Impact on the Environment

[WasteNotWantNot]

New user here. This has been on my mind for years. Found this great online community and wondering what you all think.

I try to be kind to the Earth, for it has been kind to me. I ride my bike to work when I can, and very rarely fly. My lady and I share 1 car, it is ample for our needs. We conserve electricity whenever possible. We are vegans. Etc etc you get the picture!

As I prepare for my 5th burn, I have to wonder what kind of an effect it has on our beautiful Earth?

Thousands and thousands gather to one spot. All that gasoline. Probably billions of gallons. Mother Earth frowns.

And then the gigantic raging fire. Can you imagine the damage of those carbon emissions?

idk just ranting here. but wondering how you all cope with this?

Have a good burn, i guess

[Simon of the Playa]

roasted flesh to eat.

diesel.

flames.


don't go.

worst troll. ever.

[WasteNotWantNot]

i don't eat roasted meat, i am vegan

i don't see why we can't have a conversation about this

global warming is the most serious issue of our time, whether you like it or not!

[ygmir]

New user here. This has been on my mind for years. Found this great online community and wondering what you all think.

I try to be kind to the Earth, for it has been kind to me. I ride my bike to work when I can, and very rarely fly. My lady and I share 1 car, it is ample for our needs. We conserve electricity whenever possible. We are vegans. Etc etc you get the picture!

As I prepare for my 5th burn, I have to wonder what kind of an effect it has on our beautiful Earth?

Thousands and thousands gather to one spot. All that gasoline. Probably billions of gallons. Mother Earth frowns.

And then the gigantic raging fire. Can you imagine the damage of those carbon emissions?

idk just ranting here. but wondering how you all cope with this?

Have a good burn, i guess

yes, probably billions of gallons.
and yes, coping is a real thing.
the carbon footprint there is huge!
and the waste stream, unrecycled materials, and the path of "things" that fly off vehicles along the roads, all the way to S.F. and SLC is amazing.

I personally try to re-use whatever I can, I coast down hill in my vehicle, and pick up trash (MOOP).
But really I think the best thing I can do is build an alter, prostrate myself and with reverence and supplication, ask Mother Earth for forgiveness. It is all about intent, and humble reverence, in asking forgiveness and healing.
I know I can not control the actions of my fellow humans, so my only true recourse is to do the best I can, ask forgiveness for my transgressions, and pray the enlightenment of all who attend.
I sometimes even hold ceremony, and at times even emulate the mythical Catholics, with wafers and grape Flavor Aid. If I don't have wafers, sometimes it's Doritos.

[Bless]

[Simon of the Playa]

i don't see why we can't have a conversation about this

because you'd be flogging a dead troll horse, thats why...


i think you know that, so stop being coy.

[StrepThroatHaver]

have a good burn!

[some seeing eye]

Hahaha. The more you post about more than one topic on ePlaya, the less you will be dismissed as a troll, especially having burned for several years, almost and old-timer.
It has been discussed and often intelligently on ePlaya. Where do you live? My observation is that Cali is a consumption display culture and that is integral to the culture of event.

https://www.google.com/search?num=30&es ... +footprint - you can probably imagine other search terms. The main carbon source is transportation, including air transportation which has increased from the Green Man year.

[WasteNotWantNot]

have a good burn!

Thanks, man!

[theCryptofishist]

This conversation crops up every few years. No one has said anything that convinces me that it's worse than most other vacations. And since the people who instigate these "conversations" tend to be a lot more interested in "castigations", I am not sanguine about the possibility of having it reopened.

[StrepThroatHaver]

This conversation crops up every few years. No one has said anything that convinces me that it's worse than most other vacations. And since the people who instigate these "conversations" tend to be a lot more interested in "castigations", I am not sanguine about the possibility of having it reopened.

i do agree about other vacations thing.

"sanguine" , my friend pip loves to say that word

[Captain Goddammit]

Doesn't attending this giant frivolous waste of resources make a supposed environmentalist like you a bit of a hypocrite?

[WasteNotWantNot]

Doesn't attending this giant frivolous waste of resources make a supposed environmentalist like you a bit of a hypocrite?

