Each climber on Everest generates around eight kilograms of waste
Conquering Mount Everest is a lifetime dream for most climbers. Ever since Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay scaled the 8,848-metre summit on May 29, 1953, thousands of people make the arduous journey every year to achieve that impossible dream. However, decades of commercial mountaineering have turned Mount Everest into the ”world’s highest garbage dump”. A distressing video has surfaced on Twitter that shows garbage, abandoned tents, and plastic waste thrown at a camp on Mount Everest.
”Disheartening to see the accumulation of garbage at Camp IV on Mt #Everest (8848.86 m). It’s high time we address this issue with urgency and commitment. Let’s demand stricter regulations, enforcement of clean climbing practices, and effective waste management strategies,” reads the caption of the video shared by Everest Today, a portal dedicated to Everest climbing.
Watch the video here:
Disheartening to see the accumulation of garbage at Camp IV on Mt #Everest (8848.86 m). It’s high time we address this issue with urgency and commitment. Let’s demand stricter regulations, enforcement of clean climbing practices, and effective waste management strategies. Video… pic.twitter.com/KGMlRmUuZk
— Everest Today (@EverestToday) May 28, 2023
According to an estimate by National Geographic, each climber on Everest generates around eight kilograms of waste which includes food containers, tents, empty oxygen tanks, and even human feces. Exhausted climbers struggling to breathe and battling nausea often leave heavy tents behind rather than attempt to carry them down.
The video has left Twitter users concerned, who urged climbers and authorities to take stock of the situation.
One user wrote, ”I really don’t find this adventurous at all. In the name of thrill, people do whatever they feel like. They want to go on for fresh air and surroundings And can’t even keep their own home clean.”
Reacting to the video, bureaucrat Supriya Sahu also commented, ”When human beings don’t spare even Mount Everest from dumping their garbage and plastic pollution. Truly heartbreaking.”
A third wrote, ”We as humans might have scaled insurmountable summits but we’ve surely stepped too low in our conduct and compassion towards Nature. Be it #mountains or #forests #rivers we’ve not spared nature’s resources from our interference, pollution, and destruction.”
A fourth added, ”This situation is insane and critical to the natural ecosystem there. Local authorities should be able to solve the problem and prevent further damage. Waste management time with efficient maintenance service is one option but also other potential measures to cope with this issue.”