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 The
Earth Pledge
"I pledge allegiance to the Earth, and all the life it
supports. One planet, in our care, irreplaceable, with
respect and sustenance for all" |
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As of July
12th, we still haven't heard from Burning Man whether we
will be allowed to have live plants on the playa. We are
formulating an alternative plan that still involves live
plants but, instead of populating part of Amphibia with
houseplants, we will be bringing a 5-foot by 7-foot
hydroponic garden where we will grow our own lettuce and
eat it while at Burning Man. This hydroponic "farm" does
not use soil and will not be a MOOP problem at all. It
can be a demonstration of what can be done with
hydroponics. Our hydroponics expert, Tom Brown, is all
over this idea!
We
understand that there are concerns with live plants on
the playa – particularly MOOP and environmental issues.
Here is how Amphibia plans to deal with those issues:
Plant MOOP compensation:
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All plants will be indoors out
of the wind – within the 2500 square-foot main tent.
The tent will have a floor of carpet over poly
tarps.
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We will be diligent in picking
up any fallen leaves.
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If a plant gets sick and
becomes a potential MOOP problem, we will move it
into one of the motor homes.
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All plants will be in pots
that are secured against being knocked over.
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The pots will be in pans so
that any overflow of water will be caught by the
pan.
Local ecosystem
considerations
We
understand that seeds from plants could potentially blow
across the playa into the hills and possibly upset the
local ecology. This is why we will only bring plants
that could not possibly survive in the climate where
Black Rock City appears. This means we will only bring
plants that won’t survive a freeze. We will also only
consider plants that live in a wetter climate. This
means mostly tropical houseplants. It would be
impossible for them to take root in the Black Rock
Desert and its surrounding hills.
Plant health
considerations
We live in
Arizona at about 5000 feet elevation. The altitude and
humidity here are similar to BRC. Plants that live in
our houses here in Arizona would not be subject to
environmental shock as much as if they had been living
in Seattle, for example.
We brought a
few house plants to Burning Man 2006 and they survived
the nine days we were there just fine. They were hanging
from an awning on one of our motor homes. The plants in
Amphibia will be even more protected from the elements.
In Amphibia soil pH levels will be tested regularly to
insure that the plants’ soil is not becoming too
alkaline from the playa dust. We have a hydroponics guy,
Tom Brown, in our camp that knows how to compensate for
soil chemistry imbalances.
Amphibia Leave No Trace Guidelines
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The planet named Amphibia
is wet and deeply green.
It’s quite a bit like Earth was once,
when dinosaurs were seen.
And on this planet far away
a special frog was born one day…
Infinity!—a hero’s name,
this frog was destined
for Earth fame.
They told her the assignment—to save the frogs on Earth.
“Our cousins are endangered there,
the humans rule without a
care.
They’re stuck on greed and foolish pride, they do not see
that deep inside,
They’re part of nature, not above it,
they need to learn to
truly love it.
Act with LOVE and off you go—
be sure to give them all a show!"
And off she flew through
deepest space
toward a new and different place.
She flew too fast for us to see,
She earned her name—Infinity!
At last she came to planet Earth,
a precious thing of unknown worth.
Where to start?
She made her plan
to visit first the Burning Man.
***
The Amphibia story is excerpted and altered
from an upcoming children's book by Juanita
Hull-Carlson |
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