While BURNcast is devoted to the art, culture and community of Burning Man, I feel it's important -- and only fair -- to give voice to the people of Nevada who live in the area of Black Rock City the other 51 weeks of the year.
This video submission doesn't paint a very pretty picture of Burning Man. It was shot by citizen journalist and YouTuber who goes by the handle desertlovernv as she describes the moop and trash she discovers on a five minute walk-about less than two weeks after the event.
desertlovernv writes:
"This event is supposed to be a "Leave No Trace" event. Pack it in, pack it out. However, this video shows you how little is actually packed out and what still remains. This video was shot on September 19th, thirteen days after the event, and numerous dust storms later. There was no-one else in this area of the playa, not even the supposed clean up team that is supposed to be picking up all the remnants of the event."Metric, a long-time burner, volunteer of DPW, resident of Gerlach, and the Executive Director of the Friends of Black Rock/High Rock responded by leaving a comment that said:
"Nice. You made a film of areas set aside for detailed cleaning, looks like the Man Base and probably someone's art work burn site based on the pile of decomposed granite that's there. The CD with the pink thing? That's a marker to identify someone's art work, and so that the cleanup crew knows whose stuff they are cleaning. The day you filmed is a full 3 weeks before the end of clean-up activities. Nice work, super sleuth. Take your false indignation and shove it, poser."Still, desertlovernv insists:
"Why does it take six weeks to clean up a "Leave No Trace Event?"Obviously both people in this story care about the Black Rock Desert and the impact the Burning Man festival has on its fragile ecosystem.
Hopefully desertlovernv's concerns can be addressed respectfully and without any further insults or name calling and moreover, that she will return in three more weeks to document clean-up and come away with a brighter report.
UPDATE 19 DECEMBER 2010 - Metric has kindly shown us the new link to the updated video that desertlovernv uploaded a few days ago and here it is below:
desertlovernv writes:
"This film was taken on an iPhone on September 19th 2010 in the Black Rock Desert where the Burning Man event is held. This video was posted approximately two months ago but was removed by the maker because they received threats of physical harm from the members of the Department of Public Works (DPW) and other Burners.If desertlovernv has been receiving threats of violence this is a really serious matter. I hope that she is reporting them to the proper authorities as well as putting the Black Rock City LLC on notice. I mean, it would be TRAGIC if she ended up like Karen Silkwood. Just sayin'.
It has become increasingly clear that the organizers of Burning Man do not care about the playa, and there is some question as to the BLM's commitment to our public lands, therefor this video lives again, to show the dirty side of Burning Man."
