Man, do we miss you. If you’re like us, you’ve tossed nearly “all things 2020” into the proverbial and metaphorical (maybe even metaphysical?) burn barrel, and you’re ready for a fresh start. We were forced to take a year off from building our magical city in the desert, something we never thought we’d have to do. Always a Herculean communal effort, we’ve somehow pulled it off together for the last 30 years.
For all its challenges, its complications, and its highs and lows, 2020 showed us the boundless resilience, interconnectedness, and creativity of our global community.
No physical BRC? Welcome to the Multiverse. You helped create not one, not two, but eight virtual Universes, a memorable Temple experience, and a 24-hour LIVE Burn around the world event. You also found ways to get together (responsibly). In Tahoe, Sacramento, Austria, Romania, and around the planet, these were carefully managed gatherings that proved, on a small scale for now, that Burners know how to create connective experiences the right way.
No income to count on from ticket sales? More than 21,000 of you generously donated over $12 million to keep Burning Man Project rocking, our event alive, and our culture thriving. If you haven’t experienced our fun thank you gift that’s being shared around, check it out here and below.
Hey, I’m Dom, Associate Director of Communications for Burning Man Project. My bio’s at the bottom of this post. I’m happy to be sharing this update with you! Our Communications team works year-round to keep you updated on Black Rock City, and to highlight stories from the global Burning Man community. We’re looking forward to sharing your stories and, hopefully, building some art with you in 2021!
Now pour yourself a beverage, put on your playa goggles, throw a handful of dust in front of a whirling fan, and read on for info about what we’ve been up to. As 2021 kicks off, we wanted to say hello, update you on the biggest things on our minds – Black Rock City, Health & Safety, Sustainability, and Diversity – and plant some seeds for the coming year.
Black Rock City 2021
If it isn’t immediately and fundamentally obvious, let me make it clear as day: There is nothing we want more than to build Black Rock City side-by-side with you again. It’s the holy grail. It’s our north star. Putting up that bright orange trash fence, raising the Man, then watching the string of pearly white headlights drive (at 5 MPH please!) along Gate Road and into the heart of BRC to build the most inspiring place in the world – this is what we fall asleep thinking about and what we wake up every morning planning for. It’s also what you overwhelmingly showed support for through the “Save Black Rock City” campaign.
Predictably, of course, it’s impossible to say right now if Black Rock City can happen in 2021. We want you to know we’re doing everything we can to be ready if the stars align. In fact, we’re trying to help the stars get there. In collaboration with other large-scale outdoor events in Nevada and our permitting agencies, our Government Affairs team is working behind the scenes to support the State of Nevada in their efforts to ensure safe and successful events in 2021. Our COVID-19 Task Force is tracking new information every day and helping us understand the science and health implications of virus transmission, treatment, testing, technology, and vaccines. The work we’re doing now will help us move forward safely. Public health and safety is our top priority.
As you know, it takes months of preparation to be able to pull off the event, so we can’t wait too long to decide if we deploy the resources and staffing towards making it happen.
We still have a ways to go before we can determine if it makes sense to proceed with Black Rock City 2021 planning. We will continue to gather info and prepare, and we will share more by the middle of February.
It is, of course, possible that we’ll decide in the spring to move forward, only for it later to be determined that the event can’t actually happen. We hope that won’t be the case. No matter how this all shakes out, we will only inhabit Black Rock City with the appropriate safety protocols and permits in place.
Over the fall and winter we’ve been doing the work to get us to this point, and we’re ready (and eager) to keep it going. Want to be first to know what will happen with 2021? Easy: Sign up for the Jackrabbit Speaks and subscribe to the Burning Man Journal. Theme camps, mutant vehicle owners, and artists have communication channels with their respective departments and will receive info, as necessary.
Coming back responsibly and sustainably
We’ve sharpened our focus on environmental sustainability, and we’re committed to making changes for future iterations of Black Rock City. You could make the cheeky argument that 2020 was our “greenest” year on record, and you wouldn’t be wrong. But there’s still a lot of important work to do, and we’re excited to do it. Over a year ago we launched our 10-year Roadmap and outlined our goals to manage waste sustainably, be ecologically regenerative, and make BRC carbon negative by 2030.
