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I am so thankful to each of you who have helped in some way to help make Greener Burn a SMASHING SUCCESS for its official 2025 launch! I knew there would be many Burners who would welcome our little initiative when it arrived at Freezer Burn, but I was floored by just how much praise and love we received for this growing movement. I heard a lot of it at the Launch Party, usually with a very satisfied look on their face after making their own T-Shirt swag. What did they say? Well, in no particular order:
“I’m so happy there’s composting for this year! We’re gonna fill those bins!”
(When I told a group of three volunteers that things are slow and one of you can leave if you’d like, all three of them said something to the effect of this) “No way! I’ve been looking forward to this all week!”
“The pathways are soooooo much quieter at night now! And those [wattage cottages] are adorable!”
“Thanks for making Greener Burn happen! This has been long overdue.”
Greener Burn started as and will always be a collective, collaborative project. I may lead this thing but without all of these passionate and thoughtful folks that have come forward to help make all the things happen, I’d just be talking to myself.
To measure Freezer Burn’s carbon footprint, we focused on the biggest contributor: participant’s private vehicles. We collected 442 surveys which contains SO MUCH DATA about the vehicles themselves, how many people were in them and what they brought with them.
Over the coming months, I’ll be analyzing this information and provide some (hopefully) flashy inforgraphics about what we learned and what this means for future project ideas. Until then, enjoy this interesting map of where all our burners are traveling from to get here!
Thanks to all of the Carbon Survey volunteers who braved the on-again, off-again rain to help make this happen. A special shout out to the following shift leads who ensured I didn’t have to spend three days of my own burn up at the gate!
To provide a better way for burners to get to the Fraya without having to have their own vehicle, we started the Radical Rideshare app. This connects potnetial drivers with potential passengers much bettre than social media ever could. The app had a total of 10 people using it this year, which is pretty good considering it was officially launched one month before the event….oops 😬
We’ll definitely do a better job for next year in letting people know this exists!
To help reduce the event’s dependance on fossil-fuel powered generators, we started by replacing the generators used to light up the pathways at night. During the day, a solar charging array at Centre Camp would charge three batteries. In the evening, these batteries would be moved to their night-time home: the “Wattage Cottages” that not only provided power to the pathway lights but also created super-fun, interactive art work for everyone to enjoy.
Not only did Greener Burn generate 12,500 watts of clean, free electricity at this years event, but we also created more art and reduced the smell and noise of running generators at night!
Thank you to Matt (Captain SkyTrash), Nelle and Ryan (Cowboy) for taking this project from an idea to a reality. It’s a huge step forward for event operations and will hopefully open the door to future ideas surrounding the electrification of Freezer Burn over time. This project will also inspire future builders to make art that also serves a practical purpose too.
A big part of “reducing waste” means reducing the amount of stuff that winds up in a landfill. Waste food and other organic material can be composted but that doesn’t sound fun at all. Enter landfillThank you to Luiz (Rubber Ducky) and Nicole (Little Good Wolf) for bringing the elusive SaskZaddy, who came from the forests of the vast Rocky Mountains to the foothills of Ponoka County. This happy little guy not would eat all your compostable matter and in return, poop out a tree seedling for you to take home! In addition to SaskZaddy, there were other simpler bins scattered throughout the Fraya…and ALL of them were full with (mostly!) over 200 pounds of compostable material by the end of the event.
(Nicole is also the incredibly talented artist that created the Greener Burn logo and wordmark too!)
Composting proved to be a really easy way for participants to reduce their waste emissions AND feel like they’re part of this movement too! Having a large, colorful Sasquatch that poops our tree seedlings was another example of how event infrastructure can be so much more beautiful, fun and inspiring when done right! A big win for community-building all around!
Greener Burn is an open-source initiative that happens when our community comes to together to make something amazing happen. And what better way to celebrate a community than to throw a party! We had music, food, drinks and DIY art that anyone could make and this was all thanks to the folks that helped organize it!