Automatic Subconscious: Making Clean Playa a State of Mind Since 2000

General Leave No Trace Outline

• All of our planning & structure design involves thinking about their MOOP potential (during construction, by people using the structures, & during break down).
• We begin leaving no trace before we even arrive on the playa. Coming from Boston, we ship out much of our camp infrastructure via container. This allows us to get a large part of the construction done pre-playa, & thus keep construction debris off the playa. We also have a chance to re-pack food & other items in a more efficient & less MOOP-prone manner.
• Everyone in our camp is strongly encouraged to spend quality time MOOPing out on the playa or around the city. Both during & after the event. We stress this point during camp recruiting AND at every camp meeting.
• MAtt, aka MRI, is this year's camp MOOP worry-wart/contact person. This person comments on the state of organization of the camp during our nightly group meals. If the camp is looking messy, then it's likely to be at risk of losing stuff to the wind Deities. Reminding people of this is generally all it takes to initiate a straightening up.

Playa-specific LNT points

• PLAYA CONSTRUCTION:
  When building on the playa, we keep construction above tarps or rugs to catch construction debris which would easily get ground into the playa & lost. When drilling steel, we keep a powerful magnet on hand to collect up any stray metal bits. This magnet is always attached to the vise so it is easy to find. When drilling/sawing aluminum, we hope to have our, STILL BACK-ORDERED! aluminum magnet on hand...
• GROUP MEALS/KITCHEN:
  We have group food/meals which centralizes food prep to one location & only 2 or 3 times a day. Instead of having 40 people cooking each day, we have a small group cook for everyone. This allows us to buy & manage all of the food & containers. We feel this not only contributes to the community of our camp, but is a major reduction in potential mess. Everyone supplies their own re-usable mess kit to avoid having to buy paper plates & plastic utensils.
• SPACE AGE KITCHEN/GRAY WATER:
  To feed & water 40 people, we have developed quite an elaborate kitchen set up. The LNT centerpiece of this kitchen is our gray water system. We've learned the hard way that a drying pond needs to be BIG to evaporate all of the waste gray water produced by a camp of 40 people. Last year we experimented with a large-surface area water dripper that we cribbed from Other Burners. One thing that we changed was to add a conical, sheet-metal top so that we would not have to be so fussy about leveling the consarn contraption. This ensured that the flow was uniform all around the periphery of the cylindrical wire mesh. The kitchen waste water all goes in our evap pond, as does personal waste water: (tooth brushing, shaving, showering etc.). This year we are building an enclosed screen rack to allow wet garbage to dry out in the sun & further reduce waste. Last year the pond stayed dry all week with minimal gray water spilled on the playa! Our goal this year is to have no Playa/Grey Water miscegnation.
• TRASH:
  Individuals keep their own trash in their tents/vehicles. Communal trash is divided into burnable (paper), recycling, compost, YEAH Compost Camp! & trash for the transfer station. We STRONLGY encourage people to buy beer in aluminum cans since we can give them to the recycling camp. We bring kegs of craft-brewed beer from Cambridge, Massachusetts to minimize waste and maximize enjoyment. All of our trash at the end of the week is loaded into the rental truck which we secure from Reno. For several years running we have disposed of the trash at either the Fernley, or Reno, transfer station. This year we have a dedicated Trash & Recycling Pod leader laying the groundwork for a more integrated recycling station in the camp & seeking ways to further recycle our waste via Playa friends who return to San Francisco & Seattle. In 2007, our plastic and metal remainders were bagged up and transported back to San Fran so as to enter into their fine stream of recycling unconsciousness.
• BURN SCARS:
  We do not intend to burn our projects, so this is not a problem. Any burning would take place on the community burn platforms (& will likely only be paper).
• SHAME:
  The last couple of years, we have had neighbors who were leaving at the end of the week, & were clearly leaving trash & other debris behind. We had no problem running down their car & tactlessly using shame to get them to come back & finish cleaning up their site :).
• CLEAN UP SUPPLIES:
  Between what we have in storage in Reno, what we truck out from Boston, & what we tote in our luggage, we have plenty of LNT supplies. Almost every hand tool imaginable, magnets, bags, chains, sizable chunks of obsidian, E.T.s, etc., so this is not a problem.
• PRIOR LNT MINDSET:
  The majority of our camp members are experienced backpackers & fully understand & practice the Pack-It-In/Pack-It-Out ideals of LNT.
• HISTORY:
  We have always left an exceedingly clean camp behind, & have always hauled home as much abandoned stuff as we've had room for. In past years DPW, Rangers, & Earth Guardians have all commended our camp at one point or another on our LNT efforts. We are always seeking out better ways to be more conscientious custodians of both the Playa & the world at large. We are inveterate dumpster divers as well & salvage as much of our camp infrastructure from the Boston-area waste stream as possible. As an example, this will be the 4th year running that we will be donating trash-picked crutches to the Black Rock Medical Facility.