stop burning man

[wonderhope]

Why burning man? Isn't there enough violence and pollution in the world already. The amount of rapes that occur at burning exceed the amount of rapes that happen in New York City over that weekend. The festival is anything but green. It is a money making earth polluting cult!!!!! Please stop your event. I will do everything in my power to see that it is stopped!!!!!

[theCryptofishist]

You have a very distorted and uneducated view of the event.

[Barbie]

Wow Wonderhope... Have you ever been to Burning Man???



Think about this for a moment-Instead of driving around their cars for a week most of the people at burning man ride bikes or walk, instead of being in their air conditioned homes most are in tents, instead of playing on their boats (like alot of them do, other than labor day weekend) their are playing in playa dust...

I myself, in my daily life live in a home with solar panels, ride my bike to work, (when its not pouring down rain) and hang my clothes to dry. What do YOU do to help with YOUR carbon FOOTPRINT???

It is NOT your place to JUDGE Reeeeemmmmmmmenbbbbbbbeeeeerrr...

JUDGE NOT OR YE SHALL JUDGED!!!

[ibdave]

The amount of rapes that occur at burning exceed the amount of rapes that happen in New York City over that weekend.

humm Do you have any Numbers to back your claims???

[skeetsh00ter]

i find that rape figure to be very very hard to believe.

[Shrumatica]

why would you take time out of your day to make an account on a forum of people extremely dedicated to an event, to harshly insult them for everything they are, and expect anyone to take you seriously, when you do not have your facts strait?

~Karma

[Eric]

Please stop your event. I will do everything in my power to see that it is stopped!!!!!

Good luck with that windmill, Quixote.

[Simon of the Playa]

i'm not quite sure that we should belittle Mr or Mrs. W. Hope just because they are a caring, sharing, loving individual....with our best interests at heart.

he or she obviously means well, and is trying to save us from ourselves...

Yes, the road to sparks is paved with good intentions, and often with bags of moop from stupid Frat boys and Girls who actually ENJOY fucking up natural beauty, like a future sociopath enjoys killing cats.

i'm afraid it has come to this....

yes, i see the error of my ways, and the ways of our community as a whole..

selfish selfish selfish....i am so ashamed.


the only way, the ONLY way to truly rid this nation of the blight that is Burning Man, and we all knew it would come to this, so dont give me any shit for what i'm about to say since we've ALL thought it....



this year, we drink the kool-aid....

[mdmf007]

Whats the source of your information Wonder?

[MozyBonz]

this year, we drink the kool-aid.... Twisted Evil

But I drank the kool-aid last year.

OK..... but this is the last time.

[BitterDan]

This is a troll. Most likely someone's sock.

[Antranik]

Why burning man? Isn't there enough violence and pollution in the world already. The amount of rapes that occur at burning exceed the amount of rapes that happen in New York City over that weekend. The festival is anything but green. It is a money making earth polluting cult!!!!! Please stop your event. I will do everything in my power to see that it is stopped!!!!!

How is the festival anything but green? People survive on the basics for a week or more and it's the largest Leave No Trace event in the world. Most of the people attending are highly conscious of how their actions affect the environment and are keen on experiencing that week however way they wish. One thing for sure is people do not go there for experience violence and pollution!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meh.. I just damn near did Ctrl-A-Delete because this is such a waste of time. Probably just a prankster toying with us. Well, you got me. lol

[BitterDan]

The festival is anything but green. It is a money making earth polluting cult!!!!

This is the only true thing the sock said. The thing is most of us burners (meaning the people who attend and not the BMORG) do not think that BM is green at all. We drive our vehicles hundreds of miles into the desert so we can set shit on fire. There is nothing green about that. While being "green" is something that most of us would like to do, it's not why we go to Burning Man at all.

[theCryptofishist]

I don't think the event is particularly green either, but I'm not sure that it's any less green than other vacations. The thing isn't to get fixated on one week of the year, but to build infrastructure that is sustainable year round.

And then there's the education component. I work in a very environmentally conscious work place, but tyvek's in the white paper and plastic's in the composting depressingly often. It's simply not worth going after the burn when there are so many other, larger targets.

[Barbie]

PIZZA, PIZZA, PIZZA AND KOOL AID!!!!! 2008 YEA !!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!



No the event is NOT particularly green!!!! The Mushroom CLOUD from Crude Awaking was probably seen FROM SPACE...

