Following a post introducing Burning Man and another about our camp, I find it important to share some of the things that I personally disliked about the burn and why I'm not an excited follower of everything burn related. Altogether it was an amazing experience which I recommend any person to experience at least once but perhaps through some criticism, the bad things might improve. This is my personal blog and you're free to disagree or discuss. This might prove boring to people who have not attended so feel free to move on.
POLLUTION - environmentalism might be in the heart of some burners but the event itself is an ecological disaster by definition. Many things that could have been done to reduce pollution, perhaps at the expense of other principals such as radical self reliance or radical self expression, are blatantly and intentionally not done. Examples:
PRICE - with nearly $400US for the permission to be a part of an event where you have to bring EVERYTHING you need with you, many parts of society are shunned. There's a "low-income" plan allowing you to share your bank account print outs and if you're sufficiently poor, you'll get the ticket for only half the price. Altogether, the expensive permits and ever increasing levels of bureaucracy ensure that the "radical self inclusion" principle starts only after you've gathered enough money for the ticket and related expenses.
MUSIC - personally I'm not a big fan of dub-step or its kin and found it somewhat unfortunate that this was the main genre at the scene. Not really criticism here, just a personal preference. Luckily, some camps have put out venues with different genres.
PREPARATIONS - participating in the burn is something which often takes much planning and work. Some enjoy that, I don't as much. Not really criticism either, just something to mind if you've never attended.
OK, enough with the rants. By now, I certainly understand how the event developed into what it is today and why fixing some of the problems would prove an ever growing challenge. Just wanted to take that load off and if you've gotten this far, you probably should leave a comment :)
POLLUTION - environmentalism might be in the heart of some burners but the event itself is an ecological disaster by definition. Many things that could have been done to reduce pollution, perhaps at the expense of other principals such as radical self reliance or radical self expression, are blatantly and intentionally not done. Examples:
- Transportation - burners arrive in their own vehicles and no mode of public transportation is offered AFAIK. While the logistics behind trying to mobilize the whole community using buses rented for the event is obviously too complex, some positive planning in that direction could have saved enormous amounts of fuel.
- Drinking water - most burners buy one-time plastic containers to bring their own water. Centralizing the water supply would have spared a lot of waste.
- Trash recycling - only aluminum cans are collected for recycling. The other recyclables wouldn't make money so why would you care?
- One time products - a lot of burners purchase many items for use in the burn and then throw them away. There's no general awareness of reducing consumption but there's general awareness of adding fluff to everything. While on par with general attitude towards consumption in the US, I'd have personally preferred to see some elevated awareness there.
- One week city - the concept of creating Black Rock City for a week and then dismembering it is probably one of the biggest reasons for pollution. A permanent location hosting the big event once a year and perhaps other events throughout the year could reduce pollution and also attend to the needs of a community that's rapidly growing.
PRICE - with nearly $400US for the permission to be a part of an event where you have to bring EVERYTHING you need with you, many parts of society are shunned. There's a "low-income" plan allowing you to share your bank account print outs and if you're sufficiently poor, you'll get the ticket for only half the price. Altogether, the expensive permits and ever increasing levels of bureaucracy ensure that the "radical self inclusion" principle starts only after you've gathered enough money for the ticket and related expenses.
MUSIC - personally I'm not a big fan of dub-step or its kin and found it somewhat unfortunate that this was the main genre at the scene. Not really criticism here, just a personal preference. Luckily, some camps have put out venues with different genres.
PREPARATIONS - participating in the burn is something which often takes much planning and work. Some enjoy that, I don't as much. Not really criticism either, just something to mind if you've never attended.
OK, enough with the rants. By now, I certainly understand how the event developed into what it is today and why fixing some of the problems would prove an ever growing challenge. Just wanted to take that load off and if you've gotten this far, you probably should leave a comment :)
a comment. :)
ReplyDeleteSome of these things could be attended to with some personal initiative, it's part of the Burning Man idea, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteThere were a few old burners that said it used to be much worse, as far as the environment goes, so things are getting better maybe?