“Leave No Trace.”
It’s a mantra, a code that has become ingrained within the transformational festival community (though it should be commonplace everywhere). In essence, it means that when you invade a space – whether it’s for a music festival or whatever else – you should leave it in the same condition or better than when you arrived. For thousands of people at Burning Man this year, that was not the case.
The picture below shows a massive graveyard of bicycles, nearly 5,000 strong according to some accounts. Hundreds of trucks and trailers have been pouring in to help haul all of them away, which only serves to detract more from the “leave no trace” ethos.
“Super classy. Glad they left no trace. Also keep in mind how much carbon was emitted by trucks to collect these bikes left by the leave no trace crowd,” wrote one Instagram user.
It’s been two days since the picture was posted, hopefully all or nearly all of the bikes have either found their rightful owners or been discarded of properly – or maybe even stored somewhere for burners next year. Some even suggested donating them to victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma… whatever the case, remember to leave to trace.
H/T EDM Tunes | Photo via Jeffrey Pankey