[K1tten]

isn't that a little forward of you... to say something is so horrible when you've never enjoyed it? I'm going for my first time this year and I'm looking forward to spending time with my fellow green people. As for rape... What the hell did you get that idea!?!?! You've never even been so how could you know!?!? I have YET to find anything about people getting raped at burning man. Just leave us alone will you? Don't rain on our fun...

[erri2000]

Why burning man? Isn't there enough violence and pollution in the world already. The amount of rapes that occur at burning exceed the amount of rapes that happen in New York City over that weekend. The festival is anything but green. It is a money making earth polluting cult!!!!! Please stop your event. I will do everything in my power to see that it is stopped!!!!!

Are you familiar with the concept of a joke? Do you really believe everything you read?

Jeeze lighten up wonderhope. It is a show.

[Zorch]

Remember, if you read it on the internet, it must be true!

[theCryptofishist]

Oh, Zorch, no one had posted to this crappy thread in 4 days and it was working it's way down the page. The original poster hasn't come back, can't we just forget this ever happened?

[Box Burner]

Huh? wha... did I miss somthin" ? What happened?


Oh. it was nothin'.

OK.

[jdisafriend]

wowee my littl efriend, I bet you are just trying to ellicet our enthusiasim for upcoming events, thanks, and keep up the good work!

[gyre]

The government still distributes misinformation about rainbow gatherings to towns they might be near.
Is COINTELPRO going after burning man now?

Just tell everyone it's dangerous and no one will go.

[Ugly Dougly]

The government still distributes misinformation about rainbow gatherings to towns they might be near.
Is COINTELPRO going after burning man now?

Just tell everyone it's dangerous and no one will go.

Fools! COINTELPRO started Burningman! Can't you read between the lines?

[CompManCB]

At the risk of getting bashed, these are my thoughts:

The Burning Man event is not "green" in the sense that it's used here. Black Rock City is WAY too overpopulated to ever be considered green. The idea of camping is to tread lightly on the earth, but the huge influx of people coming to Burning Man create an environmental mess of the area, thus making it impossible to tread lightly. Camping becomes a moot point. The only reason why it's a "leave no trace event" is because of the shear numbers of people who attend and the people in charge trying to protect their own asses. If not for the "leave no trace" idea, then the desert would become a vast landfill that could never be used for Burning Man again. If we didn't "pack in" and "pack out" our own waste, then there would either be no event or each ticket would cost upwards of $1,000. Most of the cost for your ticket would then go to site clean up, maintenance and disposal fees. So, the policy that requires everyone to clean up after themselves is meant to deal with the issue of liability, not necessarily being "green". Not to mention the fact that all of the burning that goes on at the event is horribly bad for the evironment. Imagine all of the synthetic materials, paints, plastics and chemicals used in the art that gets burned up and is put in the atmosphere? Crazy amounts!! Also, people have to get to Burning Man, meaning hundreds (and in some cases, thousands) of miles are traveled in order to reach Black Rock City, which pollutes the earth all the way to and from the event. So, despite the fact that nearly everyone is walking and biking once they arrive (with the exception of the art cars and mobile art pieces), the pollution generated in getting to and leaving from the event is not offset by a few days of hoofing it on the playa.

Also, isn't the Black Rock Desert and the lands surrounding it owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)? If you're not aware of this governmental agency, it's run by the Executive Branch of govenment and headed by the Department of the Interior. It's all under the control of the Bush regime, which could give a flying hoot about our environment or the natural beauty of Black Rock. If there was oil under the sand, we'd be camping next to dericks not tents! Hasn't Bush disputed the scientific evidence in support of global warming from day one of his presidency? Doesn't he want to drill in Alaska? Seriously, I wonder how much of the profits from the Burning Man event go to BLM? How much did Burning Man authority pay BLM for use permits? There's a lot of money making going on behind everyones back, I'm sure of it. All of us fun loving hippie folk are getting horn swaggled by the man, all the while thinking that we're being kind to the earth. Please! We're all tools!

With all that said, I don't mean to discount individual efforts aimed at maintain a green attitude at the event. There are people like this, but most are not concerned about the environment when they think about partying for a week straight. There are non-profit "green" sponsors who participate in this event and many people do have the heart to volunteer in order to make sure that our stay at Black Rock is minimally invasive to the environment. So, props to all those people. Keep it up! Still, there's no way that you can call 50,000-100,000 people crammed into a small, natural, ecologically sensitive area, environmentally friendly or "green."

On a final note, if you're interested in reading up on the use permit application process and the environmental assessment of Burning Man, follow this BLM link. Obviously BLM is a biased party, but because it's a government agency, it's required to publically disclose its records on this topic, at least to some extent: http://www.nv.blm.gov/Winnemucca/

[Teo del Fuego]

"This is going to be my first Burning Man, so I am a newbie for sure. "

Compman: didn't you tell us you were going to be a virgin in 2008 over in the other thread about Christian Camps? Im just asking because you come across in the post above as a real authority on LNT at BM and other aspects. If ya never been, then I wonder how authoritatively you can speak. Jes curious, not trying to harsh your vibe or anything

[Dork]

CompManCB,
In what way is the black rock desert an "ecologically sensitive area" ?

How does the presence of some alterior motive make something more or less "green" ? Most of the green things I've done that were unrelated to BM had an alterior motive - lower utility bills, planting trees to increase the value and attractiveness of my property, biking for exercise, etc.

[theCryptofishist]

At the risk of getting bashed,

Yeah, I'm tempted, and I don't believe it's green.

The Burning Man event is not "green" in the sense that it's used here. Black Rock City is WAY too overpopulated to ever be considered green.

Wait, that's true of the whole fucking planet. Why should one tiny event involving 1/130,000th of the population for 1 week out of 52 be held to such a high standard? And what other sort of vacation would those 50,000 people be doing for their vacation that wouldn't be non-green. Face it, the Olympics this summer will be far less green even if you consider it as a once in every fourth year event, instead of once a year event.

If there was oil under the sand, we'd be camping next to dericks not tents!

Maybe. But, Burners contributed directly to the effort which may have torpedoed a coal-fire plant in the Black Rock Desert area. Maybe it is better have a few pieces of rebar than atmospheric mercury.

Seriously, I wonder how much of the profits from the Burning Man event go to BLM? How much did Burning Man authority pay BLM for use permits?

Worry your pretty little head no more.

Look, being green is never done. We can do it in a starvation manner, that will bring us misery and then we will spread the misery to others and not feel the earth is worth fighting for, as it is simply a veil of tears; or we can follow the the advice of St. Emma (and yes, I'm full aware that she'd never want to be called that) and have fun and joy and dancing with our green revolution. Guess which side scolding prefers.

[motskyroonmatick]

Burning Man is mind expanding. In many cases that translates over in to how participants think and do for the time while they are away from the Black Rock. I try to L.N.T. when ever I can. I make a point of dealing with my own waste stream through my own means. At work I don't litter the job site with my lunch packaging so that someone else has to eventually clean it up. At the burn I am the last to leave camp so that I can be sure that spot is ready for the next camper or world record breaking high speed land run. This is one of the many things I learned from Burning Man. Gifting is another trait that burning man encouraged me to do. When people around me need help they get it and if they want to compensate me I try to do it with a trade instead of cash. Stay with this board CompManCB because I want to see your reaction and way of thinking after you have had 6 months to process your first(apparently) Burn.

[CompManCB]

Cool...

[CompManCB]

There is so much offered at Burning Man. What seem to be unparalleled experiences. And as such, I am excited for what's in store, even if it does impact the environment to an extent. I think all of you recognize this, but the intrinsic value of the Burning Man experience is worth such minimal a sacrifice, right?

I'm glad to have found this forum because there is so much more to Burning Man than the "performance" or event, per se. Here is where many of the issues surrounding and relating to the event, can be discussed. All of what you say has merit. Also, I don't believe that I'm spouting lies simply because I've never been to this event (though I know many who have). I'd like to believe that I'm an educated individual; in no way am I saying anything new. It appears that everyone here knows how to recycle.

Dork, I refer you to the following reputable link in response to your retort: http://www.sierraclub.org/wildlands/black_rock.asp. Also, you're right; it's all about the motive. Every action we make has a motive. The motive here is money. Related to that, and to theCryptofishist's comments, check this article out: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... JRFGB6.DTL

Let me just say that I can appreciate people who are passionate about their role in the Burning Man community and also in the larger global arena. People who are aware of their responsibility to society and to the environment are, in my mind, ideal burners.

I don't know what to expect at Burning Man, but that's part of the fun. Meeting all of you there would be a treat because you could teach me a thing or two. I guess, ultimately I'm playing the devil's advocate here. I don't think anyone who has responded to this form, other than our dear wonderhope, would openly admit here that what they are doing by purchasing a ticket and participating in this event, is contributing to a problem that we now face and will continue to deal with for the unforeseeable future.

motskyroonmatick, I can't wait to tell you about my experience. It's going to fantastic!