Environmental Problems and Efforts to Save Mount Everest
The large number of trekkers and climbers who visit Nepal and the Everest region contribute to the local economy, but not without a toll. The recent exponential increase in pollution and other negative environmental situations on Mount Everest is a direct result of the increase in visitors to the region. The Khumbu region and the city of Katmandu, for example, can comfortably hold about 40,000 people. Now, during peak tourist season, there are as many as 700,000 crammed into this area. Twenty to forty thousand of these people attempt, at some altitude, to ascend the mountains of the Himalayas, including Everest. There is no infrastructure in this region to cope with the solid waste or pollution this many people generate.
American Barry G. Bishop first publicized the environmental problems on Mount Everest when, upon return from his expedition, he labeled the mountain “the highest junkyard in the world.” Garbage on the mountain includes climbing equipment, foods, plastics, tins, aluminum cans, glass, clothes, papers, tents, and dead bodies. Some critics believe the situation on Everest is “a major ecological scandal and a galling tale of disrespect by the climbing fraternity, of arrogant disregard for nature by men and women who evidently believe their personal conquests are more important than preserving the integrity of a unique natural site.” The trash is scattered everywhere, at different altitudes, but is most prominent on the Southeast Ridge, because this is the most popular route to the summit. It has been estimated that every team leaves, on average, five hundred kilograms of trash behind after each expedition. While digging atop the mountain it is virtually impossible to avoid encounters with waste of some type. Some climbers have even reported finding medical waste such as bloody syringes and vials of unlabeled medications. Bottles from oxygen and various other substances are a large problem on Everest because they do not decompose, are heavy, and expensive to transport. Another problem evident recently is the practice of tossing trash into the crevasses where it is ground up by the action of the ice. Recently, trash particles have been showing up, unexpectedly, lower on the mountain, churned back to the surface.
Not only is the mountain suffering, the surrounding communities are also being damaged by environmental abuses. Providing enough electricity and water for the small communities surrounding Everest and the other Himalayan mountains becomes very challenging when there are thousands of additional tourists and climbers in the region competing for these same resources. Nepal is ravaged by water and air pollution caused by industrialization and increased tourism, of which climbing is a part. Pedestrians and cyclists in the Katmandu Valley are forced to wear cloth masks to protect themselves from the blue haze of pollution created by cars, wood fires, kilns, and construction. Water supplies for local villages, delivered through irrigation systems in the mountains, are being depleted and the aesthetic value of the region is decreasing.
The climbing and Sherpa communities, as well as the Nepalese government, are beginning to realize action must be taken to preserve Mount Everest. Brent Bishop, an avid climber, and son of Barry Bishop, one of the first Americans to summit Everest, is leading the efforts on behalf of the climbing community to restore Mount Everest. Bishop is the leader of the Sagarmatha Environmental Expedition (SEE), a nonprofit organization established to clean Everest. Cleaning, for the Sagarmatha Environmental Expedition, is done during acclimatization periods. The process of acclimatization lasts about a month and consists of treks up and down parts of the mountain before the actual summit push, allowing the body to adjust to high altitudes. Bishop and his teammates never return from acclimatization treks empty handed. Each team member carries as much garbage back down the mountain as they can handle safely. In 1995, removing more than 1,400 pounds of waste, including more than 140 oxygen bottles, 200 batteries, and 100 fuel canisters was a significant achievement for the SEE. Bishop’s most successful expedition consisted of a five-man team that managed to bring down close to 5,200 pounds of trash. So far, in total, the Sagarmatha Environmental Expedition has hauled 17,526 pounds of garbage from Everest. In addition to acting on his own, Bishop is encouraging other expeditions to make efforts of their own. Several multi-million dollar proposals have been made to clean Everest, “But to bring down more than five thousand pounds [of garbage], which is substantial, only cost us a few thousand dollars. What we did would be very easy for future expeditions to do, too,” says Bishop.
To aid his cause, Bishop developed an incentive program for Sherpas. This program, which he developed in 1993 while studying for his MBA at the University of Washington, uses a market-based incentive scheme. In addition to their salary of approximately 2,000 dollars, each Sherpa is paid two or three dollars for every ten kilograms of trash carried to junkyards and recycling plants below, and seven dollars for every empty oxygen bottle removed from the mountain. Using the Sherpa incentive program Bishop developed, many interests groups are able to help clean the mountain without actually being present on the mountain. Bishop comments on the program he pioneered, “Just like you won’t see a five-cent aluminum can left in the city because people bring them back for deposit, you won’t see oxygen bottles left there if they have an economic value.”
Bishop is gaining support in the form of new expeditions with similar goals, and monetary contributions. Inspired by Bishop, sponsors are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund expeditions to bring down trash from previous expeditions. In 1998, an expedition called the Everest Environmental Expedition removed more than 2,200 pounds of trash and developed a method to remove human waste form Base Camp and Camp Two. In 2000, Everest 2000 Educational Trek, a climbing team from Canada, set out and succeeded in removing garbage from the mountain and aiding the cleanup effort in the surrounding communities.
Only recently have Bishop and others received help from the Nepalese government. As a nation, Nepal has no history of activism, especially environmental activism. The first sign of hope came in 1992, when the Ministry of Tourism cut back the number of expeditions allowed yearly and raised the climbing fee. Even more recently, the government is requiring a four thousand dollar deposit from each expedition before the climb. This deposit is returned assuming expeditions bring down as much trash as they carried up the mountain. Although the government is limiting the number of expeditions allowed each year, they must do so with caution because of the adverse effects on local economies. Deforestation on the mountain, and the sale of bottled drinks in the surrounding park have been prohibited in an attempt to keep the mountain in its natural condition. The government is also using a portion of the climbing fees to help clean up the Everest area. Despite the recent action on behalf of the Nepalese government, many groups still cite inadequate government environmental policy as a major reason for the current problem on Mount Everest.
The efforts to solve the environmental problems on and around Everest are admirable, and with honorable intentions, but the problem is of such a nature that it may never be completely solved as long as humans are permitted to climb the Mountain. The human mind and body are extremely impaired at high altitudes, with survival as the primary objective and focus of attention. Cleaning up after yourself falls low on the list of priorities. A large percentage of Everest climbers are one-time visitors, people who pay a generous sum of money to be professionally guided up the peak, or serious climbers who climb the mountain to build their r�©sum�©, not intending to return. Because these people will not return to the mountain, there is not the same pressure to keep it clean.
The potential and support exists for the situation on Mount Everest to significantly improve, but complete preservation is a rather optimistic idea. It is not reasonable to assume people’s priorities will shift from survival to environmental concern while struggling at high altitudes. The environment on and around Mount Everest will be substantially improved if current actions and sentiments continue, but the mountain will not be returned to its natural state until humans cease climbing it.
