(click on image to enlarge)
Really? The volume of people climbing Mt. Everest has reached the point that there's a line to get to the summit, as this disturbing picture illustrates. And that's a problem:
Traffic jams create dangerous situations for climbers, who are often already exhausted and carrying heavy loads while battling altitude sickness, which can make people dizzy and nauseated.
Gordon Janow, director of programs at Alpine Ascents International, has been organizing treks to Everest for about 30 years. He said overcrowding often occurs, but “every year seems to be worse and worse.”
When a line starts to back up, “you’re changing your natural pace so you’re spending more time in this high altitude zone than might be necessary if you were climbing 10 to 15 years ago,” he said.Human pollution also takes another form. Earlier this month, three metric tons of garbage generated by climbers was taken off Mt. Everest in just 2 weeks. Officials hope to recover a total of 10 metric tons before the cleanup project is completed sometime next month. Here's some of what they are dealing with:
Such are the selfish, ego- driven impulses that lead us to despoil our only home. The land, the waters, the air. It's hard to imagine we deserve this blue jewel that we're doing so much to destroy.
BONUS: All Earth needs is something like this to rid it of its plundereers.
(Photos: Top - Climbers line up to stand at the summit of Mt. Everest in this May 22 photo, released by climber Nirmal Purja's Project Possible expedition. (AFP/Getty Images) (Project Possible/AFP photo). Bottom - Mount Everest Biogas Project)
