Everest in Peril |
The Himalayas, long revered for their sublime beauty and spiritual significance, are under siege ~ not by avalanches or blizzards, but by human neglect. Mount Everest, the crown jewel of the range, tells a stark story: discarded tents, oxygen cylinders, plastic bottles, and even human remains lie scattered across its slopes. For decades, well-intentioned campaigns and isolated clean-up drives have sought to address the problem, yet the mountain remains a symbol of ecological stress and failed accountability.
Tourism and adventure sports have brought economic benefits, but they have also exposed the limits of unregulated access. The number of climbers has surged, while the infrastructure for waste management has lagged. Temporary clean-ups and mandatory waste-return rules have had some effect, but the sheer scale of the challenge posed by extreme altitudes, limited climbing windows, and melting snow revealing decades of accumulated debris demands a far more........