Climate change will affect the Burning Man
The first time Diplo went to Burning Man 2023: When the rain started pouring, the campmates and the community grew together
When the history of Burning Man 2023 is written, it’s likely Diplo. And. Chris Rock will record his decision to leave the festival site as the point when the fun stopped.
Others are still fighting. The first time she went to Burning Man, the rain hadn’t perturbed her or her fellow campmates. She admits that the weather makes it hard to get around in the city, but she insists that they are prepared. Vehicles are banned from traveling around for fear of making the ground worse or getting stuck and blocking routes earmarked as exit routes for when it’s safe to leave. Some decided against walking around at the site, but still can party as always. With some changes, the campmates are continuing as usual. “We don’t know when we’re going to get drinking water—or if—or portapotty services, or fuel, or gray water services,” she says. They are trying to save as much water as possible. They are not urinating in portapotties, but on the ground. “We’re not rationing food, but we’re just trying to make [sure] everyone is as thoughtful as possible,” she says. dishwashing is out as is showers.
The cause? Climate change is causing an increase in the amount of rain that is being dumped on the southwestern US states this time of year. Michael Mann, a presidential distinguished professor in the University of Pennsylvania’s department of earth and environmental science, says that these sorts of heavy summer rains in the region are expected, as the well known southwestern summer monsoon is expected to yield larger amounts of rainfall in a warming climate.
Burning Man revelers, finally free to leave, face 7 hours of traffic, with a burning-man exodus ending in Black Rock City
Organizers of the annual Burning Man music and arts festival lifted a driving ban on Monday afternoon as muddy roads that had stranded thousands of attendees in the Nevada desert had dried up enough to allow people to begin leaving.
“Exodus operations have officially begun in Black Rock City,” organizers posted Monday at 2 p.m. local time, about seven hours before the festival’s fiery conclusion. The torching of a giant, faceless, man-shaped effigy was carried out Monday evening, after having been postponed twice due to the weather.
The festival was asking people to stay a little longer if they could. Traffic was so congested that it was taking drivers roughly seven hours to traverse a 5-mile route, pocked with puddles, to the nearest paved road.
And that was just the beginning of the journey home for the roughly 72,000 attendees who traveled to the festival’s remote site in northern Nevada, about 120 miles north of Reno.
Traffic jams can last up to nine hours in normal years. Cars, trucks and RVs stuffed with sleeping bags, stoves and tents all cram onto a single two-lane road leading to the nearest major highway.
Despite reports of stuck vehicles, overflowing port-a-potties, postponed bus pickups and spotty Wi-Fi service, several attendees who spoke to NPR say the wet weather hadn’t dampened moods.
We’re pooling our resources as well. “And I would say that the spirits are pretty high in the city,” attendee Anya Kamenetz said on Sunday.
Event volunteer Josh Lease said that in true Burning Man spirit, people were sharing warm clothes and phone chargers where they could — and they kept the music blaring.
Source: Burning Man festival attendees, finally free to leave, face 7 hours of traffic
Burning Man festival attendees, finally free to leave, face 7 hours of traffic — Source: Diplo, Rock, and Katyal escaped from the Playa del Sur
“Obviously the warnings are dire and of course the organization has to tell people to care, but I don’t see anyone who is worried about it at all,” said the editor with Morning Edition who attended the event.
In the past, Joe said he’s seen couches, carpets and clothes dry out. “All is damp and will be ruined by mold,” he said.
Nevada authorities were looking into the death at the site. In an interview with CNN on Monday, the sheriff refused to give any further details about the death of a person on the playa.
The Burning Man Organization began telling attendees to shelter in place on Saturday when it was announced that access into and out of the site would be closed for the rest of the event. The organization said that only emergency vehicles were allowed to pass.
Some vehicles that are designed for off-road terrain were able to navigate the mud and leave the event despite being warned against driving on Sunday.
Music producer Diplo said he and comedian Chris Rock escaped the event on Saturday after walking 6 miles before hitching a ride from a fan in a pickup truck.
“I legit walked the side of the road for hours with my thumb out cuz I have a show in dc tonight and didnt want to let yall down,” he wrote in an Instagram post.
Neal Katyal, former acting Obama-era solicitor general, also made the trek out. He was safe after his first visit to the festival, which ended with a six-mile hike through heavy and slippery mud.
President Biden had been briefed on the situation, according to a White House official. The attendee was told to listen to state and local officials, the administration official said.
Source: Burning Man festival attendees, finally free to leave, face 7 hours of traffic
The Black Rock City AIDS Festival: How the Public View of the Bay Area Prepares for a Weather Event — A New Look at a Past, Future, Future?
“We have come here knowing this is a place where we bring everything we need to survive,” the organization said in a statement Saturday night. “It is because of this that we are all well-prepared for a weather event like this.”
We did table-top drills for this event. We are engaged full-time on all aspects of safety and looking ahead to our Exodus as our next priority.”
More than 70,000 people visit the makeshift town of Black Rock City every year to dance, make art and join a self-sufficient, counter-cultural community.
The weeklong festival began in 1986 as a small gathering in San Francisco. Today, celebrities, tech moguls and social media influencers are common attendees. This year’s ticket prices started at $575.
The weekend’s events weren’t the first time the entrance had been blocked at this year’s festival. A group of protesters caused a lot of chaos by parking a trailer in the way of the event.
