As a part of our ongoing ‘Guiding Principles’ series, this week we’re covering Leave No Trace (cunningly shortened to LNT) and Decommodification.
There are about a billion things to love about Kiwiburn. But one of our favourites is its (excuse the ramshackle adjective) uniqueness. Compared to other large-scale, January gatherings, (which shall remain blameless) Kiwiburn seeks to minimise its impact on the ground that hosts us, and eliminate the callous exchange of money for overpriced trash.
- Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavour, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better condition than when we found them. The LNT principle is great, because it is enacted on the individual and collective level. We can (and do) our very best to keep the rubbish we produce on site to an absolute minimum, which is the essence of the LNT principle. You may also be familiar with the acronym MOOP, which ties into LNT. MOOP is about removing any and all Matter Out Of Place before we vacate the Paddock! Have a further read on LNT here!
- In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience. That is the essence of decommodification, the last thing anyone wants is some carnivorous company wagging its snout around the Paddock, in an attempt to sling its shoddy wares about. There’s a great story (in blog form, no less!) over here on Decommodification.
Image Credit: Kasai Photography
