By Steven T. Jones
The New York Times has noted Burning Man’s burgeoning environmental activism, which is building to a head for the Green Man themed event this August. Most talking heads in the NYT piece — as well as the green push itself — will already be familiar to regular Guardian readers.
Artist rendering of the Man’s green platform from www.burningman.com.
But the article reminds me that I’m long overdue to get back onto the Burning Man beat and start writing about some of the wonderful environmental projects now underway around town, including Jim Mason’s gasification project (in which he turns coffee grounds and other garbage into fuel), something he has successfully applied to Chicken John’s truck and will be turning into a giant garbage-eating slug called Mechabolic with the help of artist Michael Christian (whose Flock piece was displayed in Civic Center Plaza in 2005). So there’s that, the homegrown Cooling Man project, Tom Price’s manic push to green the burn, and lots of other exciting projects that are being birthed here and will make an appearance on the playa before taking over the world. Stay tuned.