JRS VOLUME #12; ISSUE #27
Burning Man Update: The Jack Rabbit Speaks
Volume 12, Issue #27: GREENING YOUR BURN
August 21, 2008
The work continues apace here in burgeoning Black Rock City, as it’s conjured from the playa floor by the hardworking, hardscrabble desert denizens of the Department of Public Works. The sheer scale and scope of independent activities that must seamlessly intermingle to create the infrastructure of this metropolis is truly awesome to consider, and even moreso to behold. And let’s not forget, it’s happening on what’s effectively the surface of the moon.
And yet, it’s not. While it may appear to be barren wasteland, the Black Rock Desert is in fact a vibrant — and sensitive — environment with a thriving ecology. As such, and pairing that with Burning Man’s core principle of Leave No Trace, it’s imperative that every participant be aware of their impact on the desert, and make every effort to do their part to preserve it, as much as we enjoy it.
To that end, our friends The Earth Guardians have compiled this impressively comprehensive collection of tips and guidelines for greening your burn. While we realize this is getting to you late in the game, it’s never too late to factor these critical considerations into your planning process.
Even at this late hour, please take some time to read this issue, and do what you can to play your part in preserving the Black Rock Desert.
See you very … very … soon.
-PQ
(Associate Rabbit)
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GREENING YOUR BURN
+ MAKE A PLAN TO LEAVE NO TRACE & BE GREEN AT BURNING MAN
+ THE PRINCIPLES OF LEAVE NO TRACE
+ LNT PRINCPLE 1: PLAN AHEAD AND PREPARE
+ GREEN PRINCPLE 1: RETHINK AND REDUCE WHAT WE PURCHASE AND BRING
+ LNT PRINCIPLE 2: TRAVEL AND CAMP ON DURABLE SURFACES
+ GREEN PRINCPLE 2: CONSERVE ENERGY AND REDUCE THE USE OF FOSSIL FUELS
+ LNT PRINCIPLE 3: DISPOSE OF WASTE PROPERLY
+ GREEN PRINCIPLE 3: REUSE WHAT WE CAN FROM YEAR TO YEAR
+ LNT PRINCIPLE 4: MINIMIZE CAMPFIRE IMPACTS
+ GREEN PRINCIPLE 4: RECYCLE EVERYTHING ELSE – AIM FOR ZERO WASTE
+ LEAVE NO TRACE PRINCIPLE 5: BE CONSIDERATE OF OTHER VISITORS
+ GREEN PRINCIPLE 5: COORDINATE WITH OUR NEIGHBORS TO SHARE RESOURCES
+ LEAVE NO TRACE PRINCIPLE 6: LEAVE WHAT YOU FIND
+ GREEN PRINCIPLE 6: RESPECT THE ENVIRONMENT & LNT PRINCIPLE 7: RESPECT WILDLIFE
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MAKE A PLAN TO LEAVE NO TRACE & BE GREEN AT BURNING MAN
Once you’ve passed the Gate and the Greeters, you are already a participant and a contributor to a very large artwork: the wonderful disappearing city. Leaving no trace of Black Rock City is enormously significant – that’s what gets us the OK to return to the playa every year – and it’s also a matter of simple details, one step at a time. Being Green is a way to spread positive impacts beyond the playa. If you put some these planning tips into your camp, your days on the playa will likely be easier, cleaner, happier and healthier.
The Earth Guardians have been collecting and recording LNT tips for playa living. Visit their website at: http://www.earthguardians.net
And for some eco-friendly burner resources, check out http://www.burningman.com/environment/
Here are our top ten LNT and Green reminders
1) Camp smarter, not harder, prepare a Leave No Trace and a green plan.
2) If it doesn’t come out of your body it doesn’t go in the potty.
3) Respect, rethink, reduce, reuse, precycle, recycle, and restore!
4) Never let it hit the ground (including grey water), clean as you go, and secure items from the wind.
5) Conserve energy and use alternative energy sources (solar, wind, biodiesel)
6) Consider whether your gift is more likely to become MOOP (matter out of place) rather than a keepsake. Give smart.
7) Be a LNT good neighbor, lend a hand, share clean energy, carry a MOOP bag.
8) Grid your camp before you leave.
9) Prepare for the hungry wind – secure your load, especially your trash.
10) Volunteer for clean up with DPW and participate in eco-restoration projects outside the Black Rock City borders!
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THE PRINCIPLES OF LEAVE NO TRACE
It takes thousands of people to create a disappearing city, and the how-to lore keeps growing. The Earth Guardians collect good ideas from camps and citizens, mix in Leave No Trace principles, and pass them along. Not only will you reduce the Matter Out Of Place (“MOOP”), you’ll make your camp life easier and more pleasant.
