Deprogramming Burning Man of wood over the years ahead

[felicity]

Of course this will seem outright fantastic to some, but in itself, it reflects core values which the Burning Man Project, the Org, and Black Rock Citizenry have embodied over the years.

The only thing that really goes against my grain at all is the fact that the Project Org. continues to and increasingly so, use wood and wood products in varieties of fire activities. Now, stopping a moment and seeing of how much wood in fact is involved in the event, all the way to the stick man, itself, one sees a significant obstacle to an otherwise ecofriendly progressing outlook which particularly the Project and Org has excelled to implement in recycling, moop cleanup, decommodification, etc.

What the citizenry itself brings of wood and does with it is not to be taken as central issue here; rather the focus is upon the possibility of the Project Org over the future (in all practical terms, not including 2004) doing much less of purchasing, building with, and then burning (i.e. at the least not reusing) what once were trees, alive, by themselves, intrinsically equal to everything else in the Cosmic order of things. The citizentry will surely follow in these ways, as if for nothing else, this practice will be less officially appropriated.

Starting a debate as to what to buy, build, and burn of wood (the stick man, the temple and its jigsaw "throwaways," burn barrels, etc) is not really as important than the realization that this practice upon many points is really, unnecessary for each of us to truly enjoy the event.

The stick man and its foundation has greatly grown over the years, taking in more and more wood, spectacular, beautiful, awesome, special, not , projection or whatever, which a number of hours after 10 pm, Saturday night, of what was once a tree and others, individual among many, in a forest or not, then exists as embers, and as if the trees in theselves or altogether, were less important--as if the ends justify the means.

On the other hand, the stick man and its burning is a separate phenomenon, projection or whatever, and can and perhaps will continue with at least (greatly) decreasing amounts of wood, and perhaps alternatives over the years, ahead. Surely all the creativity that goes into the stick man and the event itself can surely come up with alternatives to essentially going out to "cut down" some trees only to burn it for all these people's--necessary enjoyment?
[color=cyan][/color]

[Simply Joel]

stay home.

[Badger]

Stay home

.

Second that remark.

I'm hoping that Larry et al starts soaking the wood in creosote and surround it with a moat of diesel and jet fuel. It'd be better than the light ring AND would give the Rangers a break from having to chase down e-tards that try to break through the line and run up to the pyre.

Christ, when does the suggesting come along that we build the Man out of freeze dried tofu?

[Simply Joel]

Stay home

.
Christ, when does the suggesting come along that we build the Man out of freeze dried tofu?

If it burns like aviation fuel, I am all for it.

[Rob the Wop]

Easy answer:

Burn hippies instead. There is a surplus at the event anyway. Plus it will smell like patchoulli.

[Simply Joel]

Easy answer:

Burn hippies instead. There is a surplus at the event anyway. Plus it will smell like patchoulli.

If it burns like aviation fuel, I am all for it.

[theCryptofishist]

Christ, when does the suggesting come along that we build the Man out of freeze dried tofu?

Nope, nope, won't work. Too much chance of including GMO Soy. Instead, we're all gioing to be saving all burnable scrap and have a big collection drive every year 'round May, June and the pieces will be glued together using the all-natural spit of a certain beetle (whose name escapes me at the moment) into large slabs that will then be assembled into the man. Much cleaner that way.

[Simply Joel]

won't the fumes from the glue be toxic?

I say we burn the witches...
throw her in the water...
if she floats, she's a witch

Burn the Witch!

[Lilly Flower]

Easy answer:

Burn hippies instead. There is a surplus at the event anyway. Plus it will smell like patchoulli.

Oh my,

How terrible you should say such a thing. I suggest that you be banned from this list.


My goodness.

[theCryptofishist]

No, no, no. It's a very special beetle (I wish I could remember the name) with very naturally sticky secretions that are never toxic. There's a jungle bird in Papua New Gunia who builds super strong nests from it and the natives use it in hut constuction. They can build roofs out of reads that stand up to the monsoons. One of the really amazing things that the natural world has to offer us if only we would slow down enough to accept it.

[Simply Joel]

Easy answer:

Burn hippies instead. There is a surplus at the event anyway. Plus it will smell like patchoulli.

