The shock of hitting the streets of London after Nowhere was rough. It really did feel like returning from the playa but it was time to move along and find out what the UK burners are up to.
My first stop was to Salisbury to meet up with Russell Wiltshire, one of the Regional Contacts for UK. Russell lives many hours from London so we met in the middle and paid a visit to Stonehenge.
…and Jill, and Bob, and everyone else in your camp.
After posting about how many people reduce their solid waste by evaporating the water out of it, someone posted this to the Greeningman list, about how their camp of 40 people managed all that goopy glook: they dried it.
These kids have got it going on–they’ve got signage, they’ve got a system, they’ve even got a solar light on it so you don’t walk into the funk at night.
And check out the sweet Evapowheel(tm) for handling gray water!
Really neat little site, hopefully our traffic won’t break it. Enjoy.
Andrew Johnstone, some of the hard working brains behind the Burning Man Earth project, made this very beautiful, evocative fly over of the Green Man Pavilion. Take a look:
Posting this video is in large part an experiment to see if YouTube will work with this blog. Since it clearly is, please consider this an invitation: make a short video about how to “green the burn,” however you interpret that ( reducing waste, smarter materials, construction, design–you name it!) , send it to environment (at) burningman.com, and we’ll post the best ones here. Thanks!
Maybe you’ve heard of Nowhere?
You might think I’m referring to the vast expanse of nothingness that occurs between the urban environments of our lives. In a way I am, but this time I’m referring to the European Regional Burn that happens in Spain. Appropriately named as it does in fact take place in the middle of nowhere.
Hello friends!
Once again I hit the road to find out just what the heck is happening in Regional Land. This time, my visit took me to Apogaea, the Colorado Regional Burn.
Located about an hour outside of Colorado Springs on private land, Apogaea is a little treasure tucked up in the mountains. The drive from Denver took about 3.5 hours and was one of the most majestic and beautiful drives I’ve taken in years. Snow capped mountains, green fields, winding streams, big jagged rocks, it’s been years since I have traveled to such mountain country. I had forgotten the massive scale of things in this part of the country and found myself in awe for most of the drive.
Hello friends!
Once again, my adventures in Regional land bring me back to you with a little update about Flipside in Austin, TX. Believe it or not, Flipside is my very first overnight Regional event that I have ever attended. This year. For real.
Located just outside of Austin, TX on private land, Flipside is one of the largest and oldest of Regional Events. I’d known about it for years and have always wanted to go, but my former duties as Ticket Manger for Burning Man didn’t allow for travel at that time of year. I arrived in Austin and met up with some fellow BMHQ staffers; DA our Playa Restoration Manager and Carmen from Burners without Borders.
Carmen and DA – my travel buddies in team mini van.
Announcing the 2nd Annual Playa Lumber Recycling Project:
Help Harvest The Urban Forest of Black Rock City, and Help Habitat For Humanity build homes for low income families.
-volunteers pose next to their catch: 42 units of reclaimed lumber. Photo courtesy Camera Girl.
For years one of the biggest complaints about leaving Burning Man wasn’t the drive
home, or the difficult reentry, or even the long wait until the next event.
Instead, it was “I can’t believe no one can use all this good wood!” It was usually said just before someone torched a huge pile that had been used for just one week, then discarded.
No more: in 2006 Burners Without Borders organized the first playa-wide wood recycling project, and it was a huge success! Six semi trucks of lumber left the playa in September 2006, and were delivered to Habitat For Humanity in Reno. According to their state director, it was the largest donation they’ve ever received.
Last week I posted a link to a short radio interview on Treehugger.com about the Green Man, and the things we’re doing to try greening up this little burn of ours. They’ve now posted the full version. It’s a 12 minute podcast. Overall it’s a pretty accurate summary of what we’re all up to. Hey, you try talking for 12 minutes without saying something silly. Anyway, the links are right here, give a listen and see what you think:
