Responsibilities

      The following guidelines outline your responsibilities as a participant of Burning Man and as a member of the Golden Cafe. Please keep in mind that you are responsible for yourself and your actions, at all times, in every regard, as you approach, once you enter, and as you leave Black Rock City. Your presence in Black Rock City and your membership in the Golden Cafe are privileges. Any violation of the requirements below could result in ejection from the city or the camp.

1. Bring everything you need for your survival and comfort. You are responsible for bringing all of your own food, shelter, water, fuel, and anything else you need to be happy and healthy for one week in the middle of the desert. By joining our camp you gain access to some luxuries like our shower (it is a desert though, so please bring your own shower and drinking water), generator (not everyone can be plugged in at once, and fuel is also limited), and kitchen, but you are still entirely responsible for all of your own supplies and basic needs - this includes survival rations for the week, just in case something catastrophic happens to our kitchen truck. This especially means you must bring any medications you may need to thrive under extreme conditions. If you aren't sure what to bring, don't hesitate to ask the veterans on the mailing list.


2. Assume full responsibility for your own health and safety. By participating in Burning Man you acknowledge that you are assuming the risk of serious injury or death! It is up to you to make sure this doesn't happen. This means you must carry water with you at all times - consider a canteen or Camelbak. It means you must be careful when embarking and disembarking vehicles. It means you must wear lighting at night so that nothing runs into you in the dark. And it means showing good sense and restraint when consuming alcohol or other chemicals.


3. Assume full responsibility for your own happiness. Nobody knows what you truly value or what your personal limits are but you, and nobody is ever going to be as focused on maintaining your happiness as you. Hence, it falls on you to seek out the experiences you want, ask questions or seek guidance when you don't know how to proceed, keep an eye on your own property, and bring to Burning Man only those things that you willing to risk losing amonst the confusion and extreme conditions. The willingness of Golden Cafe members and other Black Rock citizens to help each other have a good time is a wonderful thing, but should never be interpreted as lessening your own personal responsibility to look out for the things that you consider important.


4. Mean what you say. Burning Man may be a big party in the desert, but it is also the culmination tremendous amounts of time, energy, and money that everyone pours into their projects in an effort to have the maximum amount of incredible peak experiences they can in one week - and that means that it is also damn serious. You never never never want to leave one of your campmates hanging on something you promised or be the reason they lost a day of fun taking care of something that you said you were going to take care of. This means you always want to be clear with your peers, and in your own mind, on whether you are in fact going to deliver on the commitments you made. Whenever it looks like you aren't going to have the time, or you are hitting a wall, or your interests have simply changed and you want to do something different than what you agreed to, its important to communicate very clearly and well in advance so that they can get to work on a contingency.


5. Know what you are saying. Consider one of the most common yearly announcements on every Burning Man theme camp mailing list: "I'm bringing plenty of coffee for everyone, so consider that base covered!" in making that announcement, you just took personal responsibility for meeting the coffee needs of everyone in the camp, however many are in the final count, at whatever level they choose to expect, and you have told all the other coffee afficianados to go look for something else to contribute - if that was your intent, and if you are actually going to find the headcount, do the math, check with your peers to make sure everyone is cool with your numbers and coffee choice, then its all good - but perhaps what you really meant was: "I'm bringing 5 pounds of institutional blend coffee from Costco, so I've got about 20 people covered for 1 cup of decent coffee per morning! Any of you gourmets want to bring something exotic to share?"


6. Remove your own trash and garbage. We are each responsible for protecting the environment. This is a leave no trace event, which means you are responsible to leave no trace - not ashes from your cigarette, not mint sprigs from your drink, not a green bean from your dinner. Please take everything you brought to the event back home with you. No trash receptacles or bins will be provided, except in the Golden Cafe itself, and only for use by camp members - placing trash, or even asking to place trash in a receptacle belonging to another camp is considered deeply offensive by many veterans of the event. Burning Man will provide only portable toilets that will be emptied on a regular basis. Do not empty trash in the portable toilets.


7. No exchange of money. No vending or other use of money is allowed at Burning Man. Black Rock City is a place of sharing and free exchange within a gift economy. This means you do not buy or sell anything. Sales of handmade items and food items "in order to cover costs of the trip" are not allowed. The only exceptions to this rule are the Center Camp Cafe, which sells espresso and a few other beverages, and CampArctica, which sells ice - the proceeds from both ventures go to the town of Gerlach that so graciously hosts the Burning Man festival each year - and crotchety Burning Man veterans still hate this outpost of commerce.


8. No display of commercial logos or banners, and no distribution of commercial promotional items. This includes the name and logo of your home business or the record label you run out of your bedroom. It doesn't matter if you're a good person or if your company donates to charities. Some people go so far as to remove the tags from their jeans and to cover the Ryder logo on the side of their rental trucks.


9. Help with packing and unpacking the trucks, and assembly and disassembly of the camp. There is one day of packing the truck in Los Angeles, one day of unpacking the truck and assembling the camp at the beginning of the festival, one day of disassembling the camp and packing the truck at the end of the festival, and another day of unpacking the truck in Los Angeles at the end. The more hands we have, the faster it goes - if you can make it to Los Angeles for the packing and unpacking of the trucks especially, you will be a hero.


10. Help with cleanup of the camp. Part of the leave no trace ethic of the event is that we are each individually responsible for our entire camp space being immaculate throughout the week and after we leave. This means that you are responsible for picking up any trash or other evidence of human habitation that you encounter anywhere in our camp space. You are also responsible for spending roughly two hours walking our space after the camp has been packed up, and picking up any trace of human habitation - this includes feathers from boas, staples from packaging, cinnamon dust from kitchens, etc. In fact, most Black Rock citizens will pick up any trash they find out blowing around on the open playa, to do their part in keeping the desert clean.


11. Pay your share of camp expenses. It costs a mountain of money to build and cover our dome, to rent trucks for transporting everything to and from the desert, to supply the bar with liquor for a week, to replace all of the glassware we lose every year, to fuel the generators, to manufacture the silver and copper medallions we use as barter, and do all of the other stuff that makes the Golden Cafe so extraordinary. Each member of the camp contributes their fair share, which will be computed in May, and is expected to be upwards of $300, depending on which camp activities you wish to participate in.


12. Respect the value of Golden Cafe medallions. Our medallions exist to ensure that citizens who help make the camp successful are rewarded for their efforts. To that end, it is absolutely essential that they be given out in a fair and consistent fashion, regardless of which member of our camp is doing the giving. The guidelines are relatively simple: Copper medallions can be given out to anyone for any reason whatsoever - you can use them as cab fare or to invite that special aquaintance to the bar - each camp members is given 2 copper medallions at the start of the week which they may gift as they see fit. Silver medallions can only be given to someone who makes a significant and concrete contribution to the success of the camp - this should almost always be a contribution of food or booze, and not just enough for one person - we're talking a full liter of Bombay Sapphire Gin or dinner for eight of your hungry campmates. An outstanding musical performance may sometimes make the grade here, but it really needs to be amazing - like the guy who brought his saxaphone and blew the lid off the joint for two days straight. Washing a ton of dishes or lending a major hand with dome assembly in a wind storm can also earn someone a silver. Gold medallions are strictly an upgrade for someone who already holds a silver and makes a second contribution of equal magnitude to the first, usually one year later - reaching a gold in your first year at the cafe requires a truly heroic series of contributions.


13. Limit sound to a level that does not cause serious disruption to adjacent camps. The city sound policy limits large sound systems to the streets 2:00 and 10:00 at the far ends of the city. The maximum power amplification within the city is 300 watts, provided there are no substantive complaints from the neighbors. If a problem with sound levels continues after sufficient warning, the source of power for such a device or system may be disabled.


14. Drive no faster than 5MPH when entering or leaving the city. Anything faster than this produces huge clouds of dust, and endangers the lives of your fellow citizens. Remember that pedestrians and bicycles always have the right of way over motor vehicles.


15. No driving cars in the city. Be prepared come to Black Rock City and anchor your vehicle at your campsite. No cruising! Black Rock City is designed for pedestrians and bicycles. Except for public agencies, specially marked Black Rock City service vehicles, and Art Cars licensed by the Department of Mutant Vehicles, no cars or motorcycles are allowed to drive in camp or on the open playa around it.


16. Observe fire rules. The city fire policy prohibits fires on the unprotected playa surface - burn scars must be prevented. Aerial flares, rockets and explosives are prohibited in Black Rock City and could result in a fine. Hay bales are not allowed. Respect art works - if an artwork is to be burned, ONLY the artist who created it may do this.


17. Leave your dog at home. Many pet owners are not prepared to provide the additional care needed for their animals in the Black Rock Desert environment. In the past dogs have been lost for part or all of the event (due to loud noises, fire, and confusion). Other dogs have developed health problems due to the extreme climate and alkaline soil of the Black Rock Desert. Dogs have also caused disputes between camps. Do not show up with your dog at the gate of Burning Man and expect to be admitted to the event.


18. Be respectful of other camps. Most camps have public spaces connected to the main roads through the city. It is safe to assume that you can enter, pass through, or crash in these spaces whenever you like, but you should absolutely ask for permission before passing through their private camping area. You must also be very careful when traveling the narrow pathways between the tents within a camp - they are frequently tangled with guy lines and exposed rebar that are invisible at night and can injure you severely.


19. Comply with county, state and federal laws. This means you should comport yourself, with regard to these laws, as you would in any municipality. Burning Man does not promote or condone the use of drugs or public sex acts. If you commit an illegal act in public, it is entirely possible you will be caught - and keep in mind that the handful of law enforcement officers who volunteer for duty at Burning Man would probably rather not have to haul you off in irons, but if you flaunt the law right in front of them, they're going to do it.


20. Leave your guns at home. The possession of firearms or ammunition within Black Rock City is prohibited. Neither our campground nor the greater playa is suitable for recreational shooting.


21. Bring your ticket. Your ticket is a revocable license. Violation of these rules, or violent or anti-social behavior, can result in revocation of your ticket and ejection from the event without refund. No one under 18 will be admitted without a responsible adult. Tickets run between $200 and $300, depending on when you purchase them - they must be purchased in advance - no tickets will be sold at the gate.


22. Respect public boundaries. The boundaries of Black Rock City are clearly marked and established within an area of the playa that is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for purposes of public recreation. The BLM will establish a buffer zone on the playa around Black Rock City. No camping is allowed in this area. The marked area immediately fronting our city is reserved for works of art. Do not drive or camp here. A specially marked area is reserved for Walk-In camping. No automobile traffic or motorized vehicles are permitted inside this area.


23. Do not deposit garbage in neighboring towns. Public landfills are located in Fernley and Lockwood. Ares and Osiris have the details.