At first glance the numbers reported in the News Scan Data Points of the Scientific American magazine indicate a small percentage of carbon offset by the Burning Man Festival during the Green Man-themed event of 2007 (Wo). This small percentage of pounds of carbon dioxide offset is 0.2% of of the total on-site emissions (according to the article) and 0.02% of the emissions from the participants travel. Unknown values are how many “equivalent-pounds of CO2″ were offset by the collective of individuals who made aware choices on their transportation and existence on the playa.If we consider that a gallon of petroleum diesel generates 22 pounds of CO2 while a gallon of biodiesel generates 1.5 pounds of CO2, the above percentages can be recalculated to show a savings of 205 tons of CO2 by the Burning Man infrastructure’s use of 20,000 gallons of biodiesel rather than 20,000 gallons of petro-diesel. Adding in the carbon footprint savings from the biodiesel used at the 2007 event increases the on-site offset from 0.2% to 8.5%.Now, that may not be a significant percentage, but its identifiable progress towards a sustainable and harmonic existence. Also consider how a number of major theme camps, including Entheon Village, Roots Society, The Hive and the Silicon Village used biodiesel to fuel their camps presence.Finally, the Burn Clean Project’s BIOBUS (space) SHUTTLE of 2oo7, that operated 6 trips between RNO and BRC saved 30,888 pounds of CO2 (thats 15.44 tons of CO2, saving 0.06% of the transportation footprint or 0.6% of the on-site footprint). Of course, these values do not include other bio- or alternative-fueled vehicles that transported citizens back and forth between the spaces which could account for many times more these percentages.The take home message is clear, we can make a difference and you are making a difference in a shift in consciousness that is having a markable effect in our social reality. Sources:

• http://www.biodiesel.org/pdf_files/fuelfactsheets/emissions.pdf
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_automobile_fuel_technologies