Burning Man by The Burning Man Project

Jenn A.
378 reviews
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An eco-hostile event with delusions of greenness

Burningman is really not a sustainable event. Despite talk about "Leave No Trace" and radical self-reliance, it's very clear they're all fooling themselves. Consider the huge amount of energy to prepare months before the event. It's not just about the amount of jet fuel consumed to fly to Nevada or gas burned to drive out to the desert.

Most people are shopping at Costco & Wal-Mart on the way in -- they buy tons of prepackaged food with lots of plastic packaging and "disposable" clothing, blankets and other goods.

There's a lot of waste out there -- most people can't be bothered to properly recycle or carry out all their own trash. Their failure ends up on the camp site or on the side of the road for teams of volunteers to clean.

Many of the art projects are burned. "The Waffle" was great to watch burn, but consider the impact on the environment by shipping all the wood from Europe for a massive structure, air flights for 100 people to build it and then sent all that ash into the air. When the man burns - lots of chemicals go up, too - not just wood but neon, glass, paint and other stuff.

How about people going out there in RVs that get 8 mpg, running engines and generators so they can have air conditioning in sheds built from 2 x 4s and cardboard which they will later burn.

How about just the fact that at the end of the event, there are giant metal trailers where people haul all kinds of crap to burn -- cardboard, wood, painted wood, carpets, clothing, blankets, furniture?

The idea of "radical self-reliance" is interpreted by some as "how much can I make camping in the desert seem like being in my own living room." Last time I went to burningman, I counted no fewer than 8 refrigerators and 6 chest deep freezers set up with generators -- and none of these were covered with insulation to make them operate more efficiently out in the sun. These people would be well off to live in a poor African country for 3 months as volunteers.

Andy C.
1 review
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Repsonse

Um, so instead the 40k people in a city do what? Live squeaky clean? You have some valid points. However, you miss some things as well. Not all those people are out there partying. Some of them are having actual conversations. Some of those conversations become action in the real world. Some of that action is green. They would not have had that conversation without BM, in seperate cities, never having met. What about all the water saved by 40k people not showering? What about all the Mcdonalds hamburgers we won't be eating? So when I'm out there knocking back a beer talking to the wind-generator guy what will you be doing? uh-hu. I thought so.

Andy's keywords: burning man, party, event

Abendigo R.
285 reviews
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Burning Man green?

The time I went to Burning Man, I certainly enjoyed myself. However, it's the most unsustainable event I've ever witnessed -- thousands of people drill PVC pipes deep into the desert, which leech their toxins into the earth. Hundreds drive around in their tricked out party vehicles, spuming clouds of gas fumes into the desert. I think it's ironic that it's taken them 30 years to get a clue of having some green branding, when many of the artists and people who attend the Burn do think of themselves as environmentally inclined. Anyway, a green Burning Man for 2007 is an oxymoron. Setting up a 40K-person city in the desert over the weekend will never be green. Never. And quite frankly, it's too late for there to ever be a Green Burn.

Abendigo's keywords: burning man, party, event, black rock city, desert, nevada, adventure travel