Oh my,

How terrible you should say such a thing. I suggest that you be banned from this list.


My goodness.

You sound like a witch... Burn the Witch!

[Lilly Flower]

[DeadlyKungFu]

Welcome to burning man, here's your button. OMFG I thought people ran out of stuff to complain about.

I say we start a 'kill your own endangered species camp' where you can hand select, kill and burn an endangered species of your liking. We can camp between 'Club Seal' and 'Kick-A-Hippy' camps.

[theCryptofishist]

I say we start a 'kill your own endangered species camp' where you can hand select, kill and burn an endangered species of your liking. We can camp between 'Club Seal' and 'Kick-A-Hippy' camps.

Call it Tibbles after this fine individual.

http://unbecominglevity.blogharbor.com/ ... 38224.html

[Isotopia]

The only thing that really goes against my grain at all is the fact that the Project Org. continues to and increasingly so, use wood and wood products in varieties of fire activities.

Grrrl, you just need to stop.

You ass has done jumped into the wrong shark tank with that suggestion.

Oh, look! I see more fins. Oh, and they're heading this way.

[Bob A]

No, no, no. It's a very special beetle (I wish I could remember the name) with very naturally sticky secretions that are never toxic.

Now wait a minute, is it fair to the beetle? Maybe the beetle doesn't want to sit around all day spitting for us. I think we will have to form a committee to decide what the beetle would want. Would the beetle be pro burningman? Maybe the beetle would rather give its' spit for a save the rain forest event.

Bob A

[Captain Goddammit]

what was once a tree and others, individual among many, in a forest or not, then exists as embers, and as if the trees in theselves or altogether, were less important--as if the ends justify the means.

Trees are pretty far down the food chain. I just don't feel sorry for their suffering. And they are a renewable resource.

['stine]

Ya know, it would be cool if we became the beetles and during the first few days of the event we each plastered our burnable contributions to a frame. Paper mache wouldn't be polluting, right?

Is shellac the substance you were referring to? Shellac, as the word is commonly used, refers to all forms of purified lac - a natural resin secreted by the tiny lac insect on certain trees, principally in India and Thailand.

Read on if you wanna know more about shellac.....

Shellac has the distinction of being the only known commercial resin of animal origin. It is produced by a tiny red insect (Lac Laccifer) which in its larval stage, is about the size of an apple seed. Swarms of the insects feed on certain host trees, commonly called "lac trees," in India and Thailand, the main lac-producing countries. Their whole life cycle of about six months is devoted to eating, propagating and making lac as a protective shell for their larvae.

During certain seasons of the year, these tiny red insects swarm in such great numbers that the trees at times take on a red or pinkish colour. When settled on the twigs and branches, they project a stinger-like proboscis to penetrate the bark. Sucking the sap, they begin absorbing it until they literally feed themselves to death. In shellac lore this is the 'feast of death." At the same time propagation continues, each female producing about one thousand eggs before dying.

The sap undergoes a chemical transformation in the body of the insect and is eventually exuded. On contact with the air, it forms a hard shell-like covering over the entire swarm. In time this covering becomes a composite crust for the twig and insects. Only about five percent of the insects amassed on the trees are males. The female is the main shellac producer. While she is exuding lac, she is preparing herself to die after providing a fluid in which her eggs will mature and from which the future supply of bugs will come, to repeat the process of swarming, propagating and making the next season's shellac supply.

The males, having fertilized the hordes of females (WHAT FUN!!!!), also begin their life-ending feast. Although they contribute relatively little more to the shellac crop, they have already assured an ample supply because the females vastly increase their output of lac after being fertilized. The great mass of male and female bugs on each tree gradually becomes inactive as the shell-like covering forms over them. In the sixth or seventh month, the young begin to break through the crust and swarm to new feeding grounds.

Shellac cultivation is carried on to produce a large lac crop by helping the larvae find better pickings for their feast. This involves simply cutting lac-bearing twigs from an infected three a few days before the emergence of the larvae. A bundle of such twigs, known as 'broodlac,"is tied to an uninfected tree on which there are many tender new shoots. This results in a higher survival rate of insects and a greater yield of lac since only a little broodlac gives forth sufficient larvae to infect a tree thoroughly. No further attention is needed until shellac is harvested.

