An interview with Bill Stierle
Photo Courtesy of Bill Stier
Part of the Burning Man Series
Having years of experience in interpersonal crisis management, Bill Stierle observed reactions to the storm that hit Burning Man through a psychological lens. “I would talk to different people at different levels of anxiety,” he said. Eventually people’s tents started flooding, and mass chaos ensued. However, not everyone was terrified. “Some people were feeling calm,” Stierle noted. “They were adapting just fine.”
To Stierle, although the rain was bad, it was manageable. “Most people had a modest to low impact from the water. Two thirds of the population didn’t leave. One third, were the ones that got too scared thinking to themselves, I’m gonna get stuck. I need to get out of here.” Stierle speaks on the mass exodus. “They [many attendees] hiked out for five miles with their bags on and got out. Some people tried to drive out and their car got stuck,” He recalls. “Now their car’s stuck and now they can’t get out. So guess what? They’re gonna be in the scared, terrified place because now they have to get a tow truck out there.”
Stierle himself tried to focus on the moment at hand.
He describes some of his thoughts:“Yeah. The rain’s not that bad. Yeah. It’s a hassle. Oh, I have to scrape the mud off my feet. Yeah, it’s really uncomfortable. I can’t get a shower today because it’s raining and I’m covered with mud and I can’t really do anything.”
Stierle’s biggest advice in any crisis is that you shouldn’t make any rash decisions out of fear. “To keep as calm as possible you need to create a story of certainty.” He creates a chain of thought to use as an example, “I’m certain that the rain’s not that bad at this moment. I have some certainty about it. I’ll change when the situation shows up. I might preemptively change in order to get some protection.”
In keeping everyone tranquil Camp Mystic took some preventative measures before things could get worse. “What we did as a community was say the following sentence to each other. We need to make sure your need for safety is being met.” They then adjusted. In case things got really bad, Stirele and others created a “backup safety plan.”
People eventually realized that the rain was not going to stop. “People started to adjust to the environment,” Stierle says. To combat the mud people got innovative.“That’s what human beings do. They talk to each other. They say, how do you adapt?”
Stierle thinks that in any type of crisis, the worst thing to do is stay passive. Stierle notes that a common reaction to both general crisis and climate change for many are thoughts like, “It looks too big, and It’s too hard for me to think about this.” Instead, he recommends, breaking things down is the best way to get things done. While dealing with the rain, weather, and other problems, he tackled tasks one at a time. A creative solution to the dwindling water supply was collecting rainwater.
Stierle believes that when it comes to the climate crisis the important questions to ask are, “Can you do incremental changes? Can you make some small steps in the direction that you would like to go?”
Stierle sees doubt and skepticism as the two biggest threats to healing the planet. “Those two emotions will cause procrastination. We’ve got to really be able to stare through them and gently remind ourselves of the level of urgency.” To Stierle, breaking things down, focusing on what you can do, and working with others are the biggest factors to effective action.“We’re all in this together now. We need everybody to be on board.”
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