500,000 youths made the pilgrimage. They brought tents and blankets, sunblock and plenty of water. In keeping with the green spirit of the festival, every participant was given a backpack made of recycled nylon, a flashlight operated by a crank instead of batteries, and color-coded biodegradable trash bags so that personal garbage could be easily recycled. Meals were served on biodegradable plates. The entire festival was carbon offset, of course, and energy levels ran high as people played together, all gathered on this vast plain for a common purpose.

And all the prayer books were printed on recycled paper.

Burning Man in Black Rock City, Nevada? Or Save Creation Day in Loreto, Italy? In one of the strangest green confluences to date, Sunday, September 2nd, 2007 may go down in history as the day when the green movement definitively transcended cultural pigeonholes.

Yes, both the Burners and the burn-in-Hell-ers have gone green this year. It’s enough to make an eco-conscious branding agency smile.

It was a global convergence in messaging. Pope Benedict, resplendent in green vestments, regaled the youthful masses with the charge: “New generations will be entrusted with the future of the planet, which bears clear signs of a type of development that has not always protected nature’s delicate equilibriums. Courageous choices that can re-create a strong alliance between man and earth must be made before it is too late.” Meanwhile, the more scantily clothed (but no less devout) Burners proclaimed: “Beginning with the advent of the modern age, we have regarded nature as a beast that we can tame. If Burning Man has taught us anything, it’s that we can collaborate with nature.”

And not to be outdone by one another, both events will leave a lasting solar legacy after the crowds have dispersed and the carbon-offsetting trees have all been planted — the Vatican is installing solar panels on the roof of its main hall, and Burning Man LLC is donating solar panels to a small nearby town in Nevada.

Is humankind finally seeing the light?