Our Sustainability Team (or sTeam) was created to help Burning Man Project achieve these three overarching goals, and we’re happy to say this work is moving forward with unstoppable momentum (in case you missed it, here’s the year-one progress report we published back in July). sTeam plans to publish detailed plans for each goal in 2021, complete a comprehensive Black Rock City greenhouse gas emissions inventory, and continue leading the charge for how our departments can rethink and revise operations.
Events like Burners Without Borders’ Spring Summit at Fly Ranch (pre-COVID, don’t worry), the July Ecosystem Activation, and the Green Theme Camp Summit aimed to tackle many of our burning environmental questions.
Fly Ranch continues to be a central hub for sustainability innovation and future thinking (check out their newly redesigned homepage for more info). Submission reviews have started for the LAGI 2020 Fly Ranch international design challenge, a project that aims to build the foundational, regenerative, and environmentally sustainable infrastructure of the historic northern Nevada property.
Sustainability isn’t a project we can take on alone. We’re looking to our global community (artists, theme camp organizers, mutant vehicle owners, Regional Event leads, etc.) to get involved. How can your project run more sustainably? How can your camp produce less waste? We’ll be sharing myriad ways you can all contribute to sustainability efforts in 2021, here in the Journal, on Medium, and via the Fly Ranch and BWB newsletters. We’re excited to continue learning together how to become better stewards of our desert home.
Radical Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity – Come along for the R.I.D.E.
As an organization that believes the world’s a better place with Burning Man in it, and one that’s committed to spreading the culture that stems from Black Rock City throughout the world, we are amplifying our focus on diversity. Over the course of 2020, Burning Man Project organized and formalized several workflows to address this important topic.
We formed an internal stewardship group tasked with advancing community engagement, public-facing events, staff trainings, and more. We published a new page on the Burning Man website devoted to Diversity & Radical Inclusion. We expanded the blog series by the same name in 2020. Your very own 24/7 BRC radio station, BMIR, hosted a magnificent audio series during Burn Week about all sorts of topics related to diversity in our community. Our first Diversity Town Hall took place with more than 300 community members participating.
We’ve also assembled an advisory committee of dynamic, experienced community leaders with expertise on racial justice to advise the DE&I stewardship group and review our new content, processes, and systems.
We’ve got big goals for 2021, with a roadmap to achieve those goals nearly ready to be shared wider. We see this not as a project to be completed, but part of our ongoing evolution as a community. If you’d like to get involved or if you have any questions/suggestions, please feel free to email diversity@burningman.org which goes to the stewardship group of seven people.
No matter which way the dust blows…
Regardless of whether BRC happens in 2021, we’re committed to elevating and expanding community engagement in all forms. We have a job to do and we want to do it with you. We know that so many of you have had a rough go of it lately and are longing for that personal connection with your dusty friends. We have a new virtual educational and community-building tool we’re excited to share with you soon. Tap into moments of on- and off-playa magic by following our Instagram feed. Missing gatherings? Register for Kindling and plug into LIVE experiences from across the Burning Man ecosystem.
Oh, what’s that? BRC tickets? We’ll have more on that in less time than it takes to find your bicycle after a deep playa sunrise dance, we promise. Stay tuned.
Thank you for continuing to keep the fire alive, wherever you are. And playa deities willing…the Man burns in 220 days.
Header image art is Stone 27 by Benjamin Langholz, photo from Gurps Chawla.
Thank you for the update! It feels really good to be kept in the loop. Here’s to hoping we can do BRC 2021!
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Love you man!!!!
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Burning Man.org could finance their needs in 2021 and if postponed, 2022 if they sold FOMO tickets asap that are valid for 2021 or if postponed, 2022. Purchases only permitted with proof of #1. Positive Covid or #2. Vaccinated or #3. Proof of rapid test 2 days prior to gate entry and/or rapid test at gate. Easy peasy no brainer way to guarantee a 2021 Burn. Lottery tickets and potential skewered diversity may have to be delayed one year. Drastic times…drastic measures:( Thanks for reading this !
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No.. not a requirement of vaccination or any testing. That is a lame and not a burning man way. You that think of having these requirements shouldn’t have any say or thoughts of how burning man should be handling the entrance of people. Man.. O! MAN!