Leave No Trace Principles – We have embraced these seven LNT principles and have made Burning Man the largest LNT event in the world. The Leave No Trace Organization has more information on their website: http://www.lnt.org .
1.) Plan Ahead and Prepare
2.) Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
3). Dispose of Waste Properly
4.) Minimize Campfire Impacts
5.) Be Considerate of Other Visitors
6.) Leave What You Find
7.) Respect Wildlife
THE GREEN PRINCIPLES We have developed some Green Principles to help you bring Green thinking into your event planning. Taking “green” into consideration means thinking about the effect your decisions have on the environment and choosing the least harmful option.
1.) Rethink What We Need and Reduce What We Purchase & Bring, 2.) Conserve Energy & Reduce the Use of Fossil Fuels, 3.) Reuse What We Can From Year to Year, 4.) Recycle Everything Else — Aim for Zero Waste, 5.) Coordinate With Our Neighbors to Share Resources, 6.) Respect the Environment
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LNT PRINCPLE 1: PLAN AHEAD AND PREPARE
Pick a Leave No Trace team for your camp and develop a LNT plan, not just a clean-up plan. These folks will work LNT into your planning and preparing, help set up the camp so that it doesn’t blow away, help to plan your camp’s cleanup and break-down ahead of time, figure out how to reduce waste (especially stinky trash), design gray water disposal, and identify what NOT to burn. If you plan ahead and prepare to LNT, you’ll have less to haul up to the playa, have a happier playa life and have less to clean-up at the end of the week. Here’s a sample LNT plan: http://tinyurl.com/3eseto
Minimize kitchen waste and clean-up by planning simple, low-dishwashing meals, repackaging and preparing food in advance. Bring two-thirds the food you think you’ll need. Repackage and prepare food in advance. Bring water in big reusable plastic or stainless containers and bring reusable cups, utensils, bowls or plates, not flimsy disposables that will blow all over the playa. Ask visitors to your camp to BYOM (bring your own mug) and take your own mug to the Center Camp Cafe. A carabiner or shower hook easily secures it for transport around the City. Many fashionable bars also appreciate BYOMers!
Separate and sort trash in your kitchen, including compost and recycling. Collect food waste in a mesh bag. The food will dry up, becoming light and nearly odorless. Easy! Plan on burning paper and wood in a community burn platform. Here’s food wisdom from a decade on the playa, on Burningman.com: http://tinyurl.com/5nxgoz
Plan your camp to minimize clean-up efforts. Don’t wait until the end of the week to pick stuff up. Clean as you go. This will help you from getting overwhelmed by the mess and help keep trash from blowing out of reach. Plan to seal the small amount of trash you have left in big plastic bags, or in five-gallon buckets with lids, to take home, or, if you must, drop off some trash in local landfills.
Info on Burningman.com on trash and recycling: http://tinyurl.com/5nxgoz
You can also find out more about the Reno-Sparks Drive through Recycling Project at designated Save Mart and Whole Foods locations.
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GREEN PRINCPLE 1: RETHINK AND REDUCE WHAT WE PURCHASE AND BRING
What are you going to do to be sustainable at/to/from BRC in 2007 with your camp, in the camp’s art projects, in transportation, etc.? Things to take into consideration include the type and the materials being used, waste produced and energy consumed.
Use Greener Materials. Consider using materials that can be reused or repurposed at home or at next year’s event. Plan to use nontoxic, biodegradable, renewable and salvageable materials. Select materials and decorations for your camp that lessen waste and are recyclable or reusable. You’ll have less cost and less disposal headaches at the end of the event. You’ll also save money when preparing for next year.
Plan to Reduce energy use, consider alternative sources and off-set carbon emissions. Incorporate energy- efficient power and lighting. Use renewable energy sources such as human, solar, wind, or biodiesel fuel. Carpool and/or offset carbon emissions associated with transportation and energy (generators) and coordinate with sister camps to share transportation and energy generation.
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LNT PRINCIPLE 2: TRAVEL AND CAMP ON DURABLE SURFACES
Winter rains help erase our tracks on the playa, but dust from driving affects people right away. Keep auto speeds under 5 mph in Black Rock City, and drive only on obvious, marked roads. Do not consider taking a dip in the Hot Springs during the event. These delicate ecosystems cannot handle the volume of visitors that use during the event would create.
