Is there an alternative, when you're handed a starter from the minute you wake up here?

A purist could certainly renounce quite a bit of the system if she wanted — release her starter and refuse to catch or buy any others. She'd also have a three-day trip on foot before she'd reach the nearest city where she could feasibly support herself, traveling alone through wilderness that puts her at risk of being attacked by one of the wild Pokemon along the path. To say nothing of the fact that once she did, she'd almost certainly be received as a pariah for abandoning her starter rather than a hero for freeing it, simply because of the overwhelming emphasis this world places on being a trainer and involving Pokemon in so many varied aspects of daily life.

I may not like the system, but complete abstinence from it isn't necessarily a solution, either. Again, it seems to come down to a question of degree.