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Will new theme camp applications be taken this year?
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If we hold the event, the Placement Questionnaire will open. Open camping will remain an option, too. Stay tuned!
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Love you Dom. Thank you!
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Fuck Yeah Woo Burn 2021!
@Whereever?
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what are those safety protocols you mention?
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Appreciate the thorough update.
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It’s simple, For this burn, don’t allow big sound camps and don’t do the Saturday Night Man burn, or if you do, make the perimeter so large that it will be impossible for people to form large crowds. That eliminates the gatherings of the largest groups. Art cars like Robot Heart and Mayan Warrior can still do their parties as there’s no Camp “borders” people get crammed into. If King of Hammers can get permitted for their event at the end of the month on BLM property, there’s no reason BRC can’t get permitted. And remember, the 10 principals are not a commandment, it’s an idea which can easily be modified. Radical Inclusion is pretty broad and with the massive distribution of vaccines, there’s no reason why proof of vaccination can’t be a requirement. stop living in fear… let’s do this!
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The biggest challenge will be bathrooms, the rest is pretty easy (as you outlined). Fecal source transmission is a major concern and port-a-potties could end up being huge sources of infection, especially since people do unmasked activities inside. Would need to increase cleanings and education on the issue.
Agree with you on all others, spreading out parties into the playa and requiring vaccination and testing is not that hard.
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You people with the vaccination requirements! What’s wrong with you all. Give up some more rights and freedoms for 9 days in la playa. I’ve been 3 times and still will not agree with your nonsense thought process of vaccination requirements. Listen to yourself. How outrageous you sound. Wow! Next thing you know is you will want to have people where some symbol badge on their chest to identify them. This is ridiculous of you to suggest such a discriminating and unjust manner for access into the playa.
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I agree With Echo in comment above!! No Vaccine ! my body my choice!!
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No.. not make vaccinations a requirement for entering into burning man. That is not at all very burning of you, us or specially of Burning man. Lose that energy.
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I’m curious about your fear of the vaccine.
but the main question is,
why wouldn’t you think about the safety of others in your community that aren’t as immortal as you?
and instead resist allowing others to have the safety of knowing you are not a carrier of something that could kill or maim them?
This fear of the vaccine, and general misinformation being spread is not being kind to others, in fact it is a hazard to others.
1st question is your information source.
where did this nonsense come from?
I noticed that the radio station that used to be the emergency info station here, was airing B.S. about the vaccines having tracking chips and other nonsense that would have lost them their broadcast license when I had mine 40 years ago.
Do you listen to talk radio who keeps you listening with their outrageous tales?
if so, why do you believe a shock radio host and call in doubters with no training or testing behind them, over the scientific community, as in facts with provable repeatable outcomes?
Do you have a verifiable source, based on factual, repeatable outcomes, rather than fear, hearsay and ignorance being the sources of your statements?
I just don’t get why people are so fearful of something, (from their own misstatements), they don’t understand, or worse, they were told falsehoods about by their media sources, to their own, and their neighbors, detriment?
Why would you let nonsense cause you to put the people around you in harms way?
I just don’t get why.
Do we need to reverse the first amendment because the information system in no longer self checking and is now blatantly lying to their listeners for the station owners benefit?
it would be very sad if those abusing the right to broadcast brought down our free speech.
is this the source that has corrupted your world view about repeatable and provable knowledge, and replaced it with the imagination of a guy in his mothers basement who knows better, or worse yet a troll farm succeeding at it’s goal?
I just don’t know where we lost the ability to think logically about information sources.
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On the topic of inclusion: have you thought about updating the principle of Radical Self-reliance to include non-binary folks by changing “his or her” to “their”?
It is long overdue. The AP style guide made the change three years ago…
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Wow, this is SO long overdue! Thanks for pointing this out..
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Yes! or just adding: ‘his/her/their’
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Their what?
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My pronouns are (I, me, mine). Good luck talking to me without losing yourself.
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Hallo !!! Burning Man didn’t happen this year because I didn’t come !!!! This thing with the tickets it really !!!!! On posts i saw people who came five , six , seven times and we can’t not even once !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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It’s a good way of compartmentalizing events, to place significance on these things within the time it takes for the Earth to revolve around the Sun. It helps in magical thinking, and the timeframe becomes like mystical a box that is labeled ‘good’ or ‘bad’. You get to blame or give credit to the magical box, and it absolves you of the normal requirement of taking responsibility for things that happen to you. The bad witch did it. Maybe the good witch is here now because the Earth moved again.