Design your Camp Structures and Shelters to be LNT. Plan your structure to be able to withstand the extreme conditions on the playa and be reusable. Stake your tents and structures so they will stay secure in the heavy wind, rain, and dust storms that are sudden and usual on the playa. Recycle Your Structure: Plan your camp around reusing your structure each year. If you reuse and repurpose the basic framework for your camp’s structure, you can still reconfigure it to give your camp a new look and feel each year and save money!
Do not dig holes in the playa. Small postholes used for structural support are the sole exception and must be properly tamped and tilled when you are finished with them. Larger holes easily erode within a year’s time even when carefully backfilled. They leave a visible mark and create a serious safety hazard.
Keep your vehicle from dripping oil or other fluids on to the playa. BLM did a study on this a few years ago and asked burners to use pans or other barriers under their cars, especially older cars, to prevent drips.
Always use a potty for your body waste – not the playa. Having a pee jug near your bed will cut down on trips to the potties.
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GREEN PRINCPLE 2: CONSERVE ENERGY AND REDUCE THE USE OF FOSSIL FUELS
Plan to conserve energy. Reduce energy use and incorporate energy- efficient power and lighting. Illuminate you camp with energy efficient light bulbs, LED’s or EL wire. Use rechargeable batteries. There are also many handy garden and tool lights that include solar cells.
Use renewable energy sources (human, solar, wind, biodiesel). The folks at the Alternative Energy Zone (www.aez.org ) have been living generator free for many playa years! If you must use a generator, consider biodiesel fuels instead of gasoline. Solar Koan will be offering a solar-based recharging station again this year!
Get your car’s maintenance done on a regular basis. A well maintained car produces lower emissions and is more dependable on the way to Black Rock City. Consider purchasing carbon off-sets from www.Coolingman.org to offset what remaining emissions you produce with transportation and energy (generators). Their web site contains a handy spreadsheet you can use to calculate your carbon emissions.
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LNT PRINCIPLE 3: DISPOSE OF WASTE PROPERLY
If it doesn’t come out of your body it doesn’t go into the Potty. Only single-ply toilet paper and human waste can go in the potties. Anything else can cause a clog when the toilet vendor empties the tank through a two-inch hose. Otherwise we have unserviced potties, and that means trouble.
How will you dispose of your grey water from your kitchen and shower? Our permit from BLM does NOT allow us to dump grey water directly on the playa. Camps can collect grey water and contract pre-event with United Site Services for disposal or take it to one of the RV dump stations along Interstate 80 after the event. You could use a variety of techniques to evaporate and reduce grey water, or if you’re in a very small camp, with minimal dish and body-washing water, you might choose to treat your grey water: pour it through a filter (like a paint sieve), disinfect it with bleach, then, since it is treated, sprinkle it on your street to keep down dust. Learn more at: http://tinyurl.com/56tu97
There are no trash cans in Black Rock city — so be prepared to take any trash you generate home with you and beware of the Hungry Wind. Bring tethers, anchors, containers, and covers, to keep light stuff from blowing away. When leaving Black Rock City, secure your load, especially your trash. Don’t let your trash fly off your vehicle, and do not dump it on the side of the road or at a rest stop on the way home! Use an approved dumping facility or take it home with you. Plan ahead before you even pack for the playa so you leave with a minimal amount of trash. Starting home, take a rest stop early; at the entrance gate, at a wide pullout, or maybe in Empire (if not too congested). Check your load. It is most likely to fail early in the trip.
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GREEN PRINCIPLE 3: REUSE WHAT WE CAN FROM YEAR TO YEAR
Design your camp structures for reuse, easy deconstruction, storage and salvage. Use screws instead of nails, reclaimed wood, and metal when possible. If someone in your camp volunteers to store the structure and associated shade-cloth, you can spend more time and energy on a structure that will last for years.
Consider using materials that are reclaimed and can be reused or repurposed at home or at next year’s event. You’ll save money before the event and have less cost and less disposal headaches at the end of the event. You’ll also save money when preparing for next year.
Trashion is high fashion! Instead of going shopping, go to your closet or look to save items from going to the landfill for some styling playa fashions. Nowadays, burners are meeting for swaps, DIY workshops, and trashion shows. Check your local Regional list for announcements. And check out some of the wonderful costume boutiques on the playa.
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LNT PRINCIPLE 4: MINIMIZE CAMPFIRE IMPACTS
How do we burn responsibly and clean?
Burn Responsibly: Don’t Burn on the Unprotected Playa. While resilient, the playa surface is vulnerable to scarring from careless burning. Burning directly on the alkaline playa BAKES the surface into a dark, hard brick-like material. Use community burn barrels or a burn platform.
