Mount Everest is world-famous for being the Earth's highest peak. Unfortunately, it's quickly becoming the "world's highest garbage dump," as a Redditor characterized it.
They shared footage of a trashed campsite in the r/AntiConsumption subreddit.
The video shows all measures of trash on the natural landscape, like tent materials, oxygen containers, and food packaging. It's clear that as Everest is gaining popularity as a bucket list activity for well-off adventurers, it's taking a toll on the natural environment.
Efforts to address the litter problem include a $4,000 deposit from the Nepalese government for each hiker, intended for cleanup costs. While this once was refundable, that experiment failed, as Vice explained. Given that visitors are spending at least ten times that and sometimes 50 times that, you could argue that it should charge more and make it non-refundable.
Nepal also raised climbing fees from $11,000 to $15,000 with little impact on the peak's popularity. This is all to say that as Nepal begins deploying high-priced tools like cutting-edge drones for cleanup, it only seems right that a proper amount of the money goes to preserving the natural wonder.
It's a positive that technology can replace the older system of having Sherpa guides pick up waste in treacherous areas.
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Besides the unpleasant aesthetics of a trash-covered mountain, there are real dangers in how climbers are currently using Everest as a trash can. ZME Science explained that human feces are bacteria and are a frozen biohazard that can enter the local drinking water.
Meanwhile, more pollution is emerging from melting snow. A stream of ghastly substances like microplastics, chemicals from old batteries, and even remains is contaminating water and threatening nearby communities.
Redditors had a number of reactions, but there was some consensus that the litter was "disgusting," as one poster put it.
"Once it became known as a 'tourist challenge' that was the moment that the mountain was doomed," one remarked. "The more we discover on our Earth I feel like it's just a new dump zone waiting to be green lit."
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Definitely 👍 One declared, "That's so depressing, imagine going to the trail to experience nature and you get this?
"Another poster pointed to another way to deal with littering climbers — just block them entirely. "Bhutan doesn't allow hikers on some of their mountains," they wrote while providing a source. "I think that's pretty cool."
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