You can keep up with the latest project developments from the people on the ground making them happen via the BWB Blog. We want to hear from you and welcome your comments.
BWB Summer Newsletter 2021
| Having trouble viewing this page? View the original newsletter here 🙂 We’re into our second summer with no Black Rock City. That doesn’t mean things have slowed down at all. This summer has continued with the dynamism of the past few years. The intense fire and hurricane seasons have begun, with smoke from the west coast of North America reaching the Atlantic. Across the globe we see widespread effects of the climate emergency and the health crisis. There’s an energy buzzing in the US, as people are both exhilarated by the possibility of things opening up, and aware that the Delta variant is just one aspect of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these powerful tensions, people continue to create incredible art, civic impact, and movements toward a future for all. Burners are partnering with the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe to assist in their important work. In Canada, an Antiguan hurricane response organization is shifting it’s culture into proactive resilience. BWB’s newest Working Group, located in Brazil, is building relationships and sharing work with the Indigenous people of Bahia. Burning Man Project’s Year 2 Sustainability Report shares the progress we have made in prototyping a more sustainable future. All this and more in the newsletter below. In Solidarity. Thank you for being you. Stay connected and let us know what you’re up to in the world. Join the BWB Volunteers Worldwide Group for regular updates, check out our Global Slack Workspace and consider donating to BWB. We are community-led and community-supported. |
| Report Out: BWB Spring Summit |
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| BWB hosted its first in-person event since the pandemic this past June, and we’ve got an AfterEvent Report to share with all of you: When people hear the name ‘Burners Without Borders’ (BWB) they often think about our origins in disaster relief. No matter the project at hand – our hearts, minds and work have always been dedicated to building community resilience. The 2021 Burners Without Borders Spring Summit was about being together. Our first in-person event since everything that has happened, we created a weekend of healing, reentry, and connection to the self, each other and the earth. Mindful of the impact on the land, and the range of traumas that people have experienced, the weekend…..Read more on the BWB Wesbite. |
| Report Out: Sustainability Roadmap Year 2 Report |
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| Missed the Burning Man Project (BMP) Year Two Report on our 10-Year Environmental Sustainability Roadmap? No problem – we’ve got you covered! Two years ago, BMP shared a 10-year Environmental Sustainability Roadmap written collaboratively by 55 people. The Roadmap has three main goals: (1) to sustainably manage waste, (1) to be ecologically regenerative, and (3) to become carbon negative by 2030. BWB Is a partner on the Roadmap, and leads the ‘Be Regenerative Goal’. In an effort to be transparent, get feedback, inspire action, and offer connection points for others doing similar, work we’ve published a written Year 2 Report, and a recording of our Year 2 Report Community Call. Are you working on sustainable or regenerative projects? Let us know how we can support you! |
Report Out: The Great Give Back (Nevada) A coalition of volunteers are challenging Burners to find ways to Give Back to the Indigenous people of Nevada. They are forming a new BWB project group called “The Great Give Back” (GGB). The Great Give Back (GGB) grew out of a coalition of theme camps and individuals, with support from BWB. GGB is seeking volunteers at all skill levels to join the effort to coordinate access to resources to address a variety of needs on the Pyramid Lake Paitute Reservation, and in other reservations in the Great Basin. This project responds to, and in support of, needs identified by member of the Paiute Tribes. Now recruiting team leaders for project areas, including: Native Elder House Repairs, Land Restoration, Education & Teaching, Computer Technology, Fundraising, and a “Buy Native” campaign. The coordinating committee meets on Wednesdays (zoom) and is preparing to make a wide announcement about the challenge soon. There are lots of ways to get involved! Top 4 Great Give Back Project needs: Inspired Leaders to join the Coordinating Committee helping mobilize Burners to volunteer for various service projects with weekly meetings held on Wednesdays. Writers to document Service Project plans and write volunteer descriptions Fundraisers to help build an in-kind sponsorship program to assist in asking individuals and companies to donate various devices to underserved Indigenous communities. Readers interested in the Indigenous history of the Black Rock Desert region are invited to join the new Whirling Sands Book Club, with weekly meetings held weekly on Tuesday. The first meeting will happen on August 3rd. More info. Find out more about on Burning Man’s new community learning web portal, Burning Man Hive. Register on Burning Man Hive to get started with Giving Back. For more information, you can email our team at GGB.backstage@gmail.com |
