🗑️ Moop Crew

These positions are responsible for ensuring that all AV participants are aware of their individual responsibilities to assure we leave no trace on the playa. They advise, educate and enact with regards to best practices to accomplish a no-trace village that receives a green score on the post-event Moop Map, which affects future village placement.

The Moop Crew enlists the help of Villagers to do moop sweeps, prepare informational signs, facilitate meeting announcements on playa, and solicit the assistance of others to carry trash off-playa.

This person should ensure that one alternate is trained in all aspects of the position and has all the necessary information to step in if needed. There is one alternate for this position.

From our current MOOP Czar:

Of the 10 principles of Burning Man, “leave no trace” is arguably the most foundational. If we don’t leave the playa exactly as it was before we got here, we won’t be invited back.

MOOP is the acronym for “matter out of place”, a convenient way of referring to anything that is not originally of the desert land.  Everything that wasn’t originally on or of the Black Rock Desert, no matter how small, is considered MOOP, and is to be removed during and after the event to insure we Leave No Trace.

MOOP can be anything: cigarette butts, bottle caps, glowsticks, fireworks, and is often disguised as debris, i.e., broken bits of wood, rebar, plastic, tent stakes, metal, glass, fabric, plants. MOOP can also be a condition: burn scars, grey/black water, dunes that form from dust pushing up against any object.

In Anonymous Village, we take “leave no trace” and MOOP removal very seriously. We will be conducting periodic MOOP sweeps over the course of the week, where we walk in straight line formation 6 feet apart across our camp insuring we pick up any MOOP.

Please be of service and volunteer for these sweeps, as well as picking up MOOP at the hospitality tent and after events like our 80’s dance party. On Monday, we will also need volunteers to help do final MOOP sweeps as we depart camp, and we have a couple of magnetic rakes to assist us. And of course, always check your camp area daily for any MOOP.

Some tips:

1. Cut off the top of one gallon water jugs for a MOOP container.

2. Bring tall kitchen trash bags with drawstrings for your garbage and MOOP.

3. Never drop any greywater or blackwater on the playa, and use water trays for any showering or rinsing, cooking, etc.

4. Buy 2/3 less food then you’ll normally cook and eat because you’ll generally lose appetite in the heat on the playa and excess food is waste that must be carried out; avoid the Wayback Funk!

5. Bring a flat bladed shovel for any food accidents on the playa.

6. Take aluminum cans to the Recycle Camp at Burning Man; there, they are crushed and donated to the Gerlach School.

7. Take any excess wood to the Wood Recycling at 3, 6 and 9 o’clock.

8. Do not bring any clothing with sequins, feathers or other adornments that could detach and blow off.

9. Appoint a MOOP tsar for your camp area to check for MOOP every day.

10. Before departing, please ensure all rebar and other materials used to secure your structures are removed from your campsite. 

Just remember to leave the playa as you found it, MOOP free. For a full description of Leave No Trace and MOOP elimination, please read the info here:
https://burningman.org/event/preparation/leaving-no-trace/