“It’s ‘Burning Man,’ not ‘Composting Dude.’” So said Tom Price, environmental coordinator for the Nevada desert Burning Man extravaganza, which started today. I was snickering at the apparent hypocrisy of this year’s Burning Man with its “green” theme. The Willamette Week article, “Burning Green,” was providing plenty of fodder; it highlighted the emissions and energy consumed by attendees in preparing for, getting to and being at the event.

Then I read Price’s quote, which piqued my curiosity. What was the “official” word about this year’s event? On the Burning Man’s website was the Environmental Statement from the board, shortened below (emphasis added):

Black Rock City LLC is committed to utilizing environmentally favorable solutions as they become financially sound alternatives to the use of fossil fuels and non-renewable materials….

We are open to suggestions toward making the Burning Man experience environmentally sound and we will utilize new methods and technology as they become suitable to our needs."

“As they become financially sound alternatives” is a statement that could have come from the Property and Environment Research Center, Foundation for Research on Economics & the Environment or Competitive Enterprise Institute. Likewise for “suitable to our needs.” The board did not invoke phrases like “for the earth” or “generations to come.”

The 2007 Burning Man theme description offers intelligent statements including, “Some say it's our chief duty to preserve the natural world intact, protected from the ways of man. This is a worthy goal. And yet, if Burning Man has taught us anything, it's that we can collaborate with nature.” Further, the statement recognizes other realities, “Widespread cheatgrass and sagebrush fires annually sweep the Nevada landscape, releasing far more carbon dioxide than the entire infrastructure of Black Rock City.”

So, I stopped snickering. I can endorse a good party and saving a planet.