🌱 No Burn on a dead planet. How can we make Kiez Burn more sustainable?

Let’s have this discussion at the very early planning stage to create awareness for this topic – and perhaps to think and develop a few things differently right from the start! Feel invited to get involved here.

As humans, we need to acknowledge that we produce carbon emissions, especially by attending an event like this – we produce trash that needs to be disposed of and is often burned, use fuel to fly or drive to the location, consume products that are trashed after single use or come from very far away, transform fuel into energy for our lighting and sound camps, and so on. The Kiez Burn family is mostly white, relatively wealthy, lives in the northern hemisphere and on the one hand can simply afford a consumption-oriented lifestyle – on the other hand we contribute immensely more to global warming than other beings on this planet. That's the other side of the coin.

What this discussion is not supposed to be:

This is not about blaming someone, banning the event or taking all the fun out of it. It's more about reflecting and thinking about how we as a community can reduce the costs to the environment which are threatening a good life in the future. We have our eleven principles and community values, so there’s an immense potential to become a changemaker and have a positive impact – not only as an event, but as a cultural movement. Humans are sometimes a bit slow and lazy, but can also learn incredibly much from each other and adapt to challenging situations. There is no Burn on a dead planet, so we must become Burners for Future.

There are already so many positive developments: Composting toilets! Ridesharing! Upcycling! Let's improve LNT even more:)

Let’s exchange experiences and perhaps develop some guidelines for our next event:

• What strategies can you think of, and what has your experience been so far with implementation (e.g. LNT)?

• How can we reduce our carbon footprint and use resources more consciously?

• Can we deal with electricity in a better way?

• Are there ways and means by which we can compensate for the damage we cause (e.g. by supporting sustainable projects)?

• Can we organize travel and transportation in a more environmentally friendly way?

• Is it possible to buy the food we eat regionally (centralization)?

• Do you know how other local or international Burns deal with these issues – is there anything we can learn?

• ...

Useful resources:

• LNT & greening your Burn

• Burning Man: 2030 Environmental Sustainability Roadmap

• Leave no trace 2.0 (Kiez Burn guide)

Past discussions on Talk or somewhere else:

• How can we do electricity better? (2021)

• Nowhere/Euroburners Facebook group

• Environmental impact of art at Kiez Burn