BWB Regional Updates: BWB Galveston Burners Without Borders Galveston County kicked off the summer on Crystal Beach with the Sea Escape Campout fundraiser on June 12th. Thank you to friends Good Vibe Tribe Houston and Ascension Entertainment. This event netted over $1,000, which was donated directly to the Reef Restoration Project! Currently seeking: Rescue Divers and Dive Masters for preliminary survey reef dives at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico. The Seawall Mural Project continues Aug 14th (12pm-7pm) with a FREE painting party on Babe’s Beach, 62nd-64th St/Seawall Blvd. Help seal our Seawall, the storm surge protector spanning all of Galveston Island. |
 BWB Brazil CORUMBURN-BAHIA-BRAZIL shares:”521 years after the first contact between Colonizers and Indigenous peoples, the Corumburn Burners chose this place, the birthplace of BRAZIL to live with the commitment to re-signify relations and create a multicultural city of mutual development. We need to abandon our colonizing gaze. Faced with a pandemic world, we realize that we can help, but mainly we need the help of indigenous and native peoples, as they are the ones who can co-create new (old) ways of life that respect and live in harmony with nature. We believe that only harmonious cultural integration will take humanity on the path of the New Age. We believe in the power of the utopian revolution that we live in Black Rock City and chose the Burner culture to present and present the 10 principles that guide our actions. We let the magic of principles happen. Participation, Radical Inclusion, Communal Effort, Radical Self-expression also refer to inclusion, training and integration.“ On September 4th, alongside the official Virtual Burn, we will make the first Man Burn here in Bahia, sharing the Burner culture with the Indigenous peoples, and sharing the Indigeous peoples’ culture with Burners. |
 BWB Second Life BWB-SL has been busy these last few months! We led a Darkness into Life (DIL) initiative, which is a 5K walk in SL for mental health and suicide awareness, and also participated with One Billion Rising and Relay For Life (RFL) initiatives. We formed a team and built Fly Ranch as an installation on the Relay Track, which won two RFL awards! Relay Weekend we walked/jogged the 36 sim track together. In fact some of us ran up to 26 laps! THAT’S 10-15 HOURS EACH! GO RELAYERS! We made PLATINUM LEVEL and raised ~$1,077.34 USD for the cause in 2021. Everyone is welcome to JOIN in making a real difference while we are in the virtual world! |
| GET INVOLVED/OPPORTUNITIES |
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| [NEVADA] Protect Thacker Pass from Lithium Mining Project The Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada and the National Congress of American Indians have both passed resolutions opposing Lithium Americas’ Thacker Pass mine. “This project is not green and is not progress. It would destroy sacred sites, disturb burial sites, poison water, and destroy precious wildlife habitat. ????????????” Visit Protect Thacker Pass to find out more — #LEAVENOTRACE |
 [NEVADA] Opportunity: Upcoming Paiute Wetlands Restoration Day We have a date! On Saturday, September 4th, we will gather near Pyramid Lake for a day of fellowship, fun, and hard work. We will be assisting the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe to complete the Numuna Wetland Restoration Project. Can you commit to four hours of work in the wetlands on Saturday, September 4th?WHO: The crew behind Awful’s Gas & Snack is organizing this workday, directed by the Pyramid Lake Natural Resources Department and supported by Burners Without Borders. This is the second workday we’ve organized on this project, the first was in 2019. We’re aiming for 40 committed volunteers from the Burning Man (and adjacent) community, and we’ll be joined by folks from the Pyramid Lake Paiute community. WHAT: Our goal is to complete all of the remaining weeding and mulching left on the wetlands restoration project. We will be pulling weeds and putting down cardboard and mulch. We’re asking volunteers for 4 hours of work total. We are also asking volunteers to help gather cardboard and transport it to the project site.WHERE: The Numuna Fish Hatchery is east of Highway 447, along the Truckee River between Nixon and Wadsworth. Want to get involved? Fill out this form. |
 [WORLDWIDE] APPLY NOW- Design Science Studio Design Science Studio uses the latest technology to heal our ecology, enabling humans to be a net-positive to nature. The task of the decade is to apply all our human ingenuity, creativity, and tools to transform from an economy based on dominance, exploitation, competition, and control into a new world economy based on consent, regeneration, cooperation and reciprocity.This program is highly practical, it is designed to build capacity in creators. You can come with a project or create one while here. And we will also offer you the opportunity to commit your work and help world-changing companies and projects that we will bring as partners into the program. Our goal is all the same: to create culture shifting art. Art that changes history. Applications are open through August 15th, learn more here. |
 [WORLDWIDE] Learn About Indigenous History of Black Rock Desert Pyramid Lake Paiute spiritual leader Dean Barlese recommends that anyone who wants to understand the history of the Black Rock Desert read “Sand In a Whirlwind” and “The Snake Conflict: The Deadliest Indian War of the West,” which are the first two books we will be reading in the Whirling Sands Book Club, offered by theme camp Comfort & Joy, and co-sponsored by the Two Spirit Queer Alliance and Burners Without Borders. Join this new Chapter-A-Week book club starting on Tuesday, August 3rd at 6pm PDT. Our goal is to promote widespread understanding of the origins of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation among Burning Man participants by reading books about local Indigenous history. Please help us get these titles widely read in Burner circles! |
