Rachel Corrie was there.
Rachel Corrie (shown at the 2002 Burning Man festival), was remembered by friends as being a committed peace activist. Photo by Denny Sternstein via Associated Press
Posted on 08/26/2006 11:17:39 AM PDT by radar101
With the Burning Man art festival in the Nevada desert starting Monday, a group of San Francisco scientists is busy calculating how much the event contributes to global warming.
Encouraged by the resurgence of the green movement, the scientists are taking a hard look at all those sacred flaming temples, gas-powered scooters shaped like cupcakes, and hundreds of rumbling RVs that converge for a week on the dry Black Rock Desert lakebed.
With an idea that would make Al Gore smile, the scientists have created Cooling Man, an online calculator that determines how many tons of greenhouse gases each of the 37,000 "burners" will produce with their art projects and community camps.
For the first time, Burning Man participants will be able to "offset" their global warming impact much the same way large corporations do, by investing in clean energy projects.
"We think Cooling Man is pretty cool," said Marian Goodell, Burning Man's director of communications and business.
Visitors to the Cooling Man Web site, www.coolingman.org, will answer a series of questions about their transportation to the playa, propane use, generator hours and how much wood they plan to burn, and the computer generates a total tonnage of greenhouse gases per person.
Then, like corporate America, artists will be directed to mitigate their pollution by purchasing greenhouse gas "credits," or "offsets," by investing in alternative energy that doesn't use fossil fuels: solar or wind power, methane capture from landfills and livestock. Tree planting also qualifies.
Burners are asked to pay $5 to $10 per ton of personal pollution to the nonprofit Trust for Conservation Innovation in San Francisco, which parcels the donations among various renewable-energy projects nationwide.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
"Burning Man art festival..."
Arts festival???
I was under the impression it was an orgy-cum-circus for burned-out head cases and terminal druggies - and the idiot children who aspire to be such as they.
LOL!!!!
Damn, thats funny!
You would think economic viability would be a factor in a renewable energy project, right? I betcha' those same renewable energy projects have this thing "For every {bla bla} of {bla bla} we will donate $10 to the Trust for Conservation Innovation in San Francisco..."
The renewable energy source? It's the wallets of environmentalists!
Just ran my numbers through the calculator.
I have no GHG emissions at all for Burning Man.
Good thing I'm not going!
Rachel Corrie was there.
Rachel Corrie (shown at the 2002 Burning Man festival), was remembered by friends as being a committed peace activist. Photo by Denny Sternstein via Associated Press
Seeing the headline, I couldn't avoid thinking "Burning Green Helmet Man - I could approve of that."
Did Algore ever ask Clinton or Reno to commission a study as to what the inferno at Waco, TX added to Global Warming? ;)
"Look, my brown acid turned blue."
Is all that foot and wheeled traffic GOOD for those small creatures?
I'm frightened that they haven't done an impact study on these unusual activities.
That's better...
Is all that foot and wheeled traffic GOOD for those small creatures?
You've just defined the 21st Century's concept of "art."
It's too funny that these hippies are helping along so called global warming.
Wow, she looks so... 3-D in that picture!
Smokin dope contributes to global warming no doubt too.
Watch em deal with that one!
And then they came after the motorhomes...
..cooling man
To know more, I would suggest folks use the keyword "burning man pics" on any good search engine. The art is intersting, the people are colorful and in the end they burn a large wooden figure. And they even sell beer, have marked camping areas and provide thier own security.
A lot less impact than from the Rainbow tribe (blech)
I guess it works for a 3 day weekend. R U going on this one?
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