Woke
The most epic of all construction attempts at Burning Man has to be the Crude Awakening. An oil derrick nearly 100 feet tall was designed to produce a column of flame 1000 feet tall. In order to create this awe-inspiring performance, the artists used 900 gallons of jet fuel and 2000 gallons of liquid propane and it was one of the most impressive (and expensive) pieces to date. It drew a lot of criticism however because many felt that such wasteful use of fossil fuels was not in keeping with the spirit and ideologies of the Burning Man festival.
Woke
The Public Speaks
In response to the public outcry, the organizers did something really special. That same year they built permanent 30- and 50- watt solar arrays. The solar panels in these arrays create a carbon offset of 559 tons per annum. A creative and considerate response, and one that now provides almost all the non-user-generated power for the festival! Plus it’s pretty clever to use the sun in the desert! You can bet that there is a way to balance any outlandish stunt.
The Public Speaks