It’s one of the ways we insulate and protect our cognitive dissonance, on a collective scale. I’m like you. Are you like me? Then we are friends.
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Have you become unstuck in time, Bunny Grape?
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Love the info – Thanks!
BUT
Please stop Commodifying BRC and Burning Man on the internet with massive and constant web “stuff”. I know it’s something to “do” in the absence of building BRC, but that doesn’t make it necessary, frugal, wise, or in keeping with decommodification!
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Uggggh! I miss your face, Dom!
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…why are you *thinking* about doing BRC this year when we know that there is no possible way vaccinations, much less overall control of the pandemic, will be in place soon enough to protect the Gerlach and Paiute communities, or the DPW and build staff who will be out there starting in May? This is not a good look. The practical, safe, and moral thing is to announce *now* that there won’t be a big burn in 2021, and funnel all that energy into making the best possible 2022.
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Dear JD,
Thanks for sharing your view. Solution, any Paiute or Gerlach citizens should continue to quarantine the burn week, as clearly JD has the past 8 months. We live in NYC, everyday on the trains, buses, stores we’re all tight as sardines. Stay home and ask the UPS driver and mailman and food industry to take the “dire” risks you’re frightened of. Let the realist Burners voluntarily attend the 2021 Burn.
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Capt, I wouldn’t even bother. The posts I seen from J.D. never make any logical sense or follow the facts, just seems to be someone with an axe to grind against the Org coming up with emotional appeals Hell. the Paiute tribe in the area started to be vaccinated a MONTH ago,
” Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe rolls out COVID-19 vaccines for …www.rgj.com › story › news › 2020/12/29 › pyramid-l…
Dec 29, 2020 — Reno Gazette Journal. Elder members of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe will begin receiving COVID-19 vaccines this week…”
So J.D.’s position on this didn’t make sense before it was written and DEF won’t make sense 6-8 months from now. Seems to be just a lot of feigned outrage, maybe in service of some larger agenda.
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Hey Playa Pals , don’t be upset I’m saying this out of love, Burning Man is dead, you are still in shock and entering into denial. Your post breaks my heart. The shaky desperate hope against hope delusion that in a few weeks you will be able to tell everyone that it’s back on.
“What IF”… burning man remain dead? it was great! All of us remember how great various years were… wouldn’t it be more beautiful to let it go? By “IT” meaning black rock location, the name ‘burning man’ etc NOT the infrastructure that has emerged and NOT the principles, burning man could bequeath an ethical will.
the kernel of goodness enjoyed a full life cycle, and it’s gone. (Without a trace) isn’t that fitting with the ethos?
“WHAT IF “ your next post asked the burning man community to “co-dream” if what would it look like if burning man had a child?
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The simple brilliance of an offspring. Perfect.
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It’s dead? Who decides that, you?
I think the people who are expending money, time, and effort would disagree, just like they’ve disagreed every year before when someone came along and declared Burning Man “dead” and it happened again, always evolving.
If it’s dead to you, you’re free to move on. Ironically enough, your presence and engagement here alone is testament to the fact that the Burn is alive and well.
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A while back (2019?) Caveat wrote a blog post about all of the times Burning Man was dead and all of the groups that killed it, every year.
Granted none of us had “pandemic” on our “What Finally Killed Burning Man” bingo card, I think.
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Burning Man is, from what I have always admired, is the most creative haven for art and welcoming humans in one location.
I;m bothered by this attempt to bring it back this year, which will undeniably set us all back when we’re just getting close to overriding COVID.
This is an irresponsible idea and I cannot believe what I’m reading.
There are other ways to project creativity that will not subject other communities in our homes and neighborhoods far away from the desert — that will inexplicably be affected by what will happen if this event occurs, this year, 2021.
I’m out of words at how aghast I feel that this is even a consideration by this organization when we are getting so close to ending this simple viral transmission.
That means… keeping it together, apart. Just. Stay. Still. A. Bit. Longer. Okay?
Please.
