot because the grocery stores will throw out anything soon to expire, such as the next day or if there’s one bad avocado in the bunch the whole shipment is thrown out.  But there are risks that come with it, getting sick, dealing with police officers, and not having enough room to store it all. I would personally never do this and I do not know anyone in my life that has had to. And if I did ever have to do this because of financial situations and if I had a child I would not subject them to this because it can be very dangerous, they can become ill from it and I see no point in having to put a child through it.  I would find another way to feed my child but that is just me, I understand in the video the child was never sick but everything’s a mystery and anything can happen.  The guy in the video has so much food at his house and stated that it was just rotting, so what is the point in taking all that food from the dumpster and bringing it to his  house… On the other hand I think bringing it to shelters and charities is a great idea and that if people are going to do this that it should be brought to shelters. 

American Dream

Turn It into Reality

                “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” (Walt Disney, Brainy Quotes) After listening to the speech given last week I began to think about my dreams and goals and continued to question, am I working as hard as possible to make my dreams become reality? The final conclusion to this question was no.  There are so many opportunities people pass up every day that can assist in pursuing their dreams. Reading through an article online it was shocking what little hope there is to land a dream job. In a survey of 8,000 people, “just less than 30 percent of people land their dream job or work in some related field.” (Quartz, Huff Post Business) Taking advantage of things such as community service, internships and other opportunities that pertain to your dreams can give you a great head start. Also, realizing and using the mistakes you have made and the obstacles you have overcome makes it easier for your dreams to come true. 

            First off, everyone makes mistakes and we either have to learn to live with them or we just try to ignore them. From previous experience I’ve found it is easier to live with mistakes made and take a lesson from them than just try to ignore it like nothing wrong has ever happened. Becoming a teacher has always been my biggest dream and my junior year I started really working towards this dream. I started in the Early Childhood Program at my high school and while there each time I made a mistake I taught myself how to correct the mistake. One time while in the program I let the children play instead of working on the lesson; I was suspended from teaching the kids for two days but on my day back I made sure the lesson that was supposed to be taught three days ago was taught and every child understood. At first I didn’t quite comprehend why I was in trouble for this but after reflecting on what I allowed I realized that even though the children are four they have plenty to learn and they also have time set aside for playing.  Another mistake I think I made but needed to make was last year during spring semester. For my field experience I wanted it to be easy and fun so I decided to spend my time in a local high school; I didn’t enjoy it at all and I couldn’t stand working with the older kids.  Lesson learned was for my dreams to succeed I cannot take the easy way out. 

            Another way is becoming involved within the community, schools, and businesses.  Starting off, being involved in college connects you with important, higher up people in your career choice. Working with more experienced people can help with recommendation letters for internships or even better, jobs or can lead to special opportunities. Multiple studies show that odds are an internship will land you a job. In the most recent years the percentage of people offered jobs after an internship has gone up; “In 2008 employers extended job offers to nearly 70 percent of their interns, up from 57 percent in 2001.” (Caswell, Statics Show Internships Lead to Success)  After working a while with the children during one of my field experiences I was invited to one of their fieldtrips by the day care director, I considered this a special opportunity. They also told me I may come back at any time just to interact and spend time with the children, which is not feedback every college student receives.  After receiving my AA I hope to land an internship at the elementary school right down the street from my house. It is a great school and if I was to do well then maybe I can land a job there after I finish college and earn my Bachelors degree and that would conclude my dream. But, I have a feeling that after the dream I have planned at the moment is reached it will not stop there and I will want to go for my Masters degree.

Courage and determination are two more important ingredients to fulfilling ones goals and dreams.  I will be the first one to admit that I lack courage seventy five percent of the time; I have a fear of failing and an even worse fear of people seeing me fail. Since courage has never been a strong suit of mine, the past few months my determination to work on this problem has risen.  I am not afraid to make a fool of myself anymore because I am determined to become an awesome teacher and if it means others seeing my downfalls and confusion, well it is what it is.

Basically if you are willing to work towards your dream to make it a reality you have a great chance of a positive outcome.  I know this is cliché’ but follow your heart and listen to your head as well, unless they disagree then listen to your heart it knows what will make you happy.  Working towards your dreams has many different components to make them come true. Working through mistakes and taking it for what is head on is just one small part, also becoming more involved to get ahead, and having enough courage and being determined are all things that can help out.