Captain, this is my struggle

[some seeing eye]

If you were not a troll, you would be providing data and solutions, including personal ones, paragraphs long, with links, rather than snappy mindless replies to experienced ePlayans.

Are you up to the challenge of contributing to ePlaya in an intelligent, meaningful and substantial way? East to start demonstrating that.

We respect that.

[Dr. Pyro]

The list grows longer by the day of those people who I hope I don't meet at Burning Man.

[Molotov]

Time to lock this thread down...

[Popeye]

The list grows longer by the day of those people who I hope I don't meet at Burning Man.

They won't be there Doc, just a couple of 13 yo giggling to each other.

[Token]

It is truly amazing how I sleep so well knowing that we are all doomed.

To answer your question hippie hipster, I clearly don't give a fuck about all the apocalyptic fear mongering.

When it ends up being our time to go, its our time to go. Not a thing one you can do about it.

I do my best to not pollute, trash, be a good citizen and all that, but as long as I have means, I'm going to enjoy our abundant cheap energy.

Fuck the kids! They have been sucking the life blood of my most productive years on this miserable rock, little fuckers can figure it out themselves when they get there.

Too bad you weren't there in 2007 for Crude Awakening.

900 Gallons of JP8 Jet Fuel, propelled by 2000 Gallons of LPG. Estimated at ~ 2.4 GW of power.

It was freakish good!

[Simon of the Playa]

sucks.jpg

[Isotopia]

just ranting here. but wondering how you all cope with this?

You're not the first to gaze at your navel regarding this...'issue.'

I do quite well and with no guilt (or angst) when one considers the actual amount of particulate pollution injected into the atmosphere by burning the man and other associative 'footprints' related to getting to the playa.

Still, I have a hunch that if one were to take the volume/quantity of combustibles expended during the week and divvy them up per person that the numbers would be relatively small considering the average(s) of all other sources of pollutants in the default world.

BTW, for whatever it's worth, any answer is a moot one. Although the idea might be worth debating and exploring academically, and such discussion may be useful for addressing similar issues in the future, the idea has been rendered irrelevant for the present issue - especially when trying to get a definitive, cogent answer in this forum.

Oh, and stop using so many smiley emoticons - hippie.

[Lonesomebri]

This skips a major component of the debate, it's presupposed that somehow not being at the Burn is less a burden on dear Mother Earth, yet when I am home, not on the playa I got a fireplace burning coal and motor oil, a yard kept in check by spraying roundup like it was the fountains of Bellagio, and on weekends I enjoy bludgeoning baby seals.

So, yeah, I do feel pretty smug about myself attending the Burn and doing my part.

I will go so far as to say that because at the Burn I am having less of an impact than me in the regular world, while others seem to be saying that they become more of a burden at the Burn, that I am better than they are.

[trilobyte]

A truly conscious environmentalist would probably have invested the time in reading the 300+ page environmental assessment when it was published a few years ago. If you missed it, set aside some time and do that as soon as you can. It is a dry read (like any government and scientific environmental assessment), but contains a lot of interesting information. Extremely worthwhile, if you care about either the event or the environmnet, in my opinion.

[GreyCoyote]

Get off my lawn, hippie!

[ygmir]

am I the only sane one in this thread?

[gaminwench]

nope, I'm here.

[ygmir]

Yay!!

[goathead]

snort, blow coffee through nose.

[BoyScoutGirl]

snort, blow coffee through nose.

Stop squandering valuable coffee resources!

[Canoe]

A truly conscious environmentalist would probably have invested the time in reading the 300+ page environmental assessment ...

But then it would confuse arguments by having facts to accommodate (or ignore). I don't think facts are allowed; we should Ask Eric if that's allowed.

(doing a better job staying alive than the Si threads...)

[theCryptofishist]

It is a dry read (like any government and scientific environmental assessment)...

I like to think of them as a combination of legal, technical, bureaucratic, and scientific. This one does exemplify the needless repetition they are prone to. I don't know why they are so loathe to just say "x, y, and z are true in all alternatives." It would help to focus attention on the differences. Of course, some of them are trying to bury things down in the bad prose...