climate change burning man

Research meets art: Exploring possible climate futures at Burning Man

There will be no Burning Man 2020. But researchers are already looking ahead to next year's event with an eye toward climate education.

Working in the field of climate change mitigation, one of the most fundamental questions we ask is how to engage folks with the issue of climate change?


Many assume that information is the key—if we can just get the public the right facts, graphs, and charts, they will change their behavior.

Unfortunately, reality isn't so simple. If information is not enough, what is? This is a question I've struggled with for almost a decade, and I've come away—as both a researcher and a human being—believing that what people are lacking is an experience, something they can touch, feel, explore, and remember.

So, after a number of years participating in one of the world's most imaginative, mind-bending creative gatherings, Burning Man, I decided to embark on a journey of connecting my academic research with an art installation for the event.

climate change burning man A CAD drawing of the full project viewed from above.

The project is called "The Prism of Possibilities." It's an interactive and immersive exploration of multiple possible future climate scenarios depending on humanity's actions to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

There are three possibilities built into the art project, which are based on scenarios that Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change describes in their last Assessment Report. One is a worst-case and also business as usual scenario—where almost no mitigation is done and impacts are very devastating. Another is a middle-of-the road scenario where we do some mitigation. And the third is the best-case scenario where, within the next decade and beyond, we're able to very significantly reduce global emissions.

These three possibilities are connected through a large pointed dome that's akin to an inter-dimensional train station. There will be some clues on and in the train station to the story of the project. For example, much of the decor will be the forgotten-about waste of humanity, there will be some artful signage and little hidden clues like buttons that give access to audio recordings.

burning man art Former project of the crew, koro loko, as seen at Burning Man 2019. (Credit: FromDusttoAshes.com)

The train station gives participants access to three different portals—swirling squares that will be lit with LEDs at night. At the end of each of the three portals is the different climate scenario, which is represented by a house (it actually is the same house at the same time but in three different universes experiencing the three different climate scenarios). The way the houses look and the objects inside them will tell the story of what happened through photographs, diaries, and the trappings of everyday life.

The goal of the project is to help participants to imagine what life might be like 100 years from now, which is not an easy task. As is evident by the current pandemic, it is difficult to think about and plan for disaster scenarios—even ones that imminently lethal.

Art, especially interactive, immersive art, represents an opportunity to open the imagination, to take advantage of people's innate curiosity and offer the experience of another reality.

We hope that the 70,000 participants of Burning Man 2021—and those who experience it wherever it gets placed after the event— are able to walk away from this project with a memory that helps to form a new perspective and meaningful engagement with one of the world's most pressing issues.

Emily Nicolosi is a research assistant professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Utah.

Banner photo: A photoshop collage showcasing the decor and visual impact of the Prism of Possibilities.

republican climate change denial
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. (Credit: Gage Skidmore)

Opinion: House Speaker Mike Johnson’s climate change playbook — deny the science, take the funding

The two-faced charade of climate denial while diving into the pot of federal renewable incentives and tax breaks.

It took no time for Mike Johnson to establish a hefty carbon footprint as new Speaker of the House.

Keep reading...Show less
Senator Whitehouse & climate change

Senator Whitehouse puts climate change on budget committee’s agenda

For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch.

'Massive' federal solar investment could mean big utility savings in Kentucky

Advocates see an Inflation Reduction Act program as a critical opportunity to help low-income communities reap the benefits of solar power.
system change not climate change sign
Photo by Ma Ti on Unsplash

The best climate change charities for 2023 and 2024

These are 11 of the most high-impact, cost-effective, evidence-based organizations. You may not have heard of them.

washington dc
Image by 12019 from Pixabay

Meet Pelosi the climate czar. (Not that Pelosi.)

Alexis Pelosi is a climate adviser to the Housing and Urban Development secretary and a relative of the former speaker.

Scientists are pining to save the endangered whitebark tree

The balance of an ecosystem hangs on the survival of a scraggly mountain tree. In northwest B.C., ecologists are facing climate change, droughts and wildfires as they work to protect whitebark pine and the species that rely on it.

root vegetables
Photo by Eka Sariwati on Unsplash

Decolonize your diet with this Indigenous cook's new book

Karuk writer and home cook Sara Calvosa Olson has assembled a collection of recipes made with acorns and other Indigenous ingredients to help readers reconnect to the natural world.

When sea levels rise, so does your rent

As property investors turn their gaze inland, away from Miami's exclusive low-lying beach area, residents in one poorer neighbourhood further above sea level say rising rents are forcing them out.

From our Newsroom
childrens health climate change

Delays in joining the RGGI regional climate program means excess ER visits and child illness in Pennsylvania

Up to 128 premature deaths from air pollution could have been prevented if the state had entered the program in 2022 as planned.

environmental justice

LISTEN: Carlos Gould on wildfire smoke and our health

“Information matters a lot — trying to explain not just that there’s a problem, but how to do something about it.”

fracking PFAS

“Forever chemicals” in Pennsylvania fracking wells could impact health of surrounding communities: Report

More than 5,000 wells in the state were injected with 160 million pounds of undisclosed, “trade-secret” chemicals, which potentially include PFAS.

800,000 tons of radioactive waste from Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry has gone “missing”

800,000 tons of radioactive waste from Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry has gone “missing”

Poor recordkeeping on hazardous waste disposal points to potential for bigger problems, according to a new study.

drought climate farming

Opinion: Climate change and soil loss — the new Dust Bowl?

How we can save our soil, stabilize the climate, and prevent a new Dust Bowl.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.