The Man stands up
EDIT: I really want to know what others think about this, so please take a moment and reply.
I've been thinking about and talking about Burning Man more than any other year. Burning Man is making another great evolutionary leap in 2007...and not everyone is happy about it.
There really has been a shift for Burning Man recently. We've created an Environmental Statement that actually pre-dates the Green Man theme, taking our longstanding Leave No Trace ethic a step further, making reducing our environmental impact part of our mission and overall message. Then there's the glorious Green Man theme , which is generating some mind-bending art, but also some amazing synergy with scientists and innovators in the fields of alternative energy and carbon footprint reduction.
Well, I live at the forefront of public opinion about Burning Man, and I hear from all corners of our community about what people think about *everything* (ahem, trust me on that one) so I've been watching very carefully as our participants have absorbed and responded to these evolving ideas.
Not surprisingly, the greatest majority of responses have been from those who are enthusiastic and interested and eager to take part. For example, one of the oldest-school Burning Man artists snickered and wondered what took us so long when he reminded me his first playa project was a solar-powered car. We get many letters of support. There were more art proposals than ever, and the synergy has been incredible, in that way that Burning Man synergy tends to be. The art projects that have come through are going to be ASTOUNDING, and we're about to launch an Environmental Blog that will track the step by step moves that we're making both off playa and year round to walk the talk on this commitment to action to reduce our global climate impact. There really has been a massive groundswell of support and excitement, and I'm thrilled to see it.
However, that's not to say there aren't a few unhappy burners. A couple have even told me they're planning to skip this year precisely because of the theme. These folks say they don't want to be "told how to live". They say that they go to Burning Man "to escape reality," and that they don't want to have this message handed to them in this year's art theme. Amidst the excitement and support there are a few naysayers who are angry that their Burning Man is changing course to really take a vocal stand on something, when it was always so proudly neutral, urging only that you do *something*, whatever it was, to step into the frame, to get involved in your own reality. They want their Burning Man free of any meaning. They want it to stay inside the orange trash fence, inside that one week out of their year.
I've wavered on this point for a while, soul-searching how I feel about it. I've got a deep and abiding attachment to my hippie/conservationist heart - it's how I was raised, and how I've always looked at the world. But like most of you, I also really, really like to blow things up, and I love the amazing art that's evolved out there under the auspices of that lack of dogma we've come to love.
So why the change, then? Why is it suddenly okay for Burning Man to be "about" something when for so long it's really just been so committed to the sublime? I'm asked this from time to time, and I have thought hard and debated hard and ruminated deeply. I think I'm ready to answer.
We've never made a secret about our commitment to Leave No Trace principles. Even when we were playing in the inspiration of the Seven Ages or the Floating World, we still insisted that people clean up after themselves and minimize their impact on that desert. So this clean-up-after-yourself undercurrent is nothing new...but recently, at the urging of dozens of committed people inside the operation and within the community, we've explored the soul of the organization and taken to heart the global impact of climate change, and decided to "step it up" to do even more to encourage people to think about the results of their actions. And, we've worked hard to revamp our own operation to do the same ourselves. We realized that without Leave No Trace, Burning Man would never have survived in that desert...and now, without taking it home to the rest of our lives, humanity itself doesn't stand a chance. We decided in the face of that exploration that leaving no trace on the desert really wasn't enough if we were going to ignore the waste and the impact that was being created to get there, and after we leave. And, we decided together, we wanted to take a stand.
So, will that anger some people who want Burning Man to stay the same old thing, who want to go to the desert to blow off steam and forget the world beyond the orange trash fence? Perhaps. After months of internal dialogue, I'm actually ready to say that that's okay with me as a product of the evolution of this movement. Burning Man will always change; it will always grow. And we have absolutely no chance to affect the outside world unless we are willing to accept that we are part of it - not a subculture, not a secret event for the cool kids, but a part of the larger world that has a chance to say something powerful about a different way to live life as an active participant in it.
So I argue that any time someone wants to just go blow off steam and party and get out of their gourds, that desert and others like it are always there to receive them, as are any number of "parties" that are created to be and remain just that. But this theme and this commitment are a chance to mean something more. It takes no small amount of bravery to take the initiative to push this to the next level inside your heart, but I think we're all up to the challenge.
Burning Man has always been about challenging yourself and pushing your boundaries, and this is just one more gauntlet that's being tossed down - retain the soul of self-expression and creativity, but do it with your best effort toward minimizing your climate impact on AND off the playa; check out the amazing technology, art, and evolutionary ideas that people will be bringing, and take those lessons home. I am not negating the fact that there is an impact created by the travel to and preparation the event -- but perhaps it could be argued that the opportunity for education and inspiration just might offset that impact in the end, and that we are learning valuable lessons about ways that we might consider sharing resources and living with less by being a part of a community. I think we might learn a lot and actually change our lives if we pay attention. I plan to try.
Be brave enough to take this thing we love to the next level and be an example to the world, even as we still come together around a fire, just as man has for thousands of years, for communion. Take it home. Step over the orange trash fence and you'll see that the world doesn't stop spinning when we're out there together, and the sooner we take a greener Black Rock City's example home with us, the greater our chances of turning things around outside the fence. We will never be perfect, and we will never be 100% green....but we have to try harder than we have. It beats pretending the problem is not there, if you ask me. I think it's impossible to live on the planet without having some impact, but there is a way to reduce that impact, and anyone who denies it is denying the truth.
In short, I'd love to have sympathy (and in a way, I do) for those who are angry that Burning Man is taking a stand to encourage intelligent, considerate behavior in our exploration of self and self-expression, but frankly, folks, look at the news.
We don't have time to argue about this. We have always been about more than just the party, and here's our chance to show the world what we mean by that. Mankind needs to reduce its climate impact, full stop, end of story. Even at Burning Man.
