Burning Man Festival: Swarms of Bugs Infest Site of Annual Event

John Curley wrote of the pests in the Burning Man Blog.

Organizers of the famous Burning Man week-long event coming up in Nevada have confirmed that this year, the plans are being hampered by large swarms of bugs, known as stink bugs. And Burning Man bloggers are sharing the details on the bugs, which are tiny but possess a mighty bad smell. He was generous to a fault, giving all that he had to the community he loved. A spokesman said he didn’t know anything about the bugs. Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell sat down with Brandon Beachum of the Positive Head Podcast to shed light on a number of this year’s unique organizational challenges. Next stop, Black Rock City, baby! He was also a founding member of Black Rock Solar, which provides low-cost energy services to clients in the nonprofit, public, low-income and educational sectors.

Heat exhaustion, dehydration that will put you in the med tent with a saline drip stuck in your arm, injuries garnered from a tent that wasn’t staked down during a 100-mph dust storm – these are the real dangers that stalk Burning Man, and they’ve always been there.

Anyway, Burners, you all have fun sweating and getting tongue-probed by stinky bugs! Mic Wright at The Next Web argues the insect infestation is just rewards for the way “dominant Silicon Valley philosophy” treats “regulators and normal people like bugs”. All we know is that if you pick up some wood, you’re likely to uncover hundreds or thousands of the things.

“They’re everywhere”, he wrote. A good-sized green bug fell to the ground. Bugs have crawled up inside her visor and nestled around her eyes. They have two theories – firstly that the recent rain has led the bugs to hatch earlier than normal and join in the party, or secondly that they hitchhiked in to the desert on wood.

However, Nevada Department of Agriculture state entomologist Jeff Knight said that the problem may be resolved before Burning Man starts.