The Green Man - A Review

Burning Man this year was yet another amazing and wonderful trip.

I was particularly eager to check out, and later blog about, the "Green" theme. On that front, I was slightly disappointed. Perhaps because I'm in the biz, I was expecting more - more solar panels, more wind turbines, at least a whiff of french fry oil burning in an art car. Sure there was some of that, but at its core, Burning Man this year was just another really big party. And it was less "green" this year than ever - with nearly 50,000 participants.

Of course, I wasn't much help. Even my husband gave me no end of crap for buying a case of bottled water, which I never do. We (hypocritically) drove the SUV 300 miles to get there, stocked with baby wipes, beer and red bull in little inefficient packages, and left the AC on a tolerable 85 degres so our kitty would be comfortable while we were gone.

Regarding displays, there were some wind, solar, biomass displays, and a good number of camps that attempted to supplement power with solar, but not as much as I expected. Lots of beautiful art, as always.

The most prominent piece this year was "Crude Awakening" - a 100 ft tall oil derrick that was ultimately burned. Fabulous view from the top. Huge metal figures representing all religions revered the almighty oil god. This piece said it all.

While I think the Green theme was a pretty good one, we left quite a carbon footprint.

I learned that it will indeed be the economy, and necessity, that will really get people consuming less, and events like Burning Man, and Al Gore's concert while a nice try - will do little more than raise awareness evver so slightly.