Hi Urban Nomads! Have you ever wondered what the submit of Everest looks like? I have always wanted to climb Everest (Might attempt it someday). The breath-taking feeling as we admire the majestic view of the submit is probably the main thing that pops into our mind. Interestingly, did you know that the path to the submit is so littered with trash that some hikers have even commented that “the pursuit of Everest is no longer a wilderness experience”. The environmental impacts of pollution is indeed a pressing problem here; which will be discussed subsequently.

Based on official statistics, over 4000 mountaineers have successfully made their way to the summit of Mt. Everest since Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s considerable accomplishment in 1953. As the booming demand for hiking in Nepal increase, a series of environmental issues have started to surface as well (Dundurk, 2020). The standard routes, namely Northeast Ridge and the Southeast Ridge, have been polluted with used climbing gear, garbage leaking out of onto nearby glaciers and improper management of human excrement have surrendered nearby camps.

Everest littered with trash

During the high season, the human waste, abandon mountaineering gears (e.g. empty oxygen cylinders, food wrapper, broken tents, battery, etc.) and other trash become the hazardous by-product of relentless commercial Everest expedition (Boonstra, 2020).

Oxygen cylinders as source of pollution
The high altitude of Everest submit has resulted in a “thinning of the atmosphere”. Thus, in order to meet the oxygen needs for climbers, oxygen tanks are being brought up to fuel the hikers climb. Ironically, these pollutants were not deliberately left by ill-bred climbers on purpose (Dundurk, 2020). When climbing at extreme altitude (such as the notorious death zone at around 8,000 m or 26,000 ft), the survival comes first .  Then, abandoning used gears and other unnecessary stuff would be considered as a wise decision to keep one’s stamina.

Oxygen tanks left on Everest

Here, as the oxygen tanks are being used up, it is simply to heavy to be brought up as they continue the climb to the submit. This results in environmental pollution as large number of oxygen tanks are left discard at different base camps through Everest (Sloan, 2019). Other than being an eye sore, these tanks are often made with aluminium.

Energy intensive Aluminum production process 

The extraction of aluminium is an ardours processes which requires blowing of large pieces of land to obtain Aluminium. This mineral is hidden in an ore named Bauxite.
Once collected, the bauxite ore undergoes refinery. Facilities employ chemical processes to weed out compounds like silica and iron oxides until a white, powdery alumina (aluminium oxide-Al2O3) is achieved (Sloan, 2019).

The production process of Aluminium

Via electrolysis and high amounts of heat, alumina is dissolved, melted, and passed through a current causing it to lose the oxygen bond, transforming it into pure, molten aluminium. This process is so intensive that only one tonne of aluminium can be extracted from two tonnes of alumina.

As such, the extraction of such minerals causes environmental degradation for the sole purpose of tourist to fulfill their ambitions of Climbing Everest. This really begs the question if such niche tourism should be allowed.

Improper management of Human waste as environmental pollution

The popularity of Hiking tourism in Everest has led a new phenomenon which was not observed before; overcrowding. As such, this has to a strain of resources in the camps that houses the hikers during nightfall. In fact, studies conducted at Camp 2, (two levels higher than Base Camp), it is believed that around 8,000 kilograms of human excrement were left during the yearly climbing season (Swenson, 2019). The inhospitable terrain coupled with limited resources has resulted in the makeshift toilets having poor disposable system (Swenson,2019) . In addition, many climbers tend to not use the makeshift toilets either due to the long queue or simply out of convenience.

The latrines are often formed by digging a hole in the snow and letting the septic waste fall into small crevasses. This thereby creates a point source pollution as the septic waste contain huge amounts of bacterial strains such as E coli, responsible for causing diarrhea (Swenson, 2019). In addition, the rising temperatures have thinned the glacier, leaving even fewer and smaller crevasses which promotes the overflowing of septic waste.

In addition, the snow melt can also contribute to the movement of waste by encouraging to flow towards base camp. Here, communities residing at the Base Camp uses melted snow for drinking water. Hence, it is causes environmental pollution to the environment as human waste have contaminated the only available drinking water.

Everest poop problem

Solution 

All hope is not yet lost. As awareness about the seriousness of environmental issues on and around Mount Everest increases, the situation is slowly changing. Many locals have begun to manage the trash through recycling. Instead of burying the rubbish under snow, there have been the increase use of yaks to carry non-biodegradable rubbish (eg: oxygen tank) out of mountain for disposal.

Conclusion

To conclude, the hikers play a major part in tipping the eco-balance of Everest region. As the proliferation of such sports (hiking ) increases, so too does the vulnerability of the environment. Take note that the next time you marvel in awe at the Everest submit, do realise that the beauty that we see, comes at an ugly cost to the environment.

References:

Swenson, K. (2019). Mount Everest is full of garbage. A cleanup crew just hauled off 24,000 pounds of waste. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/06/06/mount-everest-garbage-pounds-waste-human-bodies/?noredirect=on

Boonstra, M. (2020). Wintersport: Fake Snow, Wildlife Destruction. Retrieved from https://www.whatsorb.com/climate/impact-of-ski-resorts-on-the-environment-and-how-to-fix-it

Sloan, H. (2019). The Environmental Impact of Aluminum (And Why it’s Still Better Than Plastic). Retrieved from https://www.thesca.org/connect/blog/environmental-impact-aluminum

Dundruk, K. (2020). Environmental Issues on Mt. Everest. Retrieved August 28, 2020, from https://www.tibettravel.org/tibet-everest-base-camp-tour/everest-environmental-issues.html