Comments on: The Burner’s Guide to Leaving No Trace

By: CreamPuff

CreamPuff — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 17:28:17 +0000

PreCycling is key. Many convenience food packages have added plastic around the rim or a tear strip (think prewashed lettuce boxes or Trader Joe’s nuts/dried fruit bags). Rip all those off beforehand. Check any perishables for stick on labels. Really examine each item. Another area to check for unneeded packaging is toiletries. A lot of make-up items and sunscreen come with plastic wrap. Costumes are a big source of potential moop, sew those buttons and decorations on well, or leave the iffy ones at home for off Playa BM events.

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By: little wing

little wing — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 03:21:45 +0000

Every morning when I go to the loo from my camp I take a gallon ziplock bag. On the way back I take different streets– and get to meet some neighbors while picking up moop on the way back to our camp. My camp mates have also adopted this practice. Best Moop last year? A bicycle pedal. Still have it. Always carry a ziplock bag when out and about. It’s so easy to just pick up what you see.

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By: simon of the playa

simon of the playa — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 23:49:17 +0000

some seeing eyes is wise.

perhaps i can be of assistance in that since i know people who know people…

it’s of the utmost importance to me since i will be working with a large “interactive” camp…

Also the notion of using the more “well known” interactivators™ to use their platform to broadcast the simple message of “Pick that shit up” on a regular basis, or the participants wont get to hear any more interactivation until they do so…

just a thought.

pm me on eplaya if you would like to discuss this more, i plan on implementing it at our interactivation station because i will be out there til thurs. afterward cleaning up, and quite frankly, it’ll make my post burn less hellish, so it’s totally selfish and has nothing to do with any of your eco friendly save the earth la la la bullshit…;-)

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By: epiphany starlight

epiphany starlight — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 21:32:47 +0000

ManBabe’s Sex Filth Ave. camp uses tarps on the ground and it makes for a wonderful, relatively clean environment. I was really impressed at what a cohesive space it provided. Definitely the way to go. LNT may be the biggest difference between “festivals” and BM. Thanks for keeping us all informed.

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By: nikOpeaches

nikOpeaches — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 03:56:18 +0000

MOTHERFUCKING VISE GRIPS!

it works so well, it had to be yelled twice. Kudos to Tomcat, he knows his playa resto.

One strategy that has worked especially well for Center Camp Construction (Oculus) is the use of groundcover. We use billboards or tarps stretched flat and tight, nailed into the ground @ 2′ intervals, and spread over EVERY high traffic area (living/lounge space, lumberyard, directly in front of our shipping container shop). This catches the matter that would normally disappear in a puff of finely ground playa, only to emerge w/ a rake and wood magnet.

After 6 1/2 weeks of HEAVY use, we sweep up the moop, discard it, then peel up the tarps to find cracked virgin playa. (when I say HEAVY use, imagine a daily DPW heavy equipment rodeo, full production woodshop, cheap beer fueled shenanigans, and a Cafe Kitten heart circle for 40+ days)

In my personal camp, I stretch tarp under Any area that is shaded and where people gather, it makes erasure much less mind bending than crawling through dunes of fine playa searching for wood bits. (and you don’t lose your precious tiny things that drop out of your hand/pocket/bowl)

So… Kudos is nice and all… (love ya The Hun). But what strategies/techniques do YOU use to LNT in Black Rock City?

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By: Tomcat - DPW

Tomcat - DPW — Thu, 31 May 2012 21:29:43 +0000

Funny you guys led off with a photo from Burning Sky. I found a plastic tag that said ‘good for one free plane ride’ during Playa Restoration. Held onto it all year and made sure to bring it back, anticipating how awesome that I’d mooped up a flight over the city. I track down their camp and was massively left down because it they said it had been punched. (I managed a plane ride the next year, properly gifted, and got to fly the plane, so no hard feelings.)

So The Hun, I know you didn’t like my on-playa late September idea for “Worst sort of gifts to give” featuring all of those wooden clothespins. Those 6 or 7 I found had been spray painted and then had someone’s website address written on them in sharpie — I only found one whole one, the rest were in pieces. (Who the hell clipped them on dancing people to promote their website? Why would you do that?) Perhaps something could be said about gifting things that are likely to end up moop? There’s probably a few paragraphs alone to be said on the etiquette of giving and getting beer cups, cans and bottles, fruit with pits and skins, Food with wrappers…

Also, please there is one thing that I think is never stressed well enough: The playa itself is not sacred. It’s what we do with it that makes it sacred. It’s actually just dirt, really. Now while no one wants you digging holes in the dirt, you should make an exception to this if you have stuck rebar! Now while twisting it with MOTHERFUCKING VISE GRIPS will get out stuck rebar, and you can ALWAYS CALL OUT FOR MOTHERFUCKING VISE GRIPS when you strike your camp and they will usually come running. But if they don’t, remember it’s just dirt, and you CAN dig it out. But even if you are in terrible weather, and bugging out in the whiteout, you should try to at least scrape a circle in the playa so it’ll be easier to find later. Rebar and tent stakes can be stuck in the playa for years, so NEVER pound them in; twist with vice grips or dig them out or draw a circle!

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By: The Hun

The Hun — Thu, 31 May 2012 15:34:17 +0000

John Mosley — You are more than welcome. I’m sure you know plenty about this issue and about Burning Man’s impact on the local communities :) Please chime in at any point if there’s some information that would be good for people to have!

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By: The Hun

The Hun — Thu, 31 May 2012 15:32:17 +0000

AsOfTime — you hit it right on the nose. I’m going to do a piece on that as well. It’s so important that we try to convince people to stop trashing the towns on the way to and from Burning Man! Hopefully a little awareness will go a long way.

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By: The Hun

The Hun — Thu, 31 May 2012 15:31:21 +0000

alaskaglacier — Those are all EXCELLENT ideas, thank you! I’ll be doing an article soon on trash management, and if you don’t mind, I might throw in one or two of those :)