Coyote Crossing

Yes, this exactly. I’m not a fan of hot deserts myself (my personal pigmentation is “Whiter Shade of Pale” and I overheat fairly easily), but this was precisely my reaction when I first heard about Burning Man.

I’m one of those people who loves salt marshes with a passion, even the smell—which to me is the smell of life itself.

Bravo.

I really like this. I have many friends who have extolled its virtues to me over the years, knowing about my interest in the desert. It has not seemed right to me, but I held off judgement since I have not been there - before, after or during the event. Thsi confirms my worst fears of the event.

As always, the needs are desires of people trump everything else. Heaven forbid we should have to change our ways!

Your description of the Granite Range makes me want to go there as I also have a love of desert mountains. I have wondered about water availability for hiking there though.

This is not an alternative way of life: it is standard American operating procedure.  Very true.  All sculpture is environmentally costly.  The bigger and more public, the more the cost.  I don’t see what to do about it.  I’m of the view that sculpture is a testament to our tragic nature.  We burn the days.  I know I should quit doing sculpture, but can’t.  Maybe you could help me to quit?  :^)

I agree with Chris. Leave the place alone. The whole thing is egotistical. Art should delight not disgust.

Excellent!  Unfortunately, those who need most to comprehend the intricacies of these truths will find nothing more meaningful than something to complain about.  As is the American way, this somehow victimizes them and you somehow become just another anti-art lunatic trying to infringe on their freedom of expression.

I remember reading this 5 years back! Good lord man, have I been reading your blog for that long already? Why, I even remembered the post just a few days back when I saw this news item.

Excellent article, I too find it depressing and symptomatic of our whole attitude to the environment that we take nicely unspoilt areas and then spoil them in this way. And ‘there’s nothing there!’ is just woefully too often the human response to wilderness

Upon further reflection, I think this is why I like urban art and graffiti so much: it puts art where the people already are, and much graffiti is just as transient as Burning Man. Street art is art that doesn’t have to be separate from everyday life to be appreciated.

Now, part of what people seem to get out of BM is Carneval, but one where entry has a high degree-of-difficulty and cost. Carneval for the Special People, but also for the devoted. I wonder how they could get that part of the experience without having to go to the wilderness and de-wild it?

Now, I’ve never made it out to burning man myself, so I can’t comment directly on the festival. Chris Clarke makes a great point, and being from the desert, I echo his comments about the ecosystem being fascinating when you take the time to see it. But, that said, some people are interested in art more than nature, I think that’s ok. People who don’t live/grow up in deserts find them exotic and fragile. All ecosystems are exotic to someone, and fragile, from salmon streams in Oregon to forests in Pennsylvania and Prairie in the midwest.

In the final analysis though, we allow tourism in our national parks and other preserved areas for many reasons, including the fact that they allow people to learn to find them of value. For some, yes, that value is going to be a great place to have a tailgate party. We shouldn’t be so narrow minded as to say everyone has to have a high level appreciation of natural beauty to use natural spaces - some enjoy hiking, some enjoy skiing, some just like a cheap place to have a family reunion. As long as everyone’s respectful of the surroundings, I see nothing wrong with that.

The cost of entry to Burning Man is actually substantially less than Carneval - I can’t afford a hotel room for a week during Carneval, I probably could afford the $100 or so tickets and a tent for a few days.

You absolutely could not have Burning man in a city. It would be a spectacle, participants would be harassed, and the flow of the festival would be disrupted by people not participating. It’s not for everyone, I’m not sure it’s for me, but thousands of people do seem to find some value in it.

But thousands of people also do find some value in donning vivid plastic take-me-to-your-leader body-helmets and riding chokefuming gasoline-powered dirtbikes around fragile desert ecosystems, too.

The difference is Art?
or what?

Watch the Reno 911 episode where Officer Jim Dangle and 2 others go to Burning Man to bust drug dealers. It’s most definitely High Art.