For nine days out of the year, thousands of people flock to the middle of the Nevada desert for Burning Man, an annual festival with art, music, and a massive wooden man on fire.
Known as “burners,” attendees come from all over the world to live in the temporary Black Rock City, which is rebuilt each year before the festival itself begins. Organizers of the festival claim that the whole point of building a temporary city is to “inspire a sense of culture, community, and civic engagement.” The festival also prides itself for being the largest “Leave No Trace” event in the world.
But even hippies, who have it in their “nature” to take care of the environment, are often messy. According to a new environmental impact report from the Bureau of Land Management, attendees have been illegally dumping litter in the Black Rock area.
The environmental impact has become so concerning, according to the bureau, that organizers will have to make considerable changes in order to address their garbage problem before they can increase the number of attendees. The bureau also proposed a physical barrier around the city to prevent trash from blowing out into the desert, a significant problem that hasn’t yet been adequately addressed by the sponsors of the event.
The report additionally states that Burning Man will have to hire security to check all vehicles that enter and exit the temporary city for drugs, weapons, and any other threats. According to the bureau, it is all an attempt to address the security concerns to make sure participants are safe during the events.
The report fired up the burners, who argued the bureau’s demands are completely senseless and unfair.
“Is there an analysis of whether any of these mitigation measures would work? Or, at this point, is it more of a brainstorming and if we throw it at the wall, see if it sticks?” asked one Burning Man participant at a public hearing, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.
Staff and organizers of the festival were just as upset by the report’s findings, saying in an official statement that “the BLM’s proposals are in direct conflict with our community’s core principles and would forever negatively change the fabric of the Burning Man event, if not outright kill it.”
News of the report spread like fire across the internet, causing massive outrage even from people who aren’t directly associated with the event.
“Donald Trump’s main policy initiative involves building a pointless wall across miles of empty desert,” Chris Taylor wrote in an article published in early April on Mashable. “So perhaps it should come as no surprise that one local chapter of his administration has proposed doing the same at the annual arts and culture gathering known as Burning Man.”
One would expect the Left to embrace environmental protection against perennial polluters. But it turns out that only happens when “those other guys” are the ones spoiling the wilderness.
