Why Green Man now?

[keracabra]

Here's an article I wrote after Burning Man 2005. Kinda disgusted by the unrepentant fuel-spewin' I saw that year, I haven't been back. At the time, even on this forum, the general response to my story was denial -- "it's nothing compared to the emissions from [cars in the default world / bombs / coal-fired plants / etc.]" -- or attack -- "chill the fuck out and appreciate, thou ungrateful eco-fascist."

But now, sheeeit, it seems like BRC LLC has taken up the eco-howl with rabid enthusiasm. I'm sure lotsa folks have been calling for some serious greening up for awhile now, but what exactly was it that tipped the scale? The line in the Summer 2007 BMJ is priceless: "Getting to and participating in Burning Man has an environmental impact, and dealing with it means first acknowledging the scope of that impact." First step of any rehab program.

Was there an intervention? What made BRC flip from ignoring the issue to stocking up on PV panels and biodiesel? Can anyone tell me if maybe, just maybe, the Founding Flamers took up the challenge put forth in lil ol' Eugene Weekly?

Anyway, I'm proud of y'all. Maybe I'll come back home now.~


Fire Storm
Can Burning Man evolve creatively to cut pollution?
BY KERA CABRA

As water engulfed New Orleans in early September, fire consumed Black Rock City, the temporary artistic community that springs up once a year during the Burning Man festival. And oil fueled both events.


Clockwise from top: Flaming feathers from "Angel of the Apocaplypse," fire dancers, fiery hands from "Passage," smoke ring over the playa, headless flame-spouting mannequins.

Nobody can prove that fossil fuel burning created Hurricane Katrina, but scientific consensus is that global warming increases coastal flooding and extreme weather events worldwide. Rising ocean temperatures help create the conditions for more frequent and ferocious hurricanes. It's quite likely that our vehicles, machines and power plants drove the wheels that spun into Katrina.

Black Rock City, too, is facing its fate as a carbon-constrained civilization. The numbers of Burning Man participants fell this year, and founder Larry Harvey suggests it's because of rising gasoline costs. Most Burners (including me) rely on big, burly gas-guzzlers to schlep water, shade structures, camping and kitchen supplies, costumes, bikes and art installations out to the desert. The city arrives in a caravan of SUVs, RVs, buses, trucks and trailers.

Once settled on the desert "playa," Burners do what they do best — burn things. This year, the hottest fire-inspired art pieces included a huge metal bird with 10-foot feathers that shoot plumes of fire, a ring of kneeling mannequins in yellow jumpsuits with flame-spouting nozzles instead of heads and a steel sculpture of a 30-foot woman walking with her 20-foot child, a liquid flame blazing in their hands. During the day, some Burners poofed big black rings of smoke into the air, creating cool, if gratuitous, dark halos against the blue sky.

At the end of the week, Burners torched just about everything flammable, from the wooden Man to the intricately carved clock tower to the mounds of paper cups that held all manner of cheap cocktails, pouring gasoline on the bigger sculptures to get them sparkin'.

Burning Man is, after all, a fire festival, in the tradition of the Pagans and the Greeks. There is a cleansing in burning down the art that took enormous time, money and labor to create. There is a release in watching a monument burn, in dancing around it and letting your own attachments drift away with the smoke. After every burn, I could smell the exhaust in the air and feel it in my over-partied, under-slept body.

But knowing what we know about fossil fuels and the destruction they wreak, is the party justified? It depends on the context. In one sense, Burning Man is a subversion of mainstream society. Though it takes at least a few hundred dollars to get there, Black Rock City is a "gift economy" that shuns cash. Though fossil fuels power the festival, the fire symbolizes a rejection of our oil-based economy. Burners torch symbols of war, burn effigies of Bush and Cheney and generally send a whooping "screw you" to Washington, D.C. All told, the cumulative pollution from the week-long event pales in comparison to the toxic emissions from just one day of the Iraq War.

But if Black Rock City is an alternative society, one that values gifts over cash and makes "leave no trace" a near-religious commandment, one that places no limits on the creative power of human ingenuity, we can do better. I envision a Burning Man that evolves faster than our carbon-clinging society, that demonstrates true alternatives not just artistically and socially, but ecologically as well.

Black Rock City LLC, the corporation that runs the show, could allocate a small percentage of ticket revenues for solar panels that could generate more than enough electricity for the whole city. The regular face-pelting dust storms are testament to the potential for wind energy, and the crusty heat flow beneath Nevada's dusty surface makes geothermal power a perfect fit for Black Rock City. With the blessing of the BLM, the company could leave that infrastructure out there all year long to generate energy for the people of neighboring Gerlach, Nev., who patiently welcome the yearly pilgrimage of freaks.

