IBC is a group of veteran burners. We are independent. We’ve been around the block, more than a few times (and we always use condoms). And, you know, we’re bitches. But in a good way.

LNT Ambassadors:
Mel Casburn and Cat Rayburn
mcasburn@yahoo.com
cat@electricdustbunnies.com

More or Less the Deal:
As experienced Burners, our camp members are hardcore advocates for the Leave No Trace policy. We’re knowledgeable about ways to reduce our impact, and we’re practiced at taking out everything we bring in. We’re the people who leave extra room in our vehicles for carrying trash but end up carting out the used pieces of rebar left by the camp next door. Which are still in our basement because maybe, someday, somebody we know will need four-foot pieces of rebar.

Our LNT Plans:

Before the event:
We won’t bring anything we’re not going to use. Unless it’s costumes, because who knows if you might want that Marie Antoinette wig on Saturday night? But we are so not leaving that wig behind. Quit looking at it longingly. It’s ours.

We will take all items out of their packaging so that we can recycle said packaging in Portland rather than in Gerlach. Because, really… where are we going to find a community recycling bin in Gerlach?

Our art projects will inflict no environmental damage upon the playa. We’ll be sparing Portland environmental damage as well, because Portland is awesome and no one should mess it up.

Common Areas:
We’ll tie down anything that might blow away in a wind storm. We know things like this:

• Don’t leave your full-length mirror unsecured in the carport where it will fall over and break, leaving bits of glass everywhere. And then you won’t have a mirror.
• Keep your lipstick in the cooler or it’ll never stay inside your liner. Tammy Faye Bakker was not an Independent Bitch.
• If you leave empty beer cans lying around, everybody knows you have beer. Nobody likes a moocher.

We will not dig holes in the playa because, seriously, that’s a lot of work. Once our shade structure is up and our art projects are functional, we’ll just want to sit and drink a beer (not that we have any beer).

We will keep our four-legged burn barrel as clean as a whistle, removing all ashes in a metal canister suited for such purposes. We’ll monitor and attend our burn barrel during all hours, minutes and seconds that it’s in use. A burn-barrel guardian will be assigned on every such night, and will be instructed in proper extinguishment and waste disposal. We take this shit really, really seriously.

Trash and Recycling:
We will have trash bags and recycling bags for communal camp trash. Everyone will be responsible for trucking out their personal trash as well as some of the communal trash. This will be monitored and organized by the Leave No Trace Ambassadors, particularly the one whose car is very small.

We will clean up any and all trash left by guests, invited or not, but we will grumble about it.

Grey-Water Disposal:
We’ll have buckets and ponds for evaporation. Liquid that doesn’t evaporate prior to the event’s end will be recycled into grey-water martinis that we’ll hand out graciously to passers-by. Whatever others won’t drink will be funneled into empty grey-water containers and taken home, to be distributed in said grey-water martinis at various after-burn parties. Don’t tell our friends.

Burning stuff:
All burnables will be burned at the communal burn platforms. We will create no burn scars. We will toss only untreated wood and paper on the burn platforms.

Keeping Vehicle Space to Pack Out Trash:
All camp attendees will be instructed to leave space for the transport of trash after the event. Campmates with larger vehicles will take a proportionate volume, so as to distribute the burden of stench equally among the group. Odor-masking essential oils, in the form of non-aerosol sprays, will also be distributed to each vehicle in equal proportion.

Reducing MOOP to begin with:
We won’t bring anything that will leave us scrambling to clean up afterwards. Especially feather boas. Not so much because of the feathers they shed everywhere, but also because they’re so 10-years-ago. The playa isn’t Las Vegas.

Cleaning up MOOP as we go along:
We will yell at anyone who dares to drop MOOP in our camp. We will call them names, too.

Most of us are on the rag during the burn. Every year. We promise not to throw our feminine-hygiene products into the porta-potties. Even though carrying them around is gross. And really, if we can refrain from throwing used tampons into the porta-potties, we can refrain from putting anything else in them too (other than what they are intended for). We were there in 2000. We’d rather carry around a plastic bag full of tampons than try to urinate in a crowning loo.

Cleaning up MOOP after the event:
We will do the line walk because that’s a lot easier than vacuuming. We may not even have a generator, so where would we plug it in anyway?

Anyone who doesn’t pick up MOOP with us will be yelled at and called names, and ostracized when we return to Portland. Everyone will have to pick up and take home some debris that they didn’t bring. They’ve been warned. If they fail to abide, Mel and Cat will handle it. It’s a small, feather-boaless camp, after all.

Cleaning up outside our camp:
Any camp members who spend less than two hours cleaning MOOP outside the camp will be heckled, shamed, and never asked back. They will be labeled as Dependent Bitches because, really, isn’t that the size of things?

Mel and Cat will explain the Leave No Trace Plan to all members of our camp prior to departure and during camp meetings. On the playa, they’ll do it at the beginning of each meeting before the grey-water martinis kick in. They’ve been to the playa, they know the drill, and they’re on it.