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Radical reclusively isn’t one of the principles.
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This idea is as smart as Trump thinking he would win the 2020 election.
Please be smart, and not go down as a disaster that made itself — and its community — what takes it down.
Think about everyone else. Virus, sadly, always win. What beats them is knowing HOW to beat them.
Which is not creating a way it can keep on goin’.
COVID would LOVE the desert… I’m shaking my head, so confused that this could possibly be a consideration.
Be smart. Be safe. It’s VERY important right now.
Thanks for reading.
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I don’t know where you get that idea, and I doubt that logic will persuade someone who is determined to reach a predetermined outcome but everything the CDC says about how to mitigate this virus is present in the desert. Lots of space, lots of wind, lots of UV radiation, which is what they use to sterilize surfaces against this. I’ve noticed in many years out there, since I’m a person who seems to pick up everything communicable that goes around, for at least half a century, but the desert is the one place where I almost never get anything from others around me. And anything airborne doesn’t seem to least very long. There were two gatherings of thousands of there during the summer, and not only can I find no anecdotal reports of transmission, no public health departments in Nevada or California seem to have registered any spikes related to those gatherings with the numbers after the gathering in August/September going down steadily for months afterward, no public health department called them out based on being a viral hotspot. If you got a theory about this, it seems to be disproven by the facts. You even say that viruses love the desert, which is the opposite of what scientists normally say about viruses in an alkaline super desert at elevation. So weird; it’s like you have a preset agenda that doesn’t follow the data. Nah, can’t be…
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Orgy Dome = COVID Dome.
Man, that’s gotta smell!
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Well, SinglePly, Orgy Dome has said they’re not coming and trained dogs can detect Covid by smell, but no humans I’m aware of AND Covid removes some sense of smell for some, but, otherwise, ON POINT!
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NYC gov. Stated school children are safer attending school than staying at home. The mortality rate is a thousandth of 1% of healthy under age 60 citizens. It’s easy to be misled with all the false data…it’ll take a couple months, then other countries valid mortality rates will convince you. Burn ‘21 is voluntary, If you haven’t already been positive or been vaccinated, Rapid tests for everyone b4 and post burn. Please don’t push your misguided fear and paranoia on the rest of us!
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More like if you’re in fear then don’t attend, but do not make requirements for vaccinations or proof of positive or rapid testing. Scared then don’t attend. This virus is a joke and the media and government is playing on how everyone conforms. Such sadness of many minds eating this all up.
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Theme: “Trust The Plan”
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How can I directly donate my stimulus check and social security payments? I live on a fixed income but I don’t want anything bad to happen to Burning Man.
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Like many others, I desperately want to burn in 2021. If I was assured that I would not get Covid while working gate or being part of the crowd at the many venues within the city I would be the first to sign up.
Unfortunately , in any large crowd there are always folks who are irresponsible. Lying about getting the vaccine, lax about mask wearing, politically backwards and into denial of science. and these folks will be at the burn along side all the woke folks who are trying to be responsible. Much better, and I HATE saying this, to give it a few more months to settle down then go like gangbusters in 2022. There are regionals . I think S Cruz is in April. If you start planning your Playa art now for 2022 just think of how awesome it can be. I will definitely be there with Cap’n Jonny’s Outer Rim Tea Room so come out to the burbs in 2022 and say hello. And Peaches, if you’re out there , be sure and stop by.
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The virus is not going away in the foreseeable future. It’s irresponsible and dangerous to suggest that in 2022 we will be safe from this. We will NEVER be safe from this. Not very woke of you to encourage mass gatherings.
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Stop instilling fear if your scared. I was fooled in the beginning months. First 2 months then nope! I would clean my groceries outside before bringing them in the house. Lean all surfaces at work or bank ATM. Worried about my parents in their 70’s all the time controlling them as well. Hell NO!! Too many inconsistencies between CDC, Dr. Falsely and the government. First, masks don’t work if they aren’t N95 masks. The disease went from Wuhan virus to Corona virus and now Covid-19. Just a strategy to keep your brain washed and conforming. Language and key words to keep you in fear and following along. Just as you sound by what you say in your post. Anyway, months after Dr. Falsely states that people shouldn’t be waking around with masks, the government says everyone should wear masks, even cloth or any material. (Are people blind and deaf to what’s happening?) Then Dr. Falsely supports this of ‘any material of masks to be worn.’ No way! I’m not going to continue being played for a sucker. You Ho on right ahead. Just don’t direct that negative energy into our burning man playa family. Keep your fear based comments in your home and you can shelter in your own fear, but don’t bring it to the playa. Home (la playa) doesn’t welcome that energy.
