Green Man: Burning Man 2007

We all knew that last year’s Black Rock Arts Festival aka Burning Man dubbed “Green Man” was not too green. We all asked: How can an event which centers around building and burning and traveling from the far reaches of the earth to an obscure desert playa in the middle of more or less nowhere Nevada be green in any way shape or form?? But hey, let ‘em try. Reduce reuse recycle–sure why not.

While I was in Tucson, Laynie Browne recycled some Scientific Americans my way (thanks Laynie!) The blue ad on the back of the September 2007 issue was reused as note paper (11am Leon–we all walked over to the river thru the campground). The cover story is “Feast or Famine: The Global Paradox of Obesity and Malnutrition” and I unloaded it from the westie to the reading room where later I found these Burning Man 2007 predictions:

attendees: 40,000

carbon emitted from burning “the man”: 112 tons

total on-site emissions: 2,473 tons

emissions from travel: 25,019 tons

goal: decrease solid waste by 70% (through composting and shredding)

switch: 20,000 gallons of diesel to 20,000 of locally produced biofuel

deploy then donate to neighboring Gerlach: 30 kilowatt solar array to offset 6.9 tons of emissions

build: 150 kilowatt solar array for Gerlach to offset with the 30 KW array, 559 tons yearly

Now here’s the question: what actually happened? and what are the lessons learned and put in place for 2008’s burn? What can you do at B Man and at home to offset your carbon emissions and be more green man than burnt man? The Art Predator is on the trail! Check back for the results!