# The Gardener's (Moral) Dilemma: an ethics debate

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gardeners-moral-dilemma-an-ethics-debate/563715>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 10, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gardeners-moral-dilemma-an-ethics-debate/563715 "2010-12-10T22:39:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\
**Post date:** [December 13, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gardeners-moral-dilemma-an-ethics-debate/563715/21 "2010-12-13T19:15:41Z")

</div>

> [@Derleth](#):
>
> - De minimis non curat lex\* applies here: The law does not concern itself with trifles. This is especially relevant because the pods are a renewable resource as long as the BigBox maintains the plants. …

Not a phrase I’d heard before - neat! 🙂

> [@Derleth](#):
>
> \*Also, another angle: The pods are garbage, as far as BigBox is concerned. Since when is it considered theft to pick up garbage you can use?

In most municipalities, garbage is “owned” by that municipality, so they can, in fact, prosecute for Dumpster diving. Enforecement is, of course, a separate matter, but they can if they want to.

Thanks for your responses, everyone. I’ll admit now, I had an ulterior motive when I started this thread. I started a different [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=587760)- with different circumstances and different legal implications, I know, I know - and the responses in that thread got me thinking. Now that I think about it, I suspect this is why I daydreamed the seed pod scenario in this OP in the first place - my subconscious was still wresting with everyone’s different perspectives on theft, and my brain eventually cooked up a scenario where something is taken from another but most would agree \* looking at the poll results \* that the outcome is not actually “theft.”

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gardeners-moral-dilemma-an-ethics-debate/563715.md?page=1)