Shortly after the young have swarmed at the end of the adults' life cycle, natives begin to harvest the lac encrustation from the trees. Only one crop is taken from a single tree. Young are hatched, however, twice a year.

Natives gather millions of encrusted twigs, called "sticklac," for transport to simple factories or refining centres where the encrustations are scraped off. They may also break the encrustations off right in the forest or orchard with a wooden mallet, much the way ice can be broken from around a tree branch. This material is called "grainlac." In either case, this is the first step in the harvest of shellac gum.

At refining centres, sticklac is scraped to remove the resin from the twigs and then it is ground (as is grainlac), usually in a primitive mill consisting of two millstones, with the upper one rotated by hand. At this stage, the ground lac contains a mixture of resin, insect remains, twigs and other impurities. This is now passed through a coarse screen to remove the larger size twigs.

After the lac is ground and the chaff sifted out, it is soaked in water for several hours in large cup-shaped jars. These are about two and a half feet high and have rough serrated inner surfaces. Next a stomper called a "ghasandar" jumps into the jar and rubs the lac with his feet against the rough surfaces. The object is to break open the lac seeds so the dye will flow out and the insect remains will be freed from the resin. Dye water and scum are removed in several rinsing. Then the ground lac is spread out on a concrete floor to dry in the sun.

The semi-refined product from this operation is known as "seedlac" from its grain-like appearance. It is yellow to reddish-brown in color, depending on the type of tree and the location from which it came. This is the raw material from which both orange flake shellac and bleached shellac are made.

This concludes today's educational session on ePlaya. :-)

[Captain Goddammit]

Anyone who knows that much about bugs deserves Frangos.

[Bob]

....core values which the Burning Man Project, the Org, and Black Rock Citizenry have embodied over the years....

The core value, if you must put it those terms, of the carpenter types who started and sustained the central activity for which Burning Man is known has been to build and burn the stick figure. Cleaning up has been an implicit part of decamping and striking the set, just as one would responsibly treat the use of any public hall or campsite, if one expected to be allowed to return. Please forgive us for not confusing any of this with your vague, impotent, taboo-laden brand of environmentalism.

[Silver 2]

Another point, a majority of the wood used for paper and for much of our light lumber comes from trees that are grown for that purpose. If there were no demand for paper and light lumber that land area would be used for something else.

Yeah, there are cites, I am just too lazy to look them up right now.

s

[BAS]

I'm hoping that Larry et al starts soaking the wood in creosote and surround it with a moat of diesel and jet fuel. It'd be better than the light ring AND would give the Rangers a break from having to chase down e-tards that try to break through the line and run up to the pyre.

Hmm. How about building it out of manure? THAT ought to keep people back!

[Steven bradford]

As an alternate construction material, I suggest unobtanium.

[Captain Goddammit]

As an alternate construction material, I suggest unobtanium.

Can't get any...

[Steven bradford]

You have to know the right people. If you need an introduction, then you're already not the right people type.

['stine]

The Masai tribe in Kenya still build their rounded homes from dirt, ashes, straw, sticks and aged cow manure. Perhaps we can use aged poo. I don't think this form of construction would produce the inspired and desired burn effect though.

[Bob]

The Masai tribe in Kenya still build their rounded homes from dirt, ashes, straw, sticks and aged cow manure. Perhaps we can use aged poo. I don't think this form of construction would produce the inspired and desired burn effect though.

What or whom do you mean by "we"?

['stine]

Anyone who wants to! Interested parties (those who protest the use of wood, perhaps) wishing to express their art with new medium could get some vegetarians, have them eat high fiber diets, collect their poo in special portojohns, age it and then those special parties can get in touch with their dung beetle sides and create a Michelin man shaped Man....or maybe not. Just having fun/practicing thinking outside of the box. ;-)

['stine]

as for me, I'm a newbie, but I'm thinking I prefer wood (wink wink nudge nudge) burning men. ;-)

[Bob]

Feel free to get together with the OP on (f)art proposals.