November 30, 2012
The Environmental Impacts of Tourist Traffic on Mt. Everest
Purpose:
To inform people of the effects of traffic on the slopes of Everest, a mountain sacred to Tibetans and in high regard to the rest of the world, as well as a part of nature.
Discussion Questions:
- Are there other ways to keep Everest clean?
· Bishop also pays Sherpas two to three dollars per 20 pounds of trash they bring back and seven dollars per oxygen bottle
· The Nepalese government raised the fee for climbing Everest and now requires a $4,000 deposit for each expedition as well as limiting the amount of expeditions that can take place each year. But they have to be careful so as not to upset their economy
- How might the circumstances of Everest change people’s priorities?
- High altitudes impair the human mind and bod
- In the dangerous situation of mountaineering, people are focused on their own safety rather than preserving the mountain
- The tourists will probably not revisit Everest and so see less of a need to preserve i
- If this is the case, should we forbid humans to climb Everest in order to preserve it? Looking at your answer, what does this say about our perceptions of Everest’s “uses?”
- Does our environmental ethic change when considering unique natural sites such as Everest? Should it?
Supplemental information (before discussion):
- The Khumbu region and
- Together they have room for 40,000 people, but these days up to 700,000 people have been cramming in, with 20,000-40,000 of them attempting to summit Everest and other Himalayan mountains
- Everest has been renamed as “the tallest landfill in the world” because covering the slopes is human waste, aluminum cans, food, climbing equipment, medical equipment, plastics, glass, batteries, clothing, fuel canisters, tents, paper, oxygen cans, and even dead bodies and bloody syringes, all totaling about 1,100 pounds of trash from every expedition.
- Much of this waste does not decompose
- The most trash is accumulated on the Southeast Ridge because it is the most common route up the mountain
- People have recently been throwing their trash into crevasses because the motion of the ice grinds up trash, but this does not get rid of the problem and the trash usually ends up deposited on the lower slopes of the mountain anyway
- It takes about a month to acclimatize, so expeditions generate more trash than you might expect
- Tourists also effect the communities of
- The environmental impacts and decreased welfare of locals outweighs the positive economical impacts of tourism in
- An important figure in the preservation of Everest is Brent Bishop
- He leads trips of about five people up and around the mountain, carrying back up to 5,200 pounds of waste each time.
- 17,526 pounds is the total amount of garbage returned to the bottom of Everest so far
- In addition to increased amounts of waste littering
- Waiting for long periods is risky because of the cold temperatures, high altitude, and depleting amounts of oxygen in climber’s tanks.