Reduce and Reuse: Fires are for celebration and spiritual connection, not places to dump garbage. Low temperature burning produces toxic emissions, so minimize what you burn. Recycle or reuse materials where you can. Take reusable wood to a Burners with Borders recycle station instead of burning it! On Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, Burners Without Borders lumber recycling stations will be located at stations along the Esplanade.
Don’t Overload the Burn Platforms — Recycle Your Wood! Bring your extra wood and other camp building materials to re-use/salvage centers or to a Burners Wiithout Borders lumber recycling station, rather than burning or taking to a dump. If you do burn, be sure the wood you place in the burn platform is well contained. When the platforms are overloaded, burning wood can hit the playa and cause a burn scar. Have tools on hand to break down and cut up larger pieces.
Burn Clean: Be careful to burn only clean (no paint) wood or paper! You can burn on one of the community burn platforms along the Esplanade. Just don’t burn anything that is toxic! Carpets, cushioned furniture, PVC and other plastics release dioxins, formaldehyde, and other nasty stuff. The community burn barrels and burn platforms are low to the ground, and produce smoke that is easily inhaled. The low temperature, incomplete combustion emits toxic gases and particulates. Do not put any trash into your burn barrels! Please check out this page on Burningman.com: http://tinyurl.com/729rr for more information on the hazards associated with toxic fumes.
Participate – Each of us can play a part in protecting the health of our community and the incredible beauty of the playa. Join the Toxic Avengers! If you want to volunteer to help educate our citizens about wood recycling and responsible ways to burn, email toxicavengers@burningman.com, and please come by the Earth Guardians Pavilion at Esplanade, near Center Camp during the event and sign up for our Sunday patrols. We’ll be having a meeting on Friday to train new volunteers.
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GREEN PRINCIPLE 4: RECYCLE EVERYTHING ELSE – AIM FOR ZERO WASTE
Plan to Recycle- Buy only aluminum cans and plan to dispose of the cans at Recycle Camp. There are many good beers in cans! Check out this page on Burningman.com: http://tinyurl.com/66klr to find some. The more cans you can leave with Recycle camp, the less you have to take home! Be sure to separate any other recyclables (glass and plastic) at recycle centers near home.
Composting food waste not only reduces garbage but repurposes the waste to fertilizer. Be sure to use a container with a tight lid for transporting the compost home.
Salvage, Reuse, and/or Recycling everything onsite, including camp construction and demolition waste. Take the extra effort after Burning Man to bring your extra wood and other camp building materials to re-use/salvage centers, rather than burning or taking to a dump. Burners without Borders is planning to once again collect used, reusable, building materials at the end of the event at wood collection sites on the playa, Sunday till Tuesday at noon. Check your City Map for locations.
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LEAVE NO TRACE PRINCIPLE 5: BE CONSIDERATE OF OTHER VISITORS
Promote LNT neighborhoods. Be proud of your neighborhood: work together with your neighbors to keep your part of the city clean. Every year some camps get overwhelmed and need help. The LNT principle, “Be considerate of Other Visitors,” in our city, includes helping neighbors to leave no trace. Carry a MOOP bag and water as you walk around your part of the city.
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” – Kahlil Gibran
Gifting in a LNT Community: We all enjoy the generosity and gifts of our theme camps, artists, and fellow citizens. Instead of bringing cheap trinkets for gifts that become MOOP, consider the gift of one’s self. Look around and pitch in to help keep things clean: offer a tool, an extra hand, a gesture of thanks. Try giving a smile, a helping hand or a joke. Help a neighbor set up camp. You are the best gift.
Devote Two Hours to General Cleanup in Black Rock City. This means the streets, public spaces, and open playa where stuff may have been left behind. Consider staying an extra day to help clean-up and avoid the Sunday and Monday traffic!
Prepare for the Hungry Wind – Secure your load, especially your trash. Don’t let your trash fly off your vehicle, and do not dump it on the side of the road or at a rest stop on the way home! Use an approved dumping facility or take or home with you. Plan ahead before you even pack for the playa so you leave with a minimal amount of trash. When starting home, take a rest stop early; at the entrance gate, at a wide pullout, or maybe at the Empire store, if not too congested. Check your load. It is most likely to fail early in the trip.
