I think we’re all aware at this point that planet Earth needs our help to get back to its optimal health.
From global warming to industrial pollution to the rapid extinction of different species, there’s a lot of work to be done—and we needed to start yesterday .
One of our biggest issues is waste removal.
A lot of the things we use in our everyday lives can’t be reused because of the materials they’re made out of, and as a result, all of human history sits in piles of plastic under the hot sun, existing for longer than we do.
Every year we have more garbage and less places to put it.
Dumps seem fine and dandy until you think about the fact that most of what we’re throwing away can’t decompose. When we have more trash, we make more dumps, and when we run out of space, we start putting our trash in places where it negatively impacts our environment on several levels.
As a matter of fact, the Philippines are in the midst of shipping back 1,500 tonnes of garbage back to Canada.
This trash was sent by Canada to the Southeast Asian country back in 2013 and 2014 as a dumpsite.
It’s in our oceans, our forests, and even our mountains.
I don’t need to give you a lecture on the unbelievable amount of plastic floating around every body of water on the planet—let’s not cater to Nestle The Destroyer.
It’s cool that humans are exploring more places than ever before.
But when we don’t clean up after ourselves, we consequently wreck everything in our path for future generations.
Mt Everest is arguably the most famous peak on earth.
It is also known as “the world’s highest garbage dump” as it is estimated that each climber produces and leaves almost twenty pounds of trash.
Hundreds of climbers and guides make their way of Everest each year, and unfortunately, clean-up initiatives occur far too infrequently.
Organizers just finished a two month-long clean-up at Everest’s various camps.
The Napal government did not expect to find as much trash as they did, bringing down almost 3,000 lbs on the very first day, and close to 24,000 lbs total after the two-month stretch.
RELATED STORIES
Director at Public Relations Directorate of Nepal