Greening the Burn

For five days over Labor Day Weekend, we camped and lived within a temporary city holding 49,000 citizens, thousands of art cars, exuberant human creativity, 70 mph "whiteout" dust storms, and a passionate embrace of Leave No Trace ethics which assists with the unbelievable "vanishing" act of this entire human circus at the end of the week.  "Might this be a dream?" you ask.  No it is simply the life-list bonanza known as Burning Man.  Held every year deep within the remote wildness of Nevada's Black Rock Desert, Burning Man is a week-long event that celebrates radical self-expression, community exchange,  self-reliance, and freedom from the "default" world (i.e. what you and I might term the "real"world). 

We had the great fortune of camping and working with the Earth Guardians, a theme camp consisting of both veteran and novice "burners" who make it their work and mission to educate the masses on how to minimize their impact during this period of experimental community. Kudos to Karina, Tony, Mike and the entire gang for welcoming us with open arms and making us feel right at home as we plunged into helping with daily work and life within the camp. We worked the Earth Guardian information booth, monitored numerous burn platforms on the final day of the event, and shared the stage with BLM's Mike Bilbo as we instructed and hosted an open forum on Leave No Trace one day for about 150 people.  

As it is often said, pictures are worth a thousand words, so I am going to let the amazing images in the album attached below serve to convey the crazy and fantastic splendor of Burning Man!  Just open the link, click "View Pictures" and start the slideshow!

Cheers,

Dusty

BURNING MAN PHOTO ALBUM