---
title: Can Burning Man Avoid Warming the Planet?
date: 2023-08-23T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/can-burning-man-avoid-warming-the-planet"
section: Articles
---
# Can Burning Man Avoid Warming the Planet?

*August 23, 2023* — by [Maggie Haslam](/author/maggie-haslam)


> Student Analysis Could Help the World’s Largest ‘Leave No Trace’ Event Go Carbon-Neutral

*Shutterstock 2215451837 1920x1080 — Interventions proposed by environmental science and technology students--including ample solar PV shades, water recycling and digesters to convert human waste--could help Burning Man, which starts Sunday, meet its carbon neutrality goals.*

After a day gallivanting in Nevada’s dusty Black Rock desert, attendees in the know at Burning Man—the weeklong counterculture bacchanal that begins Sunday—head to the “Foam Party,” where sprays, suds and skin are in ample supply.

But activities like this human car wash, which uses roughly 7,000 gallons of water a day, can be dirty business for Burning Man’s organizers, who want the annual revelry of free-spirited living to also be free of greenhouse gas emissions.

A new analysis of energy, waste and water interventions by University of Maryland environmental science and technology (ENST) students may offer a boon for the event’s 2030 carbon neutrality goal, and less burn for the planet. Developed this past spring as part of a senior capstone course—in partnership with the ENST alums behind the Burning Man Project installation, Ripple—the proposal outlines technologies, practices and continued education to get Burning Man off the grid, and serves as a model for other communities.


*Group of five holds Maryland state flag at Burning Man — May, center, with Ripple teammates at Burning Man in 2022. The massive number of generators May observed at the desert event inspired the carbon analysis project. (Photo courtesy of Peter May)*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Environmental Science and Technology](https://today.umd.edu/topic/environmental-science-and-technology), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [College of Agriculture and Natural Resources](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-agriculture-and-natural-resources)