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Tuesday, June 15, 2004

creeping desertification 

UPDATE: so this post was actually eaten by blogger. what remained was an unsatisfying mish-mash of content that somehow collided with another person's post. Let me tell you, the original post was *brilliant*. Award-winning copy. truly. However, that content is gone and i'm not going to repeat it. Here, however is the highlight:

The chronicle today got me thinking that maybe attending burning man isn't just going to be a fun, chaotic experience --- but actual preparation for life in a deserted world. Due to global warming and our general missuse of land and water it looks like the world is becoming a desert. According to the United Nations:

* From the mid-1990s to 2000, 1,374 square miles have turned into deserts each year -- an area about the size of Rhode Island. That's up from 840 square miles in the 1980s, and 624 square miles during the 1970s.

* By 2025, two-thirds of arable land in Africa will disappear, along with one-third of Asia's and one-fifth of South America's.

* Some 135 million people -- equivalent to the populations of France and Germany combined -- are at risk of being displaced.
[1]

Burning man, essentially a proposed utopia in the middle of the desert, has found that you need some structure in order to survive. Things like roads, car permits and general city infrastructures are necessary to keep the masses safe. [2] Previously, I had merely thought that attending would provide me with exposure to pagan expressions of love and harmony, but now i see that the task at hand is much more vital to my futuristic ideals -- as it may provide useful practice for life in an arid land.

¤ posted by Natala : 6/15/2004 06:02:00 PM


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