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Unfortunately, no regional is inherently safer than the big gathering of the desert; much likely less. I don’t know why people think that if they are in a city 5 mi wide that they will get a virus from someone 2 mi from them, but 2,000 on a few acres where you come into contact with the same number in closer proximity is bulletproof.. It’s really the people right around you, and the physical environment matters a lot, too. A hot, windy, dry desert environment miles wide with your mucus membranes coated with sterile dust and enough UV to kill a person is far different than a nice regional in a nice wooded forest with microbes that set record for his long they last on surfaces. It’s basic middle school science
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Well said. My thoughts exactly.
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It’s crazy how a year off brings new insights. Something that has been a burr under my saddle has now come into high relief. The burning of the Man’s Army in 2019 was what left me with a lingering feeling of distress. More than most, the burning of the paraffin Army produced a towering column of thick black smoke, so thick that it was combustible..flames propagated up the smoke column…it was a tipping point for me, where the cathartic was at last reigned in by the knowledge that this is a damaging act….the joy was squelched by the shame of complicity. After 13 consecutive burns my choice to return will have a lot to do with whether my loved city can drag itself into the world of climate change. Yeah, what we do pales in comparison to industrial abusers, but the visibility of burning man and the scrutiny that the principles engender in the public at large makes me think that we could be making a much more progressive statement. Wounded by the pandemic, I doubt the org will be inclined to reinvent, though that is exactly what the covid shitshow offers as a silver lining.
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I agree 100%. So many of the burns release toxic chemicals into our delicate atmosphere. The virtual burns last year were absolutely amazing in so many ways. I see this as the future of Burning Man, and it’s so much safer and inclusive. The fire burns need to become a thing of the past, and we Burners need to set an example for all other events. We can’t sacrifice safety for a few days of reckless abandonment of our progressive principles. We need to be the change we want to see in the world.
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2019 Burning Man – Black Rock City
Did You Know?
About 80,000 participants, event employees and volunteers produced approximately 100,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. An average of 2,500 pounds per individual.
By comparison, the entire state of Nevada (3 million people) produced approximately 1,300,000 tons within an equivalent time period. An average of 607 pounds per citizen.
In other words 2019 Black Rock City produced the equivalent of about 8% of Nevada’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Sources:
Burning Man Project: 2030 Environmental Sustainability Roadmap.
Nevada Statewide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and Projections, 1990-2030, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection 2016 Report.
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2019 Burning Man – Black Rock City
Did You Know?
If each Black Rock City participant smoked two Marijuana cigarettes per day, 80,000 participants over 7 days would produce 1,852 tons of CO2e greenhouse gas emissions.
“Hey man, I can’t find my stash!”
“Hey man, I can’t find my camp!”
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Thank you for the update. But why don’t you don’t talk about the elephant in the room: the huge amounts of carbon unnecessarily sent into the air by the multiple huge burns every day over the course of burning man week. Perhaps they are not “significant” but, just watching all that smoke and ash go up into the atmosphere, makes me feel Burning Man is not committed to being a “green” organization, despite all your happy Instagram photos.
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Burning Man’s not GREEN. I don’t know where you get that idea, but you don’t build things, burn things, have people gather if your primary goal is “green.” That’s not the point of this thing at all. It’s done in a way to promote creativity, a new way of thinking, but if you just want to be green, everyone can just stay home and meditate. In a shelter made of twigs and leaves, and never use a computer again to complain about BRC, since the components in that aren’t green, either. And no solar power other than what falls from the sky, because heavy metal and computer components and batteries are involved, too. The hope is to do it better, to learn to be better, but if you want green, there’s a number of Amish communities … um, thataway. Better get some moccasins (no shoes with rubber soles or manufactured components) and get walkin. ‘
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2019 Burning Man – Black Rock City
Did You Know?
