The annual festival in Nevada is facing an existential crisis because of excessive heat and more severe storms.
Michelle was driven by DESPERATION to find a BDSM tent at Burning Man. Michelle did not have a pressing need for a spanking. Michelle was not a masochist. She just needed relief from the heat. The BDSM tent had air conditioning.
Burning Man 2022 was a hot event. On Monday, August 29, the famous bacchanal took place in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. It reached a peak temperature of 98 degrees Fahrenheit. It had gone 103 degrees by the weekend, which was a record for such a remote area.
Burning Man has been held in this deserted, featureless, and skin-cracking-dry area of white dust. This is why it’s not easy to live. Last year’s conditions caused a general feeling of burnout and malaise among the 80,000 people who attended.
Tickets sell out in seconds after they go on sale. The 2023 event tickets will not be available until April 12. The event could slowly fade after reaching a cultural peak right before the pandemic.
Reno, Nevada, is the nearest big city and is the fastest-warming city in the United States. Nevada experiences an average of 20 days per year of “dangerous” heat. It is projected to reach 30 days by 2050. This doesn’t necessarily mean that every year will see triple-digit days. However, it does indicate that they are more likely.
Michelle, age 35, loves to hike and camp. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, and has many “Burners,” including former roommates. She says that self-sufficiency is one of the core principles, and she thought this would be a great adventure for her. This refers to Burning Man’s foundational 10 Principles festival devotees follow. Michelle requested that I not use her last name as she fears that identifying herself as a Burner will negatively impact her professional life.
Two friends got her a last-minute ticket and set her up with a 175-person sustainability-focused camp. Fresh vegan meals and talks on sustainable living would be offered. The center would also provide composting facilities for other commands. A duffle bag containing lightweight clothing, sunscreen, electrolytes, and water was packed by her. There were also two batteries-powered fans and a tent for two. These supplies weren’t enough to withstand the heat and dust.
Her tent had become an oven by 8:30 the following day. She searched for shelter from the heat and found it. People were seeking relief at the few misting cool-down stations that were listed on the official schedule. Dust storms also swept the Playa, making it difficult to see for a few feet and covering everyone with alkaline dust.
Michelle says that she felt like she was going to die. Although she knew that her two friends had air conditioning in their shelters, they were only a 45-minute ride away by bike. After finding their yurt, she crawled into it. Michelle had a panic attack when they arrived an hour later. Michelle said, “This is just too much. She cried. However, she decided to stay and had to clean out the camp freezers of rotten food and throw them away at the end of the week. The camp’s generators had failed.
It is hard to be green in the dust
Full disclosure: I spent Burning Man 2022 living in an RV that was gas-guzzling and air-conditioned. It was my sixth year at Burn. I was experiencing a crisis in my conscience about my participation. The 12-hour traffic jam that required me to get out was so large you could see it from space; it was my sixth year.
We made it through this mad Max-esque scenario to reach nearby Lake Tahoe. Then we hiked under an apocalyptic sky that had been ravaged by wildfires. This was all wrong and too costly. Each year, I spent $5,000. Fashion aside. Being a Burner was no longer a positive thing.
David Shearer, a cofounder of Black Rocks Labs and a clean-tech scientist, says that “you’re not alone in saying this to me.” The lab works in concert with “the Org,” the festival’s governing body. He cites some of the Org’s efforts to decarbonize it, such as the deployment of mobile solar generators on the Playa for art projects, the implementation of a LEED-type rating scheme for camps, and the testing of hybrid diesel and renewable fuel-diesel generators.
The biggest obstacle to Burning Man running on renewables is the air-conditioning. This draws an extraordinary amount of power. Even Shearer’s camp was partially powered by gasoline generators.
In 2022, at least one camp was able to run its entire setup on solar power. It even had AC for 48 people. Solarpunks built a 48-kilowatt microgrid using consumer-grade equipment. It is the largest on the Playa. It has never experienced an outage. They wouldn’t let anyone bring an RV. They instead bought a large quantity of Shiftpods silver dome-shaped tents, which were designed by Burner to be used in extreme conditions. The installation of the solar microgrid required several harrowing days in the heat. The equipment cost was $200,000.
It was difficult; I’m not going to lie. It worked in the end,” said Corey Johnson, cofounder of Solarpunks and CEO of the Los Angeles-based events company Production Club. Solarpunks funded the microgrid using a combination of donations and a loan from the Production Club. They have been deploying it pro bono at events and art installations in Los Angeles.
Black Rock Labs estimates that about 78 percent of Playa generators, all but the largest, could be replaced with solar microgrids. Their price should hopefully drop to more reasonable levels.
