Cleanup Plan

Each theme camp participating in IGS will be responsible for their own trash, and will also assist other participants with theirs. We are currently developing a strategy for village-level garbage and wastewater handling. Stu Statman and the Foodlab crew kicked off the organizational process with:

Because of the nature of Foodlab, we tend to generate more garbage and wastewater than other camps. Because of that, we tend to spend some time thinking about how to manage that. We set up sumps for dealing with wet garbage, an evaporator for our strained waste water, a garbage corral for our garbage bags, etc.

Now that we're in a village, I was wondering if anybody was interested in a more village-oriented approach towards this. A larger, more sophisticated evaporation system perhaps, or a more effective way of managing garbage than "throw it all in bags, move it over there". (Some sort of scheme for compressing the garbage, for example).

The current plan is to build a solid-walled container for food waste to reduce rotting and odor. For wastewater, we may use a series of kiddie pools, provided they yield enough surface area. If not, we may use a similar system to Foodlab's in 2002:
Last year, we went with tarps with blocks of wood around the edges to elevate them. It worked pretty well, once we got it set up.

Discussions are ongoing, and suggestions are welcome. If you you would like to participate, please contact the IGS mailing list.

We will also continue the tradition set by Camp Goatrodeo, described in their 2000 cleanup plan:

5. What is your plan for discussing and having members commit to helping with cleaning/packing up your camp?

[We] spent the last couple weeks haranguing people and applying the mind control ray, so now we've got firm commitments from some, and the rest are piles of brainless mush.

One of the more experienced and committed folks added "I'll even promise to do double cleanup work for someone who flakes or anything else needed on the actual playa if the requirement for constant pinging is relaxed."

We understand (and are dismayed) that some people aren't gonna be responsible no matter how many times they're reminded. So how about giving the rest of us a break? If the first forty or fifty reminders haven't gotten through, the next forty or fifty won't either. The need to leave no trace got through to everyone camping with us before we even bought our tickets.

While IGS's mind control ray is even more powerful, we prefer to encourage each theme camp to use their own.

Snarkiness aside, we wish to thank the Burning Man organizers for the reduction in haranguing and lack of a generally negative or accusatory tone again this year. The Irrational Geographic Society intends to live up to that trust, and we hope everyone else does too.

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This site and some of the artwork herein is based upon previous work by James Home.
Layout based on IGS 2002 site by J.D. Falk.
Background by Rene Ruiz. Photo of the burning Man in 1998 by Phil Glass for the Boston Phoenix.

As you've surely guessed by now, the Irrational Geographic Society is not affiliated with the National Geographic Society, an institution for which we have always held the utmost respect.