Now, that would be revolutionary.

[Isotopia]

Now, that would be revolutionary.

What'd be even more revolutionary is if people who had grand ideas about what the event organizers and volunteers should do would step up to the plate and themselves rather than just writing about it.

[keracabra]

mmkay, touche, dude. but one low-income chick bringing hand-crank flashlights or a single PV for her own campsite is a different deal than the organization as a whole making a real green commitment. i felt daunted by the size of the task, especially if the big kids weren't on board.

the point of my post is it's great, though kinda late in coming, that BRC LCC, the homies with the dough and decision-making power (let's not pretend it's not a hierarchy) is on the green train now. that's inspiring and welcoming to eco-peeps who might've felt like sisyphus in previous years.

[blyslv]

Preachiness does not make for effective advocacy.

As an advocate, you should be used to having your ideas discounted, especially when they might make people uncomfortable. And I know how tempting it is to say "I told you so!"


But to answer your question, the cynical take on it is that the Org. just happened to see an opportunity to grow the event more. Maybe your articles in '05 helped tip that scale.

[the fire elf]

As an advocate, you should be used to having your ideas discounted, especially when they might make people uncomfortable. And I know how tempting it is to say "I told you so!"

it's very little temptation indeed,
if it requisites you walk around waiting for the present to vindicate the past

[The Hosh]

Black Rock City LLC, the corporation that runs the show, could allocate a small percentage of ticket revenues for solar panels that could generate more than enough electricity for the whole city.

I dare you to work out the costs and space required. I bet it would more than triple ticket prices and the panels would cover the entire playa.

And solar panels which would only get used for a week a year... now that's wasteful!

[Ugly Dougly]

Where there's fire there's smoke. How if we all drive to BRC in hybrids, then sit around the Man as he belches pollution into the atmosphere?

Mark my words, the years of simulated fire are not far ahead.

[the fire elf]

he's just a fucking piece of forest fire...

relocated to burn in honor

for spirited purposes...

ditch the bitchin

[MikeVDS]

Nice dream, but you haven't thought it through completely.

[the fire elf]

which way through the dream?
and when is it complete?

may as well sing a tune
slightly askance from the social norm
even amongst those such as we

what thought could end it?

[Isotopia]

the cynical take on it is that the Org. just happened to see an opportunity to grow the event more.

The opposite of that might be that the Org, just like a lot of other people/groups/businesses/corporations/etc. see the opportunity to change their past practices because the issue(s) at hand have a genuine resonance insofar as no longer practicing a 'business as usual' mindset. Give credit to the fact that unlike a lot of organizations and businesses and yes, individuals, they've pulled their head out of the sand and are making a genuine attempt to step up to the plate and try - by example - to set new policies that seek to redirect certain aspects of the event in another more positive direction.

It's not going to be perfect and not everyone is gonna get it right and the truth is that an event of this scale there will undoubtedly be instances in which both decisions and actions and their resultant consequences will be (or appear) contrary to many of the stated goals. That's always fodder for accusations of inconsistency and hypocrisy but in the end I believe that the final result will be a positive one. Hell, if you consider that other events like Chowchilla, Hot August Nights and even Glastonbury in England have a far more detrimental impact on the event site than Burningman I'd argue that the current emphasis in alternative technologies comes about more as a natural evolution of the event than any cynical jumping on the bandwagon.

But that's just me.

[Chai Guy]

Our enviromental impact at the event is NOTHING compared to our environmental impact getting to and from the event.

The coolingman.org people estimate that we consume approximately 1.8 million gallons of fuel in transport.

http://www.templetons.com/brad/burn/green.html

At any rate, we're all going to hell in handbasket. We've consumed all but a precious few remaining natural resources and our planet will be uninhabitabl in a few more short decades. Time to party like it's the end of the world, and we know it. If you ask me.

[MikeVDS]

We've consumed all but a precious few remaining natural resources and our planet will be uninhabitabl in a few more short decades.

That's a short estimate. Mind if I ask where that comes from? I don't even think the harshest scientific estimates come close to that.

[actiongrl]

I'd like to see a comparitive estimate of what a group of people the size of BRC would consume in a normal week if they were just at home commuting to work, shopping at the mall, or what have you.

Or what my impact would be if I went on vacation to Hawaii instead...

[AntiM]

Hawaii's nice. We put 1200 miles on the rental car in one week on Big Island, plus air from Salt Lake City, and the drive to and from Ogden.

[Captain Goddammit]

At the end of the week, Burners torched just about everything flammable, *** to the mounds of paper cups that held all manner of cheap cocktails,

While I do use paper cups (due to logistics concerning water supply and disposal to wash regular glasses), I make damn fine cocktails in them.

[Ugly Dougly]

Nice dream, but you haven't thought it through completely.

Maybe that's the problem. Think globally, act locally, not the other way around.

[Bob]

I'd like to see a comparitive estimate of what a group of people the size of BRC would consume in a normal week if they were just at home commuting to work, shopping at the mall, or what have you.

Or what my impact would be if I went on vacation to Hawaii instead...

Even if you turn the lights out, your house or apartment is still part of a utility & municipal service infrastructure that keeps burning energy & resources. They don't lay off SF cops & Muni drivers the week before Labor Day, or close Safeway or Rainbow Grocery for even a couple days out of the week. Think about that when you're sipping your virgin mojito in First Camp.

[The Hosh]

We've consumed all but a precious few remaining natural resources and our planet will be uninhabitabl in a few more short decades.

Come see the country north of you and then make that statement.

[actiongrl]

Well, the good folks at Cooling Man have broken down the entire carbon footprint into its elements...and as expected, travel to the event is our biggest impact during the week of Burning Man.

http://www.coolingman.org/learn_more/bu ... mpact.html

I wonder what the average daily commute is and how it balances out...but either way: carpool to Burning Man, folks!

[Aiee! It burns!]

So which one is more important, saving resources or keeping the air clean?

[MikeVDS]

So which one is more important, saving resources or keeping the air clean?

It depends on which studies you believe. It's really impossible to foresee which of these will become a major problem for our species first, but it's likely that either of them could be a big problem for us in the future.

[Archantael]

At the end of the week, Burners torched just about everything flammable, *** to the mounds of paper cups that held all manner of cheap cocktails,

From the sound of that Sunday morning there should be a plume of smoke visible all the way in Reno or Winnemucca if everyone burned just about everything flammable. From what I've seen it's nothing like that. The burn platforms do get used but for the most part the burning seems to be responsible and pretty low scale.

[Barbie]

Monkies MONKIES MONKIES Monkies and donkey fucking

[Barbie]

Ohhhhhh a a a sorry wrong thread....

[notonmysofa]

[quote="keracabra"]Black Rock City LLC, the corporation that runs the show, could allocate a small percentage of ticket revenues for solar panels that could generate more than enough electricity for the whole city. .[/quote]

That's the last thing I'd want...

[dragonfly Jafe]

...Or what my impact would be if I went on vacation to Hawaii instead...

A MUCH better comparison, because for most of us, this is our ONE vacation of the year....not a life style

....and I really resent the ORG trying to make me save the planet (in their name and with my ticket money) while I am on vacation...




(and if it turns out they are trying to profit from it too, well, let's just say there is no hell deep enough...)

[keracabra]

Right. You work hard, you deserve to play hard, and consume hard. It doesn't count if you're on vacation. Ask the local people of Puerto Vallarta about the plastic cups leaching toxins into Banderas Bay while drunken frat boys ask girls to go wild ... ask the sea turtles who return to the beaches to lay their eggs, only to discover golf turf where sand had been ... ask the indigenous people of Costa Rica how their culture was replaced by gringo surfers who bought real estate with their software engineering income ...

But oh yeah. I forgot. You were on vacation.

[MikeVDS]

Ask the local people of Puerto Vallarta about the plastic cups leaching toxins into Banderas Bay while drunken frat boys ask girls to go wild ... ask the sea turtles who return to the beaches to lay their eggs, only to discover golf turf where sand had been ... ask the indigenous people of Costa Rica how their culture was replaced by gringo surfers who bought real estate with their software engineering income

While I agree those types of things are bad, what does going to or avoiding burningman have to do with any of that?

[unjonharley]

Right. You work hard, you deserve to play hard, and consume hard. It doesn't count if you're on vacation. Ask the local people of Puerto Vallarta about the plastic cups leaching toxins into Banderas Bay while drunken frat boys ask girls to go wild ... ask the sea turtles who return to the beaches to lay their eggs, only to discover golf turf where sand had been ... ask the indigenous people of Costa Rica how their culture was replaced by gringo surfers who bought real estate with their software engineering income ...

But oh yeah. I forgot. You were on vacation.

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WOW Suggest you reread what this thread is all about before you strain some thing in that knee jerk reaction of yours.. While rereading have em check you retention abilitys too..