The Scavengers’ Manifesto

Destined to become the bible for a bold new subculture of eco-minded people who are creating a lifestyle out of recycling, reusing, and repurposing rather than buying new.

An exciting new movement is afoot that brings together environmentalists, anticonsumerists, do-it-yourselfers, bargain-hunters, and treasure-seekers of all stripes. You can see it in the enormous popularity of many websites: millions of Americans are breaking free from the want-get-discard cycle by which we are currently producing approximately 245 million tons of waste every day (that’s 4.5 pounds per person, per day!).

In The Scavengers’ Manifesto, Anneli Rufus and Kristan Lawson invite readers to discover one of the most gratifying (and inexpensive) ways there is to go green. Whether it’s refurbishing a discarded wooden door into a dining-room table; finding a bicycle on freecycle.org; or giving a neighbor who just had a baby that cute never-used teddy bear your child didn’t bond with, in this book Rufus and Lawson chart the history of scavenging and the world-changing environmental and spiritual implications of ＂Scavenomics,＂ and offer readers a framework for adopting scavenging as a philosophy and a way of life.

Anneli Rufus is the critically acclaimed author of four nonfiction books including The Scavengers’ Manifesto and Party of One: A Loner’s Manifesto. An award-winning journalist and poet, she has written for dozens of publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, and Salon. She lives in Berkeley, California.