Lifting The Ban On Feathers

[theCryptofishist]

So, wait, if Glastonbury pays people to clean up after the event, that doesn't count?

[Bless]

So, wait, if Glastonbury pays people to clean up after the event, that doesn't count?

You raise an interesting question, Fishy. Does financial compensation overcome one's personal offenses? Is it okay to litter at Glastonbury because someone is paid to clean up after the event? Is it okay to litter on the playa because Playa Restoration will pick up after you? Is it okay to litter on the side of the road if a prison chain-gang will come and beautify that section of the highway? Is it okay to injure someone if you financially compensate them after the fact? I would imagine not.

With the Glastonbury reference, I was asking; "what's more morally outrageous?" Wearing Native American-themed headdresses or littering the fuck out of your surroundings? If said Native American-themed ravers donated to their favorite Native American tribe after the festival, would that overcome their cultural offense? What if they hired Native American custodial services to clean up the trash?

But more specifically, according to the Guardian article, someone initiated a petition in order to prohibit the sale of Native American-themed headdresses, and then 64-65 people signed said petition. Did that person also initiate a petition to ask his or her fellow festi-goers to clean up after themselves? Or did the moral outrage caused by Euro-ravers wearing headdresses overwhelm the sensibilities of even the most well-intentioned petition-drivers.

Or was it simply that, as you point out, people are paid to pick up the trash, which allows others to focus on the more important issues of cultural appropriation.

[Elderberry]

A bit off topic, but I used to wonder why BMORG didn't have any trash receptacles on the intersections of the streets. But then it dawned on me...people that didn't care about LNT probably wouldn't use them and those that do care don't need them.

Or would it encourage any additional number of people to be more conscientious?

[theCryptofishist]

Wrong on both counts, I think. What happens when there are trash receptacles is that people use them, fill them. And when they are filled, other people feel empowered/entitled to leave their trash next to them. It would mean more MOOP hitting the playa. That's even before you get the effect of people dropping off their full garbage bags at the end of the event.

[Lonesomebri]

I think trash cans would tell people to not worry about the amount of trash they bring, and the cans would be more than filled with couches and beds. I like the idea that I am camping and have to pick up after myself. That, more than the flashy costumes and sounds, is my draw. People would plan around bringing all kinds of crap and not worrying about it, because they could just dump it in some can. Thank god there are no trash cans on every corner, though I can totally understand the connection between wanting them and digging a nice shower in a little boutique hotel set up on the outskirts of town.

[unjonharley]

I posted the idea of coffee cans for butts... Same thing.. People would fill them with moop.. other would leave garbage along side of them..

[Lonesomebri]

If only there was as much desire weeding out non-LNT campers as there is in figuring out ways for others to take care of their waste...

[Eric]

Wrong on both counts, I think. What happens when there are trash receptacles is that people use them, fill them. And when they are filled, other people feel empowered/entitled to leave their trash next to them. It would mean more MOOP hitting the playa. That's even before you get the effect of people dropping off their full garbage bags at the end of the event.

^this.

Just look what happens to camps who have their own burn-barrels: at the end of the week, people from surrounding camps start attempting to drop their burnables into them (forcing the original camp to deal with the ashes, with ensuring they don't get overloaded, with all clean-up). If most people see a "convenience", they will try to use it. It's human nature.

[Elderberry]

Just look at the trash cans cities put out on the corners for that matter. Though people do use them--and continue to use them no matter how filled up they are. I guess they think at least they're trying.

[FIGJAM]

Plus wind = NO!!!!!

[Roy333]

Wrong on both counts, I think. What happens when there are trash receptacles is that people use them, fill them. And when they are filled, other people feel empowered/entitled to leave their trash next to them. It would mean more MOOP hitting the playa. That's even before you get the effect of people dropping off their full garbage bags at the end of the event.

Last year was my first time at Burning Man. I saw right away that "NO garbage cans" was the smartest thing they could have done. If you know there are no garbage cans you will be better prepared to police your own moop. Just look at what we saw on the way out. Wherever people were taking garbage (at $5.00 or more a bag) it was packed to the brim. I stayed in an RV park in Fernley, and as you said, the garbage filled the bins and the whole area around the bins, and they carried off the trash every day.
also look at the portapotties. I was there early and they were all overfilled, and people brought their own p bottles and sat them on the floor for the rest of us to smell.