The Burning Man Project estimates 15,000 tons of trash was produced at the Black Rock City event.
375 pounds per participants, employees and volunteers.
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Well someone must have made a lot of trash because I only made 5 lbs of trash
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)'( <3
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<3 <3 <3
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I think people are losing sight of Burning Man and what it is. You don’t gather 80,000 souls and expect those souls to not have an impact. Does anyone camp other than BRC. Have you ever been to a KOA or Jellystone Campground for the weekend with your kids and family? The amount of trash, campfire smoke and emissions produced put BRC to shame. BRC is clean and clear compared to those places. Lets not lose sight and have unrealistic expectations from 80,000 spirits.
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It’s another aspect of the spectacle that is Burning Man, the company’s complete adoption of Progressive principles. Among those principles is the notion of cancelling aspects of the culture that are not in-line with the principles. In the case of Burning Man’s central event, the nexus of the culture, it is in conflict with many of the principles of Progressiveness. It’s spectacular to watch the snake eat its tail. Where will this end? The suspense is terrible, I hope it will last.
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2019 Burning Man – Black Rock City
Did You Know?
Human beings shed about 8 pounds of dead skin cells each year (0.02 pounds per day).
If 80,000 people attended Burning Man over seven days they shed approximately 6 tons of dead skin cells.
MOOP that!
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Oy vey. Looking at that Zoom call, Burning Man really is very ‘white’ isn’t it? An area for progress perhaps?
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Thinking we focus on evolving the Multiverse further this year, and wait until 2022 for the Desert Event. Had a unsuspected great time last year, participating in the Multiverses, throwing fire around Th and Sat night with Conclave, and burning our own Man and Temple. All through the 2020 Multiverse event, tapped into how connected I felt with our community. More livestreams, more chats – yaas, please.
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People need face to face connection now more than ever. What about those that don’t have that because of Fear?
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Proof of vaccination + negative COVID test + valid 2021 ticket = gate entry.
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I will NOT get the covid vaccine, its against my way of thinking. My body is strong and healthy and I choose to have a choice to not get the vaccine. I should still be allowed entrance! Radical inclusion
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BRC 2021 will be VOLUNTARY, like all events. If your scared of the virus, simple DONT COME. If you understand reality which is that no one will die of anything other than stupidity at BRC. The science supports BRC being safe. Also burning things is a cycle of Life. If burning things caused global warming then California would be empty and dead. i refuse to let simple fear and crowd control techniques keep me from living LIFE.
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Family (and other) holiday gatherings happened in December, despite CDC warnings. As a result, some got infected, and some especially vulnerable folks died. We were warned, and some took the risk anyways. The biggest factor in the Winter surge was being indoors. Life is full of risks. BM 2021 should happen, with as many things done to mitigate risk as reasonably possible. We are (mostly) adults, and sign many rights away when we attend. We should evaluate the risk, and make our choice. BTW, if one new “mitigation” was cleaning the ports more often, a “win win” bonus…….
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I am in. 100 % sign me up. Can’t wait. My husband and I have been dreaming of this.
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2021 Here we come!
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Covid is a state of mind
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If you’re not ready to get off the Porch and run with the big dogs. by all means DON’T
#don’tbeasissylala
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Thanks for such an interesting blog and the given content is extremely good. Keep posting such an amazing blogs, Will definitely share with my friends.
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Cancel 2021.
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Sad watching BM ORG and a significant portion of burners go from being fearless, freedom-loving, safety-third, proponents of individualism to the kind of mindless, paranoid, group-thinking, doublespeaking drones who might read (or write) the CNN (fake)news. BRC in August is the worlds least hospitable place for this 99.5+% survivable CCP virus. The thought that you’d mandate vaccines or testing as a condition for entry is absolutely ridiculous. What else are you testing for TB? HIV? Next you’ll be mandating precise light placement and intensity on bicycles etc… with dedicated bureaus to inspect all wheeled devices. People need to figure out their own comfort with risk based upon their own risk factors. Allowing that freedom in an increasingly idiot-proofed world has been a big part of the event’s allure. And now there’s a virus that poses a minuscule increased marginal risk for an event with an average in the 30s with little obesity to speak of. The bloody tickets say you’re likely to die at the event for goodness sake. Get it together!
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