(Link to full-size pic). Burners have their glow-in-the-dark hemp thongs in a bunch over an error in this San Francisco Chronicle article. The subject is a "pollution exchange" at Burning Man modeled after real-world projects like the Chicago Climate Exchange — but here's the goof in "Burning Man Goes Green":
Encouraged by the resurgence of the green movement, the scientists are taking a hard look at all those sacred flaming temples, gas-powered scooters shaped like cupcakes, and hundreds of rumbling RVs that converge for a week on the dry Black Rock Desert lakebed.
With an idea that would make Al Gore smile, the scientists have created Cooling Man, an online calculator that determines how many tons of greenhouse gases each of the 37,000 "burners" will produce with their art projects and community camps.
Thing is, those infamously cute cupcake art-cars (shown above) aren't powered by gas — they're electric. And their makers are not amused with the Chronicle's mistake. Using glittery, festooned pens, and wiping playa dust from their eyes, members of the "Cupcake Corners" camp at Burning Man reply:
My dear editor,
I feel my muffin has been defiled. In Meridith May's August 26 article entitled "Burning Man Goes Green," she made a particularly distressing error (well, distressing to, at the very least, me and my fellow cupcake builders). Gas powered food? Ick. The motorized cupcakes and muffins are all electric, every delicious one of them, charged by solar panels back at camp. No gas. No varoom. None among us has a gas powered Burning Man art vehicle. (And as a matter of fact, my sweetie and co-inventor of the mobile muffins, converted his Honda Civic Del Sol into a fully electric vehicle years ago. He now works at Tesla Motors, the new company in San Carlos manufacturing a long range electric sports car.) Please remember to do your research even when writing about wacky art projects. Though I hope no one digs deep enough to discover that the furry toppings for the cupcakes were harvested from baby seals and stray kittens.
Greenly yours,
Lisa Pongrace
(Otherwise, I very much appreciated the article)
More muffin outrage after the jump…
——–
Subject: ELECTRIC powered cupcakes!
To: letters@sfchronicle.com
Cc: mmay@sfchronicle.comDear editor,
I was taken aback when I read the words "gas-powered scooters shaped
like cupcakes" in Meredith May article "Burning Man Goes Green."All of the cupcake are electrically-powered and charged with solar
panels. We are big advocates of alternative power and have been since
we brought our first electric powered art car to Burning Man in 1997,
an electric powered sofa.We are constantly trying to educate people and expose them to
alternative forms of energy. Incorrectly branding us as gas-powered
is an insult to all we have tried to achieve over the years and I
expect to see this error corrected.Thank you,
William Keller———
Dear editors,
In Meredith May's article of today, "Burning Man Goes Green," she refers to the carbon dioxide emissions of "sacred flaming temples, gas-powered scooters shaped like cupcakes, and hundreds of rumbling RVs that converge for a week on the dry Black Rock Desert lakebed." As a member of Cupcake Corners, the Burning Man camp responsible for the well-loved cupcake cars, I need to let you know that the cupcakes (and one blueberry muffin) are all powered by electricity, not gas. Not only that, but they are charged by solar panels when they are not quietly roaming the desert floor. In fact, part of the cupcakes' mission is to let burners know that fun art cars do not require fossil fuels at all! We at Cupcake Corners deeply appreciate all the efforts of those who are trying to green Burning Man, as well as May's reporting of this work. But we would also appreciate it if the Chronicle would, in the future, do more thorough research on Burning Man art projects and, in the meantime, correct its error.
Thank you,
Amy Robinson
Palo Alto, CA
(Thanks, Merrilee Proffitt)
