If that isn't applying our ethos, I don't know what is. The very skills needed to survive at Burning Man are the skills needed to respond to a disaster.
What they can take credit for is the increased local interest in Burning Man. If people care about Burning Man as much as Borg2 indicates, they might turn their attention away from the small, embattled group that created it.
I've been to 20 Burning Mans, and I've never seen a better one. The group that came this year was a bit more noble in their intentions than any I've ever seen in a city this size. They've really absorbed the idea of participation.