sardar

“Hi, I’m Zahid, and I’m beyond using mere facts.”
So he wrote back, almost right away. Well, sort of. I mean, there were words, but they didn’t say…anything, really. Is *this* really his reply? That art is something we can do without? I’m wondering how he got this job.

Then again, his replies and column taking together are actually fascinating examples of why he probably did get it–they combine seemingly savvy insights with implied wisdom and self referential nomenclature, but without the burden of quantifiable outcomes. Or, he talks a good game, but it’s done in a way that usually stands up to criticism because, when parsed, the implied strong POV isn’t really there.

The result? Like most design, and design literature, and fashion writing, it’s a simulacrum of analysis berift of substance. See? I just did it–the combo of those sentences would be read by most as a critique of him, but parsed, they’re not. Oh, clever, Zahid. You’ve got mad skills.
His reply, in toto, and mine below:

On Oct 22, 2007, at 1:58 PM, Sardar, Zahid wrote:

tom, not to punt or to point to ‘what’s that over there?.’.
let me say that i enjoyed the ‘party’ atmosphere at burning man but continue to view it as such.
i don’t think it is there for some higher cause. Even when you attempt to make it green, it is something we can do without.

If you insist otherwise, let’s ask the essential questions:
Is there a train going to burning man? Why not? how many cars drive there? what monitoting goes on at various places as people prepare their projects and bring them to burningman? who controls their ‘greenness’…is it essential to consume these resources when much of the rest of the world does not have these resources for life even at subsistence levels? How may planes arrive daily to the airport at burning man? What damage do these planes do to the environment?
thanks
Zahid

And my reply, which starts with a snippet from him:

tom, not to punt or to point to ‘what’s that over there?.’.
let me say that i enjoyed the ‘party’ atmosphere at burning man but continue to view it as such.
i don’t think it is there for some higher cause. Even when you attempt to make it green, it is something we can do without

If you insist otherwise, let’s ask the essential questions:

Many people view Burning Man as a party. You seem to be among them. That doesn’t, however, make it fact.

But the nut of your critique here is finally coming out: –what’s the “point”? It’s something we can do without, eh? You seem to see Burning Man as a party, nothing more. Not as art also? Or do you feel that’s something we can do without as well? After all, what’s the point of art? For that matter, what’s the point of religion? Both are wildly consumptive, huge drains on resources, with no quantifiable social benefit. Indeed, one could say the same about design. Indeed, many often do.

I for one, however, am happy to insist religion, art, and design are all vital to a culture, and will gladly fall on that sword.

But here you’ve done it again, Zahid–replying to critique with an unsubstantiated attempts at misdirection.

Let me demonstrate how to answer questions directly:


Is there a train going to burning man?

No, there is not.

Why not?

We’ve tried. For years. However, the people that control that piece of track aren’t willing to install a temporary stop. But we keep asking, every single year.

how many cars drive there? what monitoting goes on at various places as people prepare their projects and bring them to burningman? who controls their ‘greenness’…is it essential to consume these resources when much of the rest of the world does not have these resources for life even at subsistence levels? How may planes arrive daily to the airport at burning man? What damage do these planes do to the environment?

Figure 2 people per car, so around 25,000 vehicles.

An exhaustive analysis of the environmental impact of Burning Man can be found here:
http://www.coolingman.org/learn_more/burning_man_estimated_climate_impact.html

in addition to that, we have a team of PHDs, lead by Dr. Elizabeth Doughterty who works for the California office of energy conservation, doing a comprehensive environmental impact analysis, so we can better understand what our impacts are, and how we can mitigate them. It should be finished in January, I’ll be happy to forward it to you.

This year, we again encouraged participants to help mitigate their impact, and donations of carbon offsets were up from 250 in 2006 to 851 in 2007. Clearly not anywhere near the estimated 34,000 tons total, but also clearly moving in the right direction. As you’ll see, the overwhelming impact is from transportation, something we actively work to mitigate with carpooling, ride sharing,

To our knowledge, we’re the only event of our kind in the world to even begin to calculate our impact, much less attempt to mitigate it.

In fact, that’s a core tenet of what we do–educate people to be empowered to make proactive decisions not just at the event, but before, during, and after. We said all year long that our goal was to not so much make the event green, but to do that while educating thousands of people about real impacts they can have every day.

Right now,15 volunteers are working six days a week to build 120 kilowatts of solar power and donate it to the town of Gerlach, enough to entirely offset the needs of their school there. Over 20 years, it will generate $2 million+ in free energy, no strings attached.

For a more comprehensive analysis of the impacts and benefits of Burning Man, let me point you to a news story from this morning:
http://www.alternet.org/environment/65967/?page=entire

You spoke about “essential questions,” so let me ask one: where can I learn about where where the Danish design competition about which you write so favorably has done any of the above, either in long term offsets, or just taking the time to figure out and attempt to offset the impact of their event? Surely they did that. Didn’t they?

Your reply continues a pattern of refusing to acknowledge the framing for your story was inaccurate, or at least, your own opinion, rather that a statement of fact. It does so by asking questions that seek to imply our event wasn’t “green”, while ignoring the very real, substantive critiques I have about your piece. I’m happy to answer your questions all day long, but at some point you’re going to have to answer some of mine.

Or, to use your own words-yes, you did punt, and point over there. Again.

You have strong opinions. Underinformed, perhaps, but strong all the same. May I suggest you and I have this discussion in a public forum, so others might benefit from the dialogue?Perhaps at the Commonwealth Club? I’d be happy to set it up. Do let me know, or baring that, do feel free to respond directly to the above. Since you have the job, I’m certain you’re willing to accept responsibility for the times when you stumble in it.

Kind regards,

Tom