Becoming the world's highest garbage dump, the south slope of Mount Everest | garbage | garbage dump

The world's highest mountain, Mount Everest, is suffering from the pain of garbage pollution. Starting from March this year, the Nepalese army dispatched three mountaineering teams to clean up the high mountains. Up to now, up to 35 tons of waste have been cleared from Mount Everest and three other peaks, with two guides killed and six soldiers injured. How to protect the environment of Mount Everest and clean up human waste on the mountain has become a difficult problem.

Garbage 01 on Mount Everest

Mountaineers leave behind a large amount of garbage

Because Nepal is located on the southern slope of Mount Everest, on the mountainside, with better terrain, sunny side and better weather, unlike the perennial glacier on the shady side of the northern slope of Xizang in China, which is dangerous and difficult to climb, mountaineers all over the world basically start from Nepal.

According to reports, since humans first climbed Mount Everest in 1953, it has welcomed more and more adventurers and tourists for decades. Every year, countless tourists and mountaineers flock to Mount Everest, and the garbage discarded by these climbers is also countless.

These wastes include mountaineering equipment such as tents, oxygen cylinders, ropes, batteries, as well as food packaging and more human excrement, and various wastes have become landmarks for mountaineering.

The disaster caused by garbage on Mount Everest is not only due to the large number of tourists, but also due to its high altitude, lack of oxygen, cold weather, difficulty in decomposing garbage, and poor environmental self-cleaning ability; Moreover, the mountain terrain is steep and undulating, and climbers do not have the ability to walk and carry the waste they produce down the mountain.

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Garbage cleaning is exceptionally difficult

In fact, with the increase in the number of tourists to Mount Everest in recent years and the melting of ice and snow caused by global warming, more and more garbage has been exposed, including the remains of some hiking victims who were originally buried in glaciers and snow.

As early as April 2019, the Nepalese government dispatched a 14 person cleaning team to Mount Everest to clean up garbage. This team was composed of volunteer Sherpas and Nepalese military personnel. After 40 days of cleaning work, they collected a total of 10 tons of garbage, including human feces, and also brought back the bodies of four victims.

It is understood that one-third of the garbage cleared from the mountains will be transported by Nepalese military helicopters to Kathmandu for recycling, while the rest will be sent to nearby areas for disposal.

In order to solve the problem of garbage pollution, the Nepalese government in 2014 encouraged mountaineers to take their own garbage as a reward. If each mountaineering team brings back at least 8 kilograms of garbage, they can refund a deposit of $4000, but even so, half of the mountaineers are still unable to bring back the garbage.

A large amount of garbage is still stuck on the mountains, and locals will spontaneously clean it up, but the method is quite traditional: using yaks that can carry loads to transport it bit by bit. Yaks do not produce high altitude sickness and are particularly capable of carrying heavy loads, but they also produce feces during transportation, which is a pollution to the environment of Mount Everest.

The higher the altitude, the more difficult it is to transport the garbage generated by humans downwards. At a height of 6500 meters, the largest "public toilet" at the base camp of Mount Everest has been built, which is designed for mountaineers and looks like a small house made of containers. The feces in the public restroom have to be transported to the foot of the mountain by yaks.

However, not every time there are yaks transporting feces from public toilets, and some mountaineers do not follow the rules to a convenient 6500 meter public toilet. There are always some people who do not follow the rules, do not collect the garbage generated from mountaineering, and do not excrete it in designated places.

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Holy Mountain for the Protection of Indigenous People's Lives

On the southern slope of Mount Everest in Nepal, there are mainly Sherpas who consider it a sacred mountain.

Sherpas live in the the Himalayas for a long time, and their bodies have already adapted to the plateau hypoxia and low temperature environment. In order to earn money to support their families, many Sherpas join the mountaineering team. With the emergence of more and more commercialized mountaineering, Sherpas have also started to upgrade their services, from climbing Mount Everest to arranging food, clothing, housing, and transportation in place.

Namgar, a Sherpa who has climbed Mount Everest six times, saw that garbage could be seen everywhere on Mount Everest, so he and his friend Chakara decided to launch an operation to clean up Mount Everest. They gathered 20 Sherpas to clean up the garbage on Mount Everest.

Although a non-profit organization is cleaning up the garbage near its headquarters, no one has ever gone to the "dead zone" or peak above 8000 meters to remove the garbage from it. Namgar's action can be said to be an unprecedented feat.

Because in high-altitude environments, the human body cannot absorb nutrients normally, so every time before climbing Mount Everest, the task of Sherpas is to fatten themselves. Usually, after rotating around, each person will lose 10 to 20 pounds.

Before departure, Namgar said, "We don't care who created this garbage, we just want to clean it up." Beside him, his understanding wife put on a hat for him, and even though she knew her husband was risking his life, she calmly said, "He's doing something very meaningful. I'm proud and praying for him!"

These Sherpas who clean up garbage, in extreme environments such as temperature and terrain, not only need to carry their own necessary items, but also need to carry 40 to 90 pounds of garbage down the mountain. Some slopes are as steep as 65 degrees, and the entire ground is covered in ice and snow, making it almost impossible to find a place to rest. One can only use ropes to secure their body, even when sleeping, they cannot be untied. If they accidentally slide down, they will definitely die.

In addition to collecting garbage from the "dead zone" and the summit, Namgar and his team will also be entrusted with attempting to bring back the bodies of climbers. Year after year, this became the cause they delivered with their lives.

As expected, on May 16, 2013, Namgar unfortunately died while descending Mount Everest after picking up garbage. They practice their simple beliefs through their actions: true men do not seek conquest, but only strive to open their way.

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How to solve the problem of high-altitude garbage

According to reports, before the outbreak of the epidemic, about 100000 tourists lined up to climb the mountain every year. On average, each successful mountaineer would produce about 8 kilograms of garbage, with most of it left on the mountain.

There is still a lot of work to be done to solve the problem of high-altitude garbage. For example, setting up garbage collection and treatment facilities along the mountaineering route; Government departments and environmental volunteers organize human and material resources to regularly clean up; Intensify publicity efforts, establish regulations, raise environmental awareness among tourists, and help mountaineers reduce their waste emissions; Improve laws and regulations, and tourists must bring back a certain amount of garbage when going down the mountain.

Experts say that although Mount Everest, these world high mountains, may appear beautiful and spectacular, the mountain ecosystem is very fragile. Garbage poses a threat to wildlife, pollutes water sources, and poses a threat to the health of downstream communities. Most plastic and other waste flows into rivers and oceans through wind, glacier melting, and rainwater movement. Of particular concern is that mountains and their glaciers, snow, lakes, and streams are like the world's water towers, providing fresh water for billions of people.

The United Nations Environment Programme mountain ecosystem expert said: "The COVID-19 is an opportunity to rethink mountain tourism and its impact on natural resources. We need to promote more sustainable tourism in mountain areas to prevent, prevent and reverse its degradation. If done well, mountain tourism can support mountain communities to live more sustainable lives."