Save the earth+ Burning man… something doesn’t add up

Here’s my random thought of the day… Burning man is coming up quick and out of curiosity I thought I’d look into how to get there.

I found the usual tour bus stuff, trains to Reno and a couple of posts on Craigslist from folks looking to split the gas, but a few that caught my eye were the “green” options like bicycle co-ops and buses that ran on bio-fuel.

Bio-fuel is a pretty good “green” alternative I’m told but I started thinking about it. Why are festival goers so concerned about bio-fuel when they’re going to the desert to burn stuff and inject more carbon into the atmosphere?

The carbon cycle has been at the base of the global warming debate and I find it strange that some of the same people screaming about the carbon footprint and lowering personal emissions are also going to be traveling thousands of miles to place more of that stored carbon into the atmosphere.

It’s all a bit hypocritical, no?

The promotional material for the event describes itself as "tens of thousands of participants gather(ing) to create Black Rock City in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, dedicated to self-expression, self-reliance, and art as the center of community. They leave one week later, having left no trace."

Well perhaps no trace on the ground, does someone come and sweep the desert of footprints and Funyuns (no jab, that’s just a tasty chip… and a funny name, say it, it’s fun) bags up at the end?

Maybe they do, but what about the sky? What about all the dirt, soot, pollution and carbon generated from the power generators, transportation, lighting, instalations and fires?

I’m not saying don’t go, I’m just saying be honest. It’s fun. I get that, heck I’d go if I could. But come’ on, taking “green” transport to go and pollute the planet in some festival in the desert (which is quickly becoming commercialized, seriously, why are the tickets so expensive?) for a week, why are we lying to ourselves?

I get the allure of Burning Man. I’ve had friends go in the past and all have said it’s an experience, so I’ve wanted to go for some time.

I almost went last year, but then ticket prices priced me out (seriously, why does it cost so much to pitch your own tent in the desert?), but I learned that if you volunteer to help set up the week prior, you’d be let in for free.

So I made the plan to do just that this year and go. I told a few friends of my plans and suddenly we were all going as a group.

Things changed when I landed my current internship, and I won’t be going, but after a phone call from someone who was already on their way today I started thinking about it again, hence today’s Random Words. (Yeah baby, it’s back!)