This year's Burning Man event had biblical parable energy, and I'm going to give you the real-life background as so -
The Book of Earth
Gaia 14:1
1 On the 27th day of the 8th Gregorian calendar month, I came down to my disciples, heralded as "climate activists" by the masses and said to them -
2 "Go forth, and warn your people, for this event shall not transpire without consequential impact. I will bring torrential rains to the most dry of deserts, and un-photographable conditions to the selfie-obsessed. The most marginalized will feel my wrath first, and not because of my doing, but because we are one people and must look after one another."
3 And so at the premiere of the 37th annual Burning Man event, my disciples gathered in demonstration, stopping traffic with a 28-foot trailer across the road to deliver my message of environmental destruction. Although heard by some, it received anger from many.
4 Those who felt anger deep in their hearts misunderstood the true meaning of Burning Man, to celebrate community, planet and self-expression. So for those Chad's from Barclay's who were there simply to "rage", and the Gisele's at Tom Ford Modeling who needed more content for their instagram, I unleashed my wrath.
5 "May torrential rain flood this ancient lakebed, and show the people my power" and so, two months worth of rain was unleashed in a matter of 24 hours, turning the entire site of Black Rocky City into a heavily mudded bog. Driving on site was banned, people turned to taking shelter, rationing food, fuel, and water, and the sacred act of burning the man was postponed a day. Noah's Ark couldn't get them out of this one.
6 Even my most favorite child, Diplo & my least favorite child Chris Rock were forced to walk five miles out of the city, as Triops - sometimes called Dinosaur shrimp, emerged from the area due to the flooding rains.
7 The people of Burning Man escaped unscathed, however the message of climate change was delivered- amongst the irony of the same festival goers abhorring my disciples who were trying to warn them of such disasters in the first place.
How do I end this, Amen?
Debrief
Photo by Katie Bain, Billboard
So as I hope you were able to transcribe, this year's Burning Man had an unlikely visitor to the traditionally dry and arid desert city in the form of climate change. Many original Burning Man enthusiasts will tell you that the meaning and purpose of the event is often lost in the seeming gentrification by people who just go for the clout. And ironically, these same clout-chasers were the most enraged by the protesting of our impacts on climate change, and reminded of it via the disaster.
For reference, the last time there was even a shower of rain in this part of Nevada was nearly a decade ago.
If you got this far without knowing what Burning Man is here's a quick Wikipedia brief:
- Burning Man is a week-long, large-scale event put on in the make shift area called "Black Rock City" with a focus on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance, held annually. The event gets its name from the headlining ceremony where they symbolically burn a large wooden "man". The event is guided by 10 principles including: radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace or waste, participation, and immediacy.
But if you ask your grandpa they might just tell you "its where a bunch of hippies run wild for a week, do drugs, and worship satan".
The event often references having respect for the Earth, cued up in their principal of "leave no trace", especially since the entirety of Black Rock City is temporary. They essentially build the make-shift city a few days before the festival and tear everything down after, strictly encouraging attendees to do the same by leaving nothing behind.
Unfortunately, the issue of environmentalism really arises when this "gentrification" or new visitors arrive who don't respect the events values. Black Rock Labs, a non-profit tech incubator estimates Burning Man contributes around 100,000 tons of CO2 in its week-long operation, over 90% of which is due to transportation of people and equipment in and out of the desert.
The event even sets up its own airport for the tech and finance bros to swing by on their PJs.
Black Rock City Private Airport courtesy of FlightAware
On an interesting note however, the festival kind of serves as an experiment on humanity adopting climate change. Festival organizers have committed to being carbon negative by 2030, and some progress has been made - but what's interesting is how they carry out these commitments.
Burning Man is entirely constructed by attendees, and in the event's sustainability roadmap, it's noted that their climate goals are a communal effort: "The organization is not dictating something; we are setting the vision and inviting the community to help"
So far: Around half of the camps haven't yet committed to the 2030 sustainability roadmap
Interesting
Between the event's struggles with visitors who don't fully abide by the Burning Man Commandments, their experiment with community buy-in for their sustainability commitments, and the ironic yet biblical natural disaster they faced, I think it's safe to say we may all see ourselves gradually living in our own versions of Burning Man unless we bring about change.
Education is such a key part of the climate transition, and I'd like you to applaud yourself on reading this article and getting engaged in understanding how climate will impact your future. Feel free to share this article with anyone you believe may find it interesting, or should also be considering the impacts climate change will have on their lives.
