MOOP MAP 2014: Leaving No Trace Around the World

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~ Leaving No Trace ~
The Burning Man community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.

I’ll be straight with you, Black Rock City: The map I have to show you today is not from Burning Man 2014. It’s not from Burning Man at all. It’s not even from this continent.

Today, I’m proud to show you the 2014 Moop Map from Tankwa Town, South Africa.

Click the map to read AfrikaBurn's 2014 moop report.
Click the map to read AfrikaBurn’s 2014 moop report.


In 2013, the Burning Man DPW had the privilege to host Sonica Kirsten, AfrikaBurn’s LNT Lead. Sonica walked the moop line as part of the Playa Restoration crew, sharing knowledge, experiences and friendships with us.

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Sonica instituted AfrikaBurn’s first Moop Map last year; it’s greener overall than Burning Man’s first Moop Map, and it only improved after 2014’s event.

Art went from about 75% compliance for LNT in 2013, to only one unregistered Burn not cleaning up this year!

Theme camps have also become much more aware, and we have had great responses.

This year we will be targeting the general populace of Tankwa Town that believes it’s a “leave your trash in a bag on your site” event. Also up for discussion is “drive by” mooping: people leaving their trash on other people’s site.  Growing pains I tell you!

What I love about this portfolio is it becomes apparent how much people really care for this event and this culture. It’s wonderfully encouraging and engaging.

– Sonica Kirsten

Photo by Sean Furlong. Click the image to see more photos from AfrikaBurn 2014.
Photo by Sean Furlong. Click the image to see more photos from AfrikaBurn 2014.

Read more about AfrikaBurn’s event, community and LNT work at AfrikaBurn.com.


 

Nowhere, Spain
Nowhere, Spain

No Trace at Nowhere!

Liss Morgan, LNT lead for Spain’s Nowhere event as well as for Nest (Wales) and London Decompression, shares a big success story from another distant desert:

In the run-up to Nowhere, the Spanish government, not understanding our festival, tried to put in restrictions to have rubbish trucks come on site and remove rubbish every day. This would have of course not only impacted the atmosphere at the event; it would have been against people’s views on how the LNT principle works. After long discussions, we managed to convince them that we could leave the land the same as we found it, and not have anyone dumping in the surrounding areas, by having a waste site at the hermita (a church just down the road from the site). To help with food waste, we managed to get compost holes (helping to give back to the land we danced so fondly on) and have three site cleans (one after set up, one mid event and one just before strike).

1400 loving burners came together to prove to ourselves and to the Spanish government that we definitely believe in the LNT principle. Throughout the whole event (even against the odds with our wind storms) the whole place looked amazing, no rubbish anywhere to be seen. At the end of Nowhere we did not have a trace at all. The photos from the strike crew made me cry how perfectly there was not trace to be seen of any humans.

So inspired to watch how one person who is enthused about Leaving No Trace can impact so many other people. I did not know I could do this, and the community around me giving their support and encouragement are amazing. Could not have done without them.

-Liss Morgan

Photo via Nowhere's Facebook page; click the image for more.
Photo via Nowhere’s Facebook page; click the image for more.

What’s Your LNT Story?

The Burning Man Regionals Network is an incredibly diverse, vibrant community that spans the globe. Do you attend a regional event? Please share your experiences, challenges, successes and inspirations. How did you manage to Leave No Trace, and what did you learn?

Black Rock City, please share your stories too!


We know you’re on tenterhooks waiting for the next Moop Map scores. The Playa Restoration crew is compiling them as fast as possible (a process that happens at night after we’ve put in a full day of work in the desert). Please be patient with us, the next Moop Map installment is coming very soon!


Want more photos & goodies from the Playa Restoration team? Search #BM2014. You can also follow The Hun: FacebookTwitterInstagram.


About the author: The Hun

The Hun

The Hun, also known as J.H. Fearless, has been blogging for Burning Man (and many other outlets) since 2005, which is also the year she joined the BRC DPW on a whim that turned out to be a ten-year commitment. Since then she's won some awards for blogging, built her own creative business, and produced some of the Burning Blog's most popular stories and series. She co-created a grant-funded art piece, "Refoliation," in 2007, and stood next to it watching the Man burn on Monday night during a full lunar eclipse. She considers that, in many ways, to have been the symbolic end of Burning Man that was. The Hun lives in Reno with DPW Shade King, Quiet Earp. You may address her as "The Hun" or "Hun". If you call her "Honey" she reserves the right to cut you.

5 Comments on “MOOP MAP 2014: Leaving No Trace Around the World

  • Kung Fu Patty says:

    Gemini Party in Oregon does a fantastic job of leaving no trace. Though it’s not technically an associated regional burn, it was founded on the same principles of BurningMan. 15 years so far and the forest is still pristine :)

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  • J says:

    AfrikaBurn is largely a tourist event. As a result they’ve a huge moop problem. In particular, their moop map’s green includes moop levels classified as red at burning man.

    AfrikaBurn is extremely family oriented with many many “esplanade camps” dedicated to giving kids candy. AfrikaBurn has rather open drug use too. And obviously the art rivals burning man’s main pieces.

    AfrikaBurn lacks weirdoes though. Almost nobody is naked, like maybe I saw 10 people all week. No classes on strange sexual stuff, maybe one bsdm camp somewhere, but not prominent, and weak ass one hippie dance damp. No human caracas wash. No orgy dome. No masturbation parties. Absolutely nothing boundary pushing.

    South Africans are certainly more conservative than Californians, but so are Israelis, Florida residents, etc. AfrikaBurn lacks weirdoes because their photo policy was “the photographer is always right” because that’d help promote the event. And they succeeded in promoting the event. And they also made their event unsuitable for weirdoes, especially odd sexual stuff in a conservative country.

    It’s really fun for tourists who want to show up, gets high, dances, parties, and gift stuff, but if they never have their boundaries radically pushed by reading about say an orgasmic meditation class, then they’ll never open up to ideas like LNT either. It’s not that any particular birgin needs to actually do odd stuff, but you open up your mind to new ways of being when you learn that some people do.

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  • Jeffz says:

    I like that drive by mooping thing, wonder how they figure that out?

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  • Xeronimaus says:

    @J – one dancefloor, no nudity, no weirdos, no bdsm and not so much as a radical leave no trace masturbation?
    This is unacceptable – you should demand a refund! Outrageous!

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  • moopshmoop says:

    wow,not not sure what burn you were at sir,but Afrikaburn certainly has more then one dance floor. It’s still a small event,and needs way more time to unwind,of course its will be conservative compared to black rock city,because most of the burners have never been to another burn before,iv been told Tankwa town is what Burning man was like 10 – 15 years ago,these things take time to grow,as well as in the minds of the participants. black rock city has not become what it is today in just 8 years,it will take some more time,whats great about AB,is thats its way more intimate,and you never have any paranoia of law enforcement.

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