When one thinks of the highest peak in the world, they think of Mt. Everest, the Sagarmatha and associate it with pristine white snow and breathtaking beauty. However, if the ecological problems keep on increasing at the current rate, soon the world’s highest mountain will become the world’s highest garbage dump; and yet another natural beauty will be destroyed by man.
Whether it be melting of ice and glacial floods because of global warming, or improper and unregulated waste disposal at the peak, all of Everest’s problems are man-made.
The implications of these problems are real and dangerous; when glaciers melt, they fill up their glacial lakes and if these lakes breach their natural barriers, they have the potential to unleash massive floods. Considering that 40,000 people live at the base of Mount Everest, this could turn out to be a deadly natural calamity.
For instance, in 1985, a debris dam at Dig Tsho, a glacial lake in eastern Nepal, burst, spilling atorrent of 10 million cubic meters of water on the village of Ghat. Most of the village, including a power station was swept away. People and debris were found 55 miles away. Now lakes 20 times the size of this exist.
Himalayan glaciers are losing ice mass because of decreased snowfall and higher average air temperatures that melt existing ice. “The landscape is primed for lake development,” says Owen King, a glaciologist at the University of Leeds.
If current patterns keep up, the Himalayas could melt within the next 50 years. Mount Everest would then appear as an enormous peak of mostly exposed rock with limited areas of ice.
Conquering The Peak: A Commercial Activity
Conquering the peak has now become a commercial activity rather than a professional one; whoever can pay the money, can try to scale it. The number of tourist visiting this region increased from only 1406 in 1971/72 to 37124 in 2014.
The rules are that climbers must be accompanied by a guide at all times (solo climbs are not allowed), climbers must have summited a 7,000 meter peak prior to attempting Everest, people over the age of 75 are not allowed to climb, people who are blind are not allowed to climb, double amputees are not allowed to climb, helicopter rides over EBC are to be heavily restricted and sherpas will also get a summit certificate after the climb.
Compare this to the regulations present in Mt Denali, the highest peak in North America and one sees the difference. To conquer this peak one is required to have advanced mountaineering skills along with backcountry winter camping experience. Only a handful of guide companies are allowed to carry out expeditions over here. These strict regulations minimises risk to the climbers and impact on the environment.
Evidently Everest has very basic and minimum requirements needed which has led to exploitation of the environment and the deaths of inexperienced climbers. Surely to climb the highest peak in the world more requirements are needed.
Waste Crisis
There has been a major waste crisis in the mountain due to inexperienced climbers, lodge owners and improper waste disposal mechanisms.
Fluorescent tents, discarded climbing equipment, empty gas canisters and even human excrement can be found along the well-trodden route to the summit. Before this was turned into a largely money-making activity, the climbers were usually quite experienced and could carry their own luggage and equipment unlike a majority of the climbers now. This enabled the Sherpas to bring down waste on the way back from the summit.
Lodge owners who are settled around the peak too bury what they consider burnable garbage in pits. The pits are anywhere from 270 square feet to 2,150 square feet and there are hundreds of them. Within those pits are thousands of tons of solid waste; plastic, aluminum beer cans, glass whiskey bottles, paper products and more.
Improper disposal of human excreta is also a major problem. While the local climbers have been paid to bring the excreta down, they dump it in pits. In the monsoon season the waste gets washed away into the streams and contaminates the water causing many serious health issues, like diarrhea.
How Things are Improving & Can Further Be Improved
The governments of the countries near this summit have taken various measures to protect the natural beauty. Nepal implemented a $4,000 rubbish deposit per team that would be refunded if each climber brought down at least eight kilograms of waste.On the Tibet side, they are required to bring down the same amount and are fined $100 per kilogram if they don't.
On April 14th 2019, the Nepal government initiated an Everest cleaning up campaign for a period of 45 days with the goal of collecting 10,000kgs of waste. By the end of it on 24th May they had ended up collecting 11 Tonnes worth of waste. Even the Chinese government banned non climbers from accessing the base camp on the Tibet side in February 2019.
While these measures are already in place, the rules need to be implemented more strictly. The issue should be taken more seriously and more cleaning campaigns should take place. There should be a high criterion for who can attempt to climb the peak, and a more intensive waste management system should be brought in place.
Save Mt. Everest while there is still time; don’t let the highest peak of the world turn into the highest dump of the world.
Comments