A video of a private jet landing at Burning Man has left many people upset, saying it betrays the spirit of what made the festival popular.
The video, posted by TikToker Ivoryringlord (@ivoryringlord), shows what a speaker says is the first private plane to arrive at this year’s festival, which took place from Aug. 24 to Sept. 1 in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert.
“Private jet in Burning Man?” one commenter asked. “Isn’t that completely against the whole idea of [what] Burning Man is about?”
It would seem that way, looking at the festival’s principles.
Festival co-founder Larry Harvey wrote 10 principles that, according to the Burning Man website, act “as a reflection of the community’s ethos.”
One of those is “Leaving No Trace,” which states the Burning Man community is committed to respecting the environment and leaving places in a better state than they were found.
“Leaving No Trace is not just about the playa; it’s our ethic about the whole planet,” the website says. “Burners are environmentalists. It’s just our nature.”
Private planes, however, seem to contradict that guiding principle.
Aviation accounts for more than 2% of global pollution. And although private jets make up a small percentage of all flights, each one of those trips has a big environmental impact.
Studies show that, per passenger, private flights produce up to 14 times more pollution than commercial flights. And in the past five years, carbon pollution from private planes increased by 46%.
This isn’t the first environmental controversy to surround Burning Man. In 2003, the Seven Circles organization blockaded the road leading into the festival, accusing it of greenwashing and failing to live up to its commitment to reduce carbon pollution.
Many commenters were outraged at the sight of a private jet at Burning Man, with some going so far as to say that, in their minds, it marks the end of Burning Man.
“There’s no offsetting flying in on a (private jet),” one commenter wrote. “There’s no offsetting the damage done by holding it in the middle of a desert with no infrastructure.
“Any event has a footprint but that doesn’t mean you need to make it an enormous footprint.”
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