Today’s Dumpster Divers Follow A Storied Tradition of Anarchy And Gleaning

Joshua does not feel guilty about the thousands of dollars he’s stolen. “Taking money from the government — is that stealing? Is that wrong? I don’t think so,” he says. “I don’t think we should have to work hard, making other people money, just to have food and a roof over our head. Some people work for themselves, and that’s different. But the kinds of jobs that a college degree gets you — I don’t see the value in that.”

Despite having a master’s in mathematics from the University of Colorado at Boulder — a degree that can net the recipient a job that pays $90,000 a year — Joshua lives on only a few hundred dollars a month and gets most of his meals out of a dumpster. He lives in a community warehouse space he founded with a few friends in Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe, a place where they live and host music shows and art openings. (Joshua requested that neither the address of the space nor his last name be published.)

Dumpster Diver