Burning Man wants to cool down...
Burning man, the event described by Valleywag as the 'world's biggest annual art festival and orgy of self-indulgence', kicked off this weekend, amid criticism over its eyebrow-raising carbon footprint. But the main impact of burning man is not the giant effigy burnt at the climax of each festival; rather it is the fault of the planes, SUVs and trucks that revelers get there.
The total carbon emission figure calculated for Burning Man has been estimated at 27,000 tons, which ought to put a chill in the hearts of most of the earth loving 'burners', up to 30,000 of whom descend on the Playa of Black Rock City, Nevada each year.
So what can the organisers and attendees do about this? The main problem is the site's remoteness; at present there is simply very little means of accessing the Playa without recourse to carbon guzzling vehicles.
Nevertheless, Cooling Man, a project to minimise the festival's impact, has now been set up. This is essentially a carbon offset programme, so many would argue its value is questionable; a more helpful solution may be to attend regional events rather than polluting the planet to get to one huge one, but I can't see regulars to 'the Burn', however hippy they claim to be being too happy about a change of this sort. What about organising a bit more shared transport?
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://shinymedia.headshift.com/cgi-bin/mt4/mt-tb.cgi/50055
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Burning Man wants to cool down...:
Comments
A note: the event does not start until NEXT Monday (August 27th) and terminates on Labor Day (September 3rd).
Second, the assumption that the SUVs, buses, art cars, and all that other fun stuff just expends out into the atmosphere without carbon offsets is, in a word, assumptive bunk. Many Burners ship their equipment via a communal vehicle and rideshare in fuel-efficient vehicles. Many also purchase carbon offsets for the same.
Third, one might also note that before anyone gets all up in a Burner's grill about carbon footprinting, many vehicles and generators use biodiesel and/or electric hybrids to get there.
Oh wait, sorry, sorry, I forget, it's so much easier to slather on a statement that is provably false than it is to compare the same number of people flying on holiday to Majorca or Brazil or Cuba.
Nice try, hippie.
Posted by: Burning Monkey | August 21, 2007 1:06 AM
Drink some more of the Kool aid Burning Monkey. All this article does is point the complete stupidity in calling an event "green" when it tens of thousands of cars have to drive at the very least 111 miles to get to. Never mind the thousand of generators and other engines running 24/7 on the playa. Electric hybrids and biodiesel is a TINY part of community.
Posted by: TommyGunn | August 21, 2007 3:27 AM
Actually, TommyGunn, they have done, and will be doing, quite a lot more then that. It starts with their "Leave no trace" policy, which they absolutely mean. Beyond encouraging attendees to do this, crew stays after, cleaning absolutely everything from the playa. And bringing it back. One year I found a necklace of mine, blown away in a storm! It goes much further. Check http://www.ecorazzi.com/?p=2425 for details.
Posted by: Paul | August 21, 2007 7:07 AM
So they clean up after themselves. Paul I attended the event for nine years I know all about LNT and all the other slogans. None of that changes the fact it is one of the most non-green events on the planet. This is marketing hype, jumping on the green bandwagon. Don't even get me started on the hypocrisies of the sudden corporate sponsorships etc.
Posted by: TommyGunn | August 22, 2007 1:40 AM
Guess how many carbon offset credits Burning Man LLC is buying from "coolingman.org"?
note: Coolingman.org figures bm llc is responsible for 6% of the carbon emissions.
ready??
ZERO!
Way to practice what you preach bmorg!
Posted by: Chai Guy | August 24, 2007 8:57 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
