Burning Man 2023: The Turn of the Nevada Desert into a Mud Bath. The Case of Diplo And. Chris Rock’s Adventures
When the history of Burning Man 2023 is written, it’s likely Diplo And. Chris Rock walking out of the festival site will be recorded as the point at which the fun stopped.
When the rains turned the Nevada desert into a mud bath, the musician and actor had to leave their campsite by foot. The temporary roads throughout the vast festival site turned into rivers, and people who signed up for eight days of partying and dancing—Burning Man began on August 27—have instead been forced to plod through thick dirt. Many have resorted to rationing food and water as toilets fail and new supplies can’t reach the site because of treacherous conditions.
The cause? The increasing amount of rain being dumped on the southwestern US states is the result of extreme weather caused by climate change. Michael Mann is the Presidential distinguished professor in the University of Pennsylvania’s department of earth and environmental science.
Burning Man festival attendees, finally free to leave, face 7 hours of traffic, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Native American Folks’ Association
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.
The festival’s fiery conclusion was seven hours before the start of operations, with organizers announcing Monday that they had begun. The torching of a giant, faceless, man-shaped effigy was carried out Monday evening, after having been postponed twice due to the weather.
But as of Tuesday morning, the festival was asking participants to consider staying 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.
Even during normal years, exodus traffic jams can last for six to nine hours, according to the organizers. 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.
Several attendees who spoke to NPR said that the wet weather hadn’t affected their moods.
“We’re pooling all our food as far as resources. On Sunday, attendee Anya Krugman said that the spirits were high in the city.
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 Exodus 2023: Joe Bamberg, Diplo, Chris Rock, and Neal Katyal, and a Los Alamos Event Attender
“The warnings do sound very dire, and of course, the organization has to tell people to take care,” said Claudia Peschiutta, an editor with NPR’s Morning Edition who attended the event, but “I haven’t seen one person who seems worried about it at all.”
In rainy Burning Mans past, longtime burner Joe Bamberg said he’s seen couches, carpets and clothes eventually dry out. He said that all is damp and will be ruined by mold.
The death was being investigated by authorities in Nevada. The sheriff of Pershing County wouldn’t provide further details in an interview with CNN on Monday, but he had said on Saturday that a person was dead on the playa.
When the Burning Man Organization told attendees on Saturday that access to the site was closed for the remainder of the event, they immediately ordered them to shelter in place. Only emergency vehicles were allowed to pass, the organization said in a statement.
Some vehicles that were designed for the mud were able to leave the event despite the fact that they weren’t allowed to drive.
Chris Rock and music producer Diplo escaped from the event on Saturday after walking six miles and meeting a fan in a pickup truck.
He said he was walking the side of the road for hours because he had a show in DC.
Neal Katyal was the acting Obama-era solicitor general. He said he was safe after his first trip to the festival ended with “an incredibly harrowing 6-mile hike at midnight through heavy and slippery mud.”
President Biden had been briefed on the situation, according to a White House official. Event attendees were told over the weekend to listen to state and local officials, and event organizers, the administration official said.
Source: Burning Man festival attendees, finally free to leave, face 7 hours of traffic
Black Rock City, Fla.: Climate Change and Life in the ’98 Black-Rock City Event on April 10 – 11.30 eve
“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 events like this. We are working full time on all aspects of safety, and we are looking ahead to our journey in the next year.
Black Rock City is a makeshift town of more than 7,000 people who visit annually 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 climate protesters caused miles of gridlock at the start of the event by parking a 28-foot trailer in the way.