Come back to the Black Rock Desert after the event and participate in restoration activities. Helping the DPW clean the playa in September can be very satisfying. The Earth Guardians participate in eco-restoration activities year-round. For more information, check out our calendar at http://www.earthguardians.net
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GREEN PRINCIPLE 5: COORDINATE WITH OUR NEIGHBORS TO SHARE RESOURCES
Coordinate with other participants to carpool, reduce your transportation costs and impacts and make new friends even before you get to the playa. Note that many Regionals also coordinate to ship supplies to the playa. Check with your local regional contact and test out the BM rideshare web page: http://rideshare.burningman.com
Partner with other camps to share resources and experience and avoid duplication of time, energy, and materials. Many camps now collaborate on energy sources and grey water management. You can coordinate with other camps to share energy generation. If you’re in a Village, you work with your village organizers to place camps so that sharing generators (or even better, renewable power sources) can happen.
Discuss the possibility of sharing water and water treatment needs with others in your camp and village. Many theme camps within villages take advantage of shared resources to use larger scale processes to store their drinking and shower water and treat their grey water. Do not bring small plastic bottles of water to the playa.
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LEAVE NO TRACE PRINCIPLE 6: LEAVE WHAT YOU FIND
On first reaching the playa, we encounter one of the profoundly barren and empty corners of the world. That is exactly what we want to leave.
Clean As You Go and Grid Your Camp at the End! Don’t wait until the end of the week to pick stuff up, NEVER LET IT HIT THE GROUND and CLEAN AS YOU GO. This will help you from getting overwhelmed by the mess and help keep trash from blowing out of reach. Once you have taken down your camp, pack-up and load everything (including all trash) into your vehicles, and do a line sweep for every last bit of MOOP. Use something like cones on the outside of your camp’s border to define your boundaries, break up any dunes that formed around vehicles or structures, then divide up your area and begin line sweeps. Give everyone a sack, line them up along one edge of camp, look dow and slowly walk to the other side. Cover your entire area looking for those last bits of trash- every wood chip, plastic piece, twist tie, cigarette butt, food scrap, carpet fiber, match, nut shell, scrap of plastic, everything.
A buried stake doesn’t disappear. Instead, its hazard is magnified. Even when pounded below the surface, a stake will slowly, inevitably, emerge from the playa. Vise-grips will almost always remove a stuck stake. First, clamp on the vise-grips and rotate the stake back and forth, to break the playa’s grip. Then continue rotating and also pull upwards. Still stuck? Ask a neighbor for help. Next year, remember that smooth stakes pull out much easier than ridged rebar.
Dedicate Two Hours to General Cleanup in Black Rock City! Each participant is asked to contribute two hours to community cleanup before departure. This means streets, Center Camp, Center Café, all other public spaces, and open playa where stuff may have been left behind. Pitch in with your fellow citizens and community service teams to restore the natural characteristics of the playa in your neighborhood, removing all burn scars, dunes, leftover debris, or other physical traces of our presence. Stop by the Earth Guardian camp during the week and on Sunday and Monday — we’ll give you a beautiful reusable MOOP bag and direct you to the areas of the City that need the most attention.
Consider joining the DPW post-event restoration crews. Help us clean and restore the playa, so that we and all its visitors can appreciate its beauty again and again.
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GREEN PRINCIPLE 6: RESPECT THE ENVIRONMENT
LNT PRINCIPLE 7: RESPECT WILDLIFE
At first glance, this principle may not seem as applicable to Burning Man. However, as users of the Black Rock Desert, we share the Black Rock Desert NCA with many native species. As home to Burning Man, the Black Rock High Rock NCA has importance to the Burning Man community. Earth Guardians have partnered with BLM and other user groups to restore sensitive areas around the Black Rock Desert and have also taken on our own restoration projects.
Participate in Environmental Stewardship. EG’s are continuing their efforts to take care of the desert environment with the Bureau of Land Management and Friends of Black Rock/High Rock. Stop by the Earth Guardian Pavilion at Esplanade near Center camp to sign up for environmental workshops and naturalist-led desert walks throughout the week.
Let’s keep our beautiful desert home clean year round! See the EG pages for more details: http://www.earthguardians.net
Promote more sustainable practices at Burning Man with Respect, Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Precycle, Recycle and Restore, resulting in more awareness of conservation, ecological footprints, carbon equivalent offsets, and alternative energy sources, protecting our global habitat. Interested in helping, come to the Earth Guardians Pavilion and participate in one of our workshops.
Also, don’t forget, the desert is no place for dogs or other pets. Burning Man is a no dog event. For questions, contact dogs at burningman.com
– RESPECT THE PLAYA – NEVER LET IT HIT THE GROUND!
RESPECT, RETHINK, PRECYCLE, REDUCE, REUSE, RECYLE and RESTORE!
DON’T LET IT HIT THE GROUND – CLEAN AS YOU GO!
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Soundtrack for this JRS: Feisty, Lloyd Cole, Devotchka, Cohen, and the sound of t-stakes being pounded.