No. 64: Burning Man and Secondhand September
Hi pals, welcome back! Sorry for another absence. I’m considering switching to bi-weekly delivery for a while as my workload is currently pretty heavy. But I’ll keep you updated on whatever is decided. :)
Recent news-worthy events
Burning Man - In late August, “Burners” gathered to the Nevada desert to attend the Burning Man festival, known to attract free-spirits and high numbers of CO2 emissions. Things didn’t quite go to plan for them. First, climate protestors stopped traffic by parking a trailer across the road. Then, at the end of the week, a relentless bout of rain created a muddy mess, causing traffic and chaos to ensue when large numbers of people tried to leave. This whole event is said to be some unforgiving irony, as participants create about 54,200 metric tons of CO2 (Burning Man Project, in 2019) annually. Not to mention crews spent three weeks picking up trash, despite its “leave no trace” principle.
Sources: Seattle Times, Bloomberg, WUSF Public Media, Washington Post
A good possibility: Biden bars oil drilling across a wide swath of Alaska’s Arctic - While this is quite hyprocritical of the Biden administrtion (cough cough Willow project), it’s good to hear attempts of blocking any future oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (federally protected land in Northeast Alaska), and hopefully limit drilling in more than half of the National Petroleum Reserve. While these are big ‘ifs,’ granted what is currently happening in policy (nothing), I want to discuss these possibilites and continue monitoring Biden’s climate goals. (Note: if passed, these bans would not affect the Willow project, which would still continue.)
Capitalism’s grip on our fossil fuel reliance is all too real…
Secondhand September
While we’re already a good way into September now, there’s still time to participate in Secondhand September, a challenge to only buy secondhand clothing this month (but maybe you’ll extend it to everything). Or just try to buy less in general! Also consider doing a closet audit or declutter while you’re at it.
Appalachia Mobilizes Against Manchin’s Dirty Deal (Atmos)
Opinion: When kids feel the magic of nature, they will want to protect it (Daily Climate)
Your pictures on the theme of 'recycled' (BBC) - Such a fun gallery, and interesting to see globally how differently ‘recycled’ is understood!
Wrap-up
Thanks for sticking around, and hopefully there was something interesting in this! :)