In my last column, I wrote about attending Burning Man for the first time here in 2012.  I included lots of links that I highly recommend you click on if you have not yet done so as they will provide a basic understanding of and the beauty of Burning Man.  At the end of that last column I wrote

“Next I will look at Burning Man 2012 through the eyes of a futurist as for me that was unavoidable.  There is much that Burning Man has to help humanity face the transformational changes we face here as we enter the Shift Age.”

As a futurist approaching Burning Man for the first time my thoughts were that this annual event might well provide some metaphorical directions for the future of humanity.  Having now become a “burner” and experienced it for nine days, those thoughts were accurate.

The ten principles of Burning Man are not for all humanity but many represent aspects of what humanity must embrace as we fully enter the Shift Age and are at the beginning of the Earth Century.  Here are just some of the ones that have clear suggestions for how all of us must live.

Leaving No Trace

Think about the fact that some 62,000 people attended Burning Man this year and that the trash or garbage was minimal.  The goal is to have no more than one cubic meter of matter left.  Now I was not there at the very end but it was clear that …

Earth Day is coming.  April 22 to be exact.  How I know is my email inbox.  Every day for the past few weeks I get pitches to write about some company’s new eco product.  The words LEED certified, Eco, Green, Recycled, Renewable have become an endless blur in the subject line of in-bound emails.  This is now a spring ritual.

Last year around this time I wrote a column entitled “Earth Century” . In it I mentioned that in the first two years of this blog in 2006 and 2007 I had focused a lot on alternative energy, renewable energy and peak oil.  This led me to being considered a thought shaper in the energy blogosphere.  The result, mentioned in last year’s column, has been that I am obviously on the list for pitching environment projects, products and initiatives.  So, from this perspective I feel like the world is continuing to think that Earth Day is a marketing event for promotion.

Please don’t get me wrong.  I support every single one of these efforts.  They are all worthy.  They are all moving us in the right direction.  The volume of these pitches increases every year, which is a good directional sign.  I embrace the efforts and the direction.  That said, we all have to give up this Earth Day thing.  It has become a day to toot one’s horn or to feel self-righteous about spending the day planting trees or picking up litter or whatever floats your ecological boat.  Well, …