 [WORLDWIDE] Volunteer Graphic Designer Needed for project “Liberation” Are you a graphic designer with the ability to craft visually appealing, enticing digital social media posts and updates to a website? We need your skills for an upcoming film project titled “Liberation”: An intergenerational passing, from elder to adult to child, this short film follows a Palestinian warrior woman receiving and continuing the gathered wisdom of resistance hidden within certain dance movements, embroideries on fabric, and oud melodies. Learned from bodies, waters and lands, her gestures accumulating into visions of flickering liberation embodied.This is collaboration among choreographer Leila Awadallah (pictured), designer Rami Kashou, and composer Clarissa Bitar and One Earth United. Interested? Please call Cynthia Arnold at 610-710-6480 or email at cj@cjarnold.com |
 [WORLDWIDE] Participate in Virtual Burn – Showcase Your Region to the World The Burn Week Global Live Stream wants to showcase the Burner communities and activities happening around the world during Burn Week, August 29 – September 5. Feature your amazing Burner community by hosting a live, in-person event or creating pre-recorded content to share during the eight-day online broadcast. Go to https://portl.com/burnweek/participate-together/ and fill out the form. Submissions requested by August 1. Need ideas? How about a live talk show, interview, or narrated slideshow about your Burner community or project/initiative, or a highlights reel of past, present or future plans. |
 [WORLDWIDE/CANADA]: Seeking Partners for Antigua and Barbuda Hurricane Response Antigua and Barbuda Emergency Relief Canada is a grassroots non-profit registered charity based in Ontario, Canada. ABERF was established to provide emergency disaster relief to residents in Antigua and Barbuda after national disasters. Learn more about what’s needed. Be a partner with us and help drastically reduce the time it takes for relief to travel from Canada to this twin-island nation. Help us be proactive, and have basic items on-site before the next emergency occurs. Learn about our charity at Antigua and Barbuda Emergency Relief Canada | Facebook, or contact us at secretary@aberf.org |
 [WORLDWIDE] Job Opportunity: Far Away Project Far Away Project, a former BWB grantee, is currently searching for a Project Support Associate for 15-20 hours a week. The role is to support Far Away Project’s internal structure, systems, and organization to increase effectiveness and efficiency. The role will also support projects with their organizational development, goal setting, and general flow of operations to help them achieve their goals. Read more about the job here. |
BWB Press & Media Ongoing Press for Pedacito De La Tierra Congrats to our friends at Alight for two wonderful pieces in Minnesota Monthly, and another in Food & Wine, highlighting our Pedacito de la Tierra collaboration. |
 Co-Creating the New World Nick Farr and Dawn Strickland, Burners Without Borders — “Everyone brings their grain of sand.”Listen to BWB members on this episode of the Co-Creating the New World Podcast. |
 BWB in the Burning Man Journal The Burning Man Journal published an article sharing more about the work that was done by Burners Without Borders and many collaborators to distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) and more, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Read the article in full here. |
 The Super Niceness of Burners Without Borders Our BWB manager Molly Rose joined a conversation on the Nice Work podcast with Todd Brilliant. They talked about the history of BWB, what Burners are doing out in the world, and the frameworks and ideology of BWB and our civic activation work. Listen to the episode here. |
 Culturally Attuned Podcast Have you ever wanted to work in a community or culture that was radically different than the one you grew up in? The Culturally Attuned podcast and curriculum, a partnership effort between the United States Institute of Peace and Burning Man Project, explores these questions. The podcast and course will share real-world stories, lessons, and practical advice for people who work in a range of settings around the world and who may find themselves in unfamiliar surroundings. Listen Here. |
What We’re Listening To Fire and Water: Mutual Aid in the aftermath of the Texas freeze The Response is a podcast series from Shareable.net exploring how communities are building collective resilience in the wake of disasters. In this episode, we’re listening to folks responding to the Texas freeze, and how community can change everything. Let us know if you love it. |
| Consider Making a Donation to BWB |
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| BWB is funded through BRC ticket sales and donations. Following a year without ticket sales, we are more reliant than ever on the generosity of those who have the means to share.BWB exists because of YOU. Your generous support and participation over the years enables this creative community to accomplish so much around the world. BWB is known for helping people solve real problems by daring to experiment and iterate in challenging environments.The unique gifts this community brings to the international stage are transforming what people think is possible. Thank you for all the contributions you bring, money is just one way to support BWB.To continue doing the work, we do need your help. To donate to the continued success of BWB, click here. Any amount that you can give will help us each our goals, and lets us know our work has impact. Thank you! – The BWB Team |
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