I dare you.
Comments open to every reader.
There really has been a shift for Burning Man recently. We've created an Environmental Statement that actually pre-dates the Green Man theme, taking our longstanding Leave No Trace ethic a step further, making reducing our environmental impact part of our mission and overall message. Then there's the glorious Green Man theme , which is generating some mind-bending art, but also some amazing synergy with scientists and innovators in the fields of alternative energy and carbon footprint reduction.
Well, I live at the forefront of public opinion about Burning Man, and I hear from all corners of our community about what people think about *everything* (ahem, trust me on that one) so I've been watching very carefully as our participants have absorbed and responded to these evolving ideas.
Not surprisingly, the greatest majority of responses have been from those who are enthusiastic and interested and eager to take part. For example, one of the oldest-school Burning Man artists snickered and wondered what took us so long when he reminded me his first playa project was a solar-powered car. We get many letters of support. There were more art proposals than ever, and the synergy has been incredible, in that way that Burning Man synergy tends to be. The art projects that have come through are going to be ASTOUNDING, and we're about to launch an Environmental Blog that will track the step by step moves that we're making both off playa and year round to walk the talk on this commitment to action to reduce our global climate impact. There really has been a massive groundswell of support and excitement, and I'm thrilled to see it.
However, that's not to say there aren't a few unhappy burners. A couple have even told me they're planning to skip this year precisely because of the theme. These folks say they don't want to be "told how to live". They say that they go to Burning Man "to escape reality," and that they don't want to have this message handed to them in this year's art theme. Amidst the excitement and support there are a few naysayers who are angry that their Burning Man is changing course to really take a vocal stand on something, when it was always so proudly neutral, urging only that you do *something*, whatever it was, to step into the frame, to get involved in your own reality. They want their Burning Man free of any meaning. They want it to stay inside the orange trash fence, inside that one week out of their year.
I've wavered on this point for a while, soul-searching how I feel about it. I've got a deep and abiding attachment to my hippie/conservationist heart - it's how I was raised, and how I've always looked at the world. But like most of you, I also really, really like to blow things up, and I love the amazing art that's evolved out there under the auspices of that lack of dogma we've come to love.
So why the change, then? Why is it suddenly okay for Burning Man to be "about" something when for so long it's really just been so committed to the sublime? I'm asked this from time to time, and I have thought hard and debated hard and ruminated deeply. I think I'm ready to answer.
We've never made a secret about our commitment to Leave No Trace principles. Even when we were playing in the inspiration of the Seven Ages or the Floating World, we still insisted that people clean up after themselves and minimize their impact on that desert. So this clean-up-after-yourself undercurrent is nothing new...but recently, at the urging of dozens of committed people inside the operation and within the community, we've explored the soul of the organization and taken to heart the global impact of climate change, and decided to "step it up" to do even more to encourage people to think about the results of their actions. And, we've worked hard to revamp our own operation to do the same ourselves. We realized that without Leave No Trace, Burning Man would never have survived in that desert...and now, without taking it home to the rest of our lives, humanity itself doesn't stand a chance. We decided in the face of that exploration that leaving no trace on the desert really wasn't enough if we were going to ignore the waste and the impact that was being created to get there, and after we leave. And, we decided together, we wanted to take a stand.
So, will that anger some people who want Burning Man to stay the same old thing, who want to go to the desert to blow off steam and forget the world beyond the orange trash fence? Perhaps. After months of internal dialogue, I'm actually ready to say that that's okay with me as a product of the evolution of this movement. Burning Man will always change; it will always grow. And we have absolutely no chance to affect the outside world unless we are willing to accept that we are part of it - not a subculture, not a secret event for the cool kids, but a part of the larger world that has a chance to say something powerful about a different way to live life as an active participant in it.
So I argue that any time someone wants to just go blow off steam and party and get out of their gourds, that desert and others like it are always there to receive them, as are any number of "parties" that are created to be and remain just that. But this theme and this commitment are a chance to mean something more. It takes no small amount of bravery to take the initiative to push this to the next level inside your heart, but I think we're all up to the challenge.
Burning Man has always been about challenging yourself and pushing your boundaries, and this is just one more gauntlet that's being tossed down - retain the soul of self-expression and creativity, but do it with your best effort toward minimizing your climate impact on AND off the playa; check out the amazing technology, art, and evolutionary ideas that people will be bringing, and take those lessons home. I am not negating the fact that there is an impact created by the travel to and preparation the event -- but perhaps it could be argued that the opportunity for education and inspiration just might offset that impact in the end, and that we are learning valuable lessons about ways that we might consider sharing resources and living with less by being a part of a community. I think we might learn a lot and actually change our lives if we pay attention. I plan to try.
Be brave enough to take this thing we love to the next level and be an example to the world, even as we still come together around a fire, just as man has for thousands of years, for communion. Take it home. Step over the orange trash fence and you'll see that the world doesn't stop spinning when we're out there together, and the sooner we take a greener Black Rock City's example home with us, the greater our chances of turning things around outside the fence. We will never be perfect, and we will never be 100% green....but we have to try harder than we have. It beats pretending the problem is not there, if you ask me. I think it's impossible to live on the planet without having some impact, but there is a way to reduce that impact, and anyone who denies it is denying the truth.
In short, I'd love to have sympathy (and in a way, I do) for those who are angry that Burning Man is taking a stand to encourage intelligent, considerate behavior in our exploration of self and self-expression, but frankly, folks, look at the news.
We don't have time to argue about this. We have always been about more than just the party, and here's our chance to show the world what we mean by that. Mankind needs to reduce its climate impact, full stop, end of story. Even at Burning Man.
I dare you.
Comments open to every reader.