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Foreword

Credits: Photo by Paul Chaffe

In 2021, Tim Barry, member of Burning Man’s GTCC* gifted his support to Kiwiburn (Burn located in Aotearoa/ New Zealand) by introducing us to BLAST, an initiative supporting theme camps in their sustainability effort. For the next six months, we teamed up to run the first BLAST

Alpha-version. We delivered several online

sessions in the middle of a pandemic, and planned

the on-site effort for the upcoming event.

Unfortunately, the event was eventually cancelled

due to covid-19. Still, we gained some insights

through our experimentation and, following the

Burner spirit, we are pleased to gift our methods

and reflection to anyone interested, with the

shared goal of accelerating a transition towards

greener burns, and beyond.

I hope you will find this guidebook helpful, inspiring, and fun. We wish you well on your journey, and do not hesitate to reach out.

Baptiste, Sustainability Stirring Spoon at Kiwiburn sustainability@kiwiburn.com

* Green Theme Camp Community

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Intro

Inspire, Guide & Support

The Team & The Plan

During the Event

Table of Contents

Starters

Main

Reflection & Learnings

Dessert

Who is it for, what and why

Keep on building the plane as you fly

Starting at the end

Celebration, and Adding Zeros and Ones

Where the Magic Happens

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Introduction

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Introduction

This guidebook was written with the intention to share our experiences and inspire you, reader. This booklet is mainly for the curious, wondering how to run a sustainability initiative in a community-led space, and for the keen green organisers, seeking a good place to start.

With this in mind, we boiled down the content of is guidebook to the strict essentials, sharing the principles behind our overall planning and design tools, and the ingredients we think are absolutely necessary to get the recipe right. This is a quick read. Don’t expect to find all the required templates to run an exact replica of what we did: we bet it wouldn’t work anyway, since each burn has its own quirks… and its own climate. Still, check our appendices if you want more.

As an alpha-version of a BLAST initiative, we learned a lot in hindsight. We have highlighted our failures as much as our successes, so you can decide how to avoid pitfalls identified early on.

Enjoy the read.

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The Team & The Plan

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HOT TIP: Begin at the End

As much as we all want to spring into action now, sustainability is a long game. Slow progress will need to be measured year after year, and your measurement criteria matters dearly, for they will drive participants ethics, objectives, and final impact. The directions of many future participants’ projects will rest on them!

Currently, the BLAST criteria are generic, and designed for the hot climate of Black Rock City. In contrast, Kiwiburn takes place in a temperate climate, therefore some tweaking of the BLAST criteria were necessary. You too might need to flag what BLAST criteria don’t work for your burn, and adjust them accordingly.

At Kiwiburn, burner sustainability specialists set up a list of criteria specific to our climate and culture.

These specialists were trusted amongst our crowd,

giving a framework for other participants to unleash their creativity.

Finally, a note about data type. As the BLAST feedback form stands currently, it mostly captures changes in behavior. While these changes are critical, other quantitative data need to be captured to get a full picture of our progress. That is why we also planned a wider data collection effort.

So, before you let BLAST participants go wild, I suggest to define your sustainability criteria… and plan the data collection effort, one step at a time, to make the onsite team effort manageable. As an example, Kiwiburn started small in 2020, measuring mostly carbon emission from transport. We are planning to track more data as the team expands.

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The Plan: the BLAST initiative

The BLAST initiative is based on the document created by the GTCC team at Burning Man:

BLAST VISION & CRITERIA

Kiwiburn 2022

(Full version available in the appendices)

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The Plan: initial, and expanded

Initially, BLAST is designed as a friendly competition, defining objectives for all theme camps months before the burn, then auditing and celebrating everyone’s effort onsite.

For a small team with little time before the burn, that’s a great plan. If bi-monthly meetup are running while participants get active, we assume that it would lead to building a tight community of practice.

BURN

Metrics

revealed

Data Collection

Awards and

Celebration!

BLAST TIMELINE - Kiwiburn 2022

Inspiration phase

Reflection phase

Ideation phase

Action

phase

BLAST initial plan

KIWIBURN addition

For the first year though,

Kiwiburn wanted to go a little

further, and support the effort of theme camps

by providing examples of prior initiatives, tools for designing their own, and a place for the community to share their progress and help one another.

Since we had onsite data collection planned, our timeline was expanding beyond the burn.

January

March

September

November

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The Team: Two configurations

Planning &

Slide Design

Chatbox

and Q&A

Facilitation

Inviting

Speakers

Miro board

Facilitation

Recording &

Note-Taking

Time -Keeping

& Slideshow

Wild Card

Planning

& Collab

Transport

& Emission

Waste

& Water

Energy

& Solar

Food

& Compost

Shelter

& DIY

Wild Card

Awards

Fabrication

Onsite

Planning

We built a team of nine and spread tasks of both the Inspiration and Action phases, roughly following the configurations below:

Inspiration phase

Action phase

It was refreshing to have many voices in the room, bringing new perspectives, energy, and chaos.

At all time

..morphing into…

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Inspire, Guide & Support

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HOT TIP: Burner etiquette applies

We participate in Burns for many reasons, but usually, we have the following three in common: we cherish our community and sense of belonging, we want to engage in a counter-culture, and we want to be able to express ourselves radically. The one requirement that is absolutely paramount to fulfilling these is: having an open space to be, meet and chat freely.

The setting you will define, either in real life or online, shall provide participants opportunities to discuss during and in-between sessions. The quality of interaction between participants will be the main attraction point of the initiative (a great presenter’s outfit will set the tone though, don’t hold back). And obviously, participants shall have full freedom to discuss about whatever they want, beyond what is on your agenda (counterculture, remember?)

At Kiwiburn 2022, we had no choice

but to run the event online (sic). We

thought that a Facebook page would

be good enough for general communication. Big mistake, as participants do not have much sense of ownership nor privacy on a Facebook page. It is also harder to expand on a specific topic over many weeks. And finally, that one Facebook page will directly compete with hundreds of others, with notifications banging in participants ears at all time.

These days, we have moved to SLACK, and created a workspace with dedicated channels. More importantly, we are planning in-person meetups. Can’t beat that good old real-life vibe, apparently.

So, whatever you plan, make sure that participants have plenty of time to get to know each other.

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Steering Gently: from Inspiration to Action

To kick start participants creativity, we organised inspiration sessions, inviting burners to speak about their projects. We presented a few design tools to help them ideate. And for most of the initiative, we planned to have a team of experienced helpers supporting the development of projects.

For participants, it is sometimes daunting to move from a passive to an active role. Rather than forcing

them into a brutal plunge, we intended

to create an overlap between these

phases, and gently steering them

into action.

I suggest introducing some design tools early, and already have a few supported projects running soon after the sessions begin, with people leading the way.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

…

Introduction to the Initiative, Timeline, Coms, and Inspiring Presentation

Ideation

BLAST zone 1 and 2, Inspiring Presentation

Ideation tool 1

BLAST zone 3 and 4, Inspiring Presentation

Ideation tool 1 (repeat) and 2

BLAST zone 5 and 6, Inspiring Presentation

Ideation tool 2 (repeat) and 3

Insp. Pres.

Ideation tool 3 (repeat), 4, 5, and team building

Action

team building

Action

team build.

Action

team build.

Inspiration

ideation

action

BLAST RUNSHEETS -The first 8 sessions at Kiwiburn 2022

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Inspire: shining the lights on our peers

Throughout the sessions, the objective is to show participants that they have what it takes to make things happen. I found presentation from peer burners (from the same burn) to be well-received, and suggestions followed.

So, I recommend inviting guests from the crowd to speak. Be mindful though: their presentation must (ideally) align with the criteria defined earlier,

making the overall message clear.

During our online sessions, we forgot to have someone dedicated to minding the chatbox. Big mistake, as it is where the hot topics popped up - the ones that needs to be healthily addressed in the open. Next year we plan to pause any presentation to make space for these, opening the floor to crack on these controversial topics.

EXAMPLE OF BLAST RUNSHEET -Session 2 (Transport and Water) at Kiwiburn 2022

Participants are listening

Participants are active

Participants

can participate

BLAST criteria - transport -

Intro

Guest Speaker - transport -

Ideation Session

Break

BLAST criteria - water -

Guest Speaker - water -

Ideation Session

What’s next?

Q&A

Outro

30 min

60 min

90 min

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Guide: straight thinking isn’t linear

Sustainability issues are complex, and so is building a team. With the objective to help with both, we used Miro, an online whiteboard, and created a set of visual tools. Some were individual, other collective.

Landing the right idea takes trials and errors, and it’s important to create a culture where messing up is fine, and pivoting or iterating is the normal way forward. Initially, what matters is trying.

Miro takes some time to get comfortable with, so the software was introduced early, using the first exercise as an excuse for participants to find their way around it.

At Kiwiburn, we ran out of time and presented all the tools in one session. Don’t do that: it’s overwhelming. Try presenting one new tool per session and go through the tools several times.

At the end, the tools won’t be useful any longer:

the approach will be integrated as part of

the “brainstorming” culture.

IDEA DEVELOPMENT TOOLBOX at Kiwiburn 2022

Idea Generation | collective

coming up with idea collectively

Follows speakers’ presentations, participants come up with as many ideas as possible to solve the problem. It’s all about unleashing creativity, all ideas are welcome.

A set of prompts are created to help participants come up with ideas (the post-its).

Then, these ideas are quickly categorised and a collective vote takes place for the best ideas.

These best ideas will be displayed during future activities.

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Guide: straight thinking isn’t linear (continued)

IDEA DEVELOPMENT TOOLBOX at Kiwiburn 2022

Scope Definition | individual

Defining realistic objectives

Following a flowchart, participants define whether their idea will be a big team project, a small-scale prototype of a big idea, or a theoretical research of a complex problem.

The objective is to be realistic about the final objective, and avoid disappointments after several months of hard work without fruitful outcomes.

Peer Feedback | collective

giving & receiving feedback

participants are invited to take a look at each others’ ideas (green post-its), and leave constructive notes (yellow post-its).

This activity helps think wider, mixing up ideas, and give some sense of ownership towards leading a project.

This might also reveal that an idea isn’t so great after all, and now is a good opportunity to “pivot from”, or “shelf” an idea early.

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Guide: straight thinking isn’t linear (continued)

IDEA DEVELOPMENT TOOLBOX at Kiwiburn 2022

Compass | individual

Final check of the generated impacts

Participants check the potential impact of their ideas by rating them against a set of statements.

A project might sound great and fun, but does it deliver on sustainability outcomes? Is is worth the effort?

The scoring logic is up to the organisers and will be based on the BLAST criteria as well as your local criteria.

Team Building | collective

Defining roles and skills, gathering teams

By this stage, some participants are project holders, others are keen to help. This exercise aims at connecting the two, building teams.

First the project holders define the roles they think is needed for the project. In the meantime, other participants consider what they would prefer doing.

Then, all participants browse the Miro board, looking at what roles are wanted, and consider what’s interesting to them, leaving a note if so.

Next, the project holders and potential team members are invited to catch up (see next page).

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Guide: straight thinking isn’t linear (continued)

IDEA DEVELOPMENT TOOLBOX at Kiwiburn 2022

Team Building (continued) | collective

On the board, project holders book a 15-min slot by sticking a post-it with their project name on it.

To join a project-specific chat, all participants follow the link (leading to Google meet session created previously).

Then, it’s up to everyone to chat, gauge how they feel about the project, and mostly about working together. There is magic, or nah. Can’t fake it.

Planning | individual or collective

Defining objectives and milestones

Participants set up objectives, roles and milestones until Kiwiburn takes place - and perhaps beyond.

This exercise brings the team together, defining collective challenges, and clarify what’s next, and who’s doing what. It is step one towards action mode, and getting stuff done.

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Support: opening the stage

By then, participants will start running towards their objectives, and will want a place to share ideas, ask for support, brag about their success, and vent about their failures.

We planned on having a dedicated team of supporters to help participants with their project. But we didn’t make it that far: Kiwiburn got cancelled right after our first “action” session.

I can only assume it is a joyful, chaotic,

and uncertain sprint towards the finish line. Curious to hear how it will go for you!

EXAMPLE OF BLAST RUNSHEET -Session 7 (Action) at Kiwiburn 2022

Participants are listening

Participants

can participate

Intro

Response to Requests for Support

Open Mic

Break

What’s next?

Q&A

Outro

30 min

60 min

90 min

Fun Inspiration Piece

Open Mic

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During the Event

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Data Collection: let numbers rain upon us

Although an event-wide data collection and analysis is beyond the scope of BLAST, I think of it as a key activity to define how effective sustainability efforts are over the years.

Online request*

Final Check***

DATA COLLECTION TIMELINE & INDICATORS - Kiwiburn 2022

BLAST

Awards & Celebration

BLAST initial plan

KIWIBURN addition

We designed our data collection

so interactions with other burners

are fun, if not brief. Party first.

* Drivers are asked for water, fuel, solar panels, ruminant meat and dairy to be accessible (or recorded) as they arrive.

GATE

** Data collection takes place. Drivers are asked for bins, leftover water and fuel to be accessible (or recorded) as they leave.

*** Data Collection takes place.

BURN

GATE

- Transport: Carbon emission, Passenger occupancy

- Shelter: Amount of shelter structures composted/ recycled/landfilled in kg

- Food: Amount of ruminants meat (beef, lamb, and mutton) and dairy brought in kg

- Water: Amount of water used in litre

- Waste: Amount Composted /Recycled/ Landfilled in kg

- Energy: Amount of Diesel

used for generators in litre, Solar capacity in peak Kw/h

Survey**

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Audits & Celebration: the participants are the experts

The BLAST process requires a final audit of participating theme camps. Since, at Kiwiburn, data collection was covered by another team, this step was an opportunity to bring participants together and celebrate the wins.

The plan was to gather participants on the first day of the burn, split them in team of three, and provide each of them with a white blouse, protective glasses and a clipboard with forms. They would be then given a couple of hours to visit each other’s theme camps, chatting away and rating their good deeds.

The white blouse wasn’t just a piss-taking quirk: a group of them wearing the same outfit might draw other burners’ attention, even in the midst of a Burn, raising interest.

Finally, we would all reconvene for a celebration at Centre Camp, letting them give awards to each other while stating their achievements loud and clear. The opportunity of glorious or silly talks would be endless.

All the forms would be precious data points to collect.

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Awards: walking the talk

If that fun must culminate into an awards ceremony, these awards better represent the effort put into the initiative.

One Burner, Boris Van Galvin, looked into many design approaches to lower, if not reverse, the use of natural resources and carbon emission caused by the awards’ fabrication process. He went as far as casting medals in strengthened compost material holding seeds at their core.

As we needed to land on a reliable fabrication process, Boris was planning to recycle aluminium cans into medals (see result on the right), perfecting the melting process to minimise carbon emission.

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Reflection & Learnings

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Key Learnings from BLAST 2022

A few final thoughts on our reflection from 2022:

Start early, as early as you can. Getting your ducks in a row to run a BLAST initiative will take time.

Get your objectives and indicators right. They determine where the effort of all participants will go into. Ask your local experts.

Bring participants on-stage as soon as possible, and give them time and space to be loud, controversial, and creative.

Feed through ideation tools

so participants can rely on them to build effective, targeted projects. Repeat this process until it becomes part of the culture.

Measure the outcome of your effort over the years. Start small and add new measurement for every Burn.

Try some crazy stuff. We want to learn from your creative experimentations.

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Sharing experiences

This guidebook is the product of a period of reflection and learnings, gathering participants’ opinions on the BLAST initiatives and putting our processes on paper, for you to read. I hope that was a good read, and if you wish more information, email us at sustainability@kiwiburn.com.

I think this communication effort is invaluable: with Burns happening around the world year-round, collaborating as a big international team will accelerate our common learning process. It matters, as the time for green Burns is now.

So, let’s stand on top of each others’ shoulders and crack on this big hairy mess together. Can’t wait to hear/read/see what you will do. In the meantime, have a blast,

Baptiste, Sustainability Stirring Spoon at Kiwiburn sustainability@kiwiburn.com

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CREDITS: the BLAST sheet was created by Tim Barry and the GTCC team at Burning Man. The runsheets and design tools were created by Baptiste Natali and the BLAST team at Kiwiburn 2022. The Green Kiwi logo was created by Shelley Watson.

THANK YOU TO…

- All Kiwiburn BLAST participants. Your energy and involvement each week was the driver behind this initiative;

- The internal BLAST team and Kiwiburn Sustainability Team, namely: Alex, Andrew, Andy, Anna, Bex, Cass, Nadine, Prageeth, Radhika, Rongomai, Spook, Tim, Will, Yarin;

- Our Guest Speakers, sharing their ideas and projects with us all;

- The whole Kiwiburn team behind the scenes: Volunteer crew, IT crew, EFP crew, Ticketing crew, Theme camp crew, Ex-Com, Town Planning crew, Community Committee, Landowners...

- Finally, special credit to Spook, for a meticulous proofreading of this document.

CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo, including icons by Flaticon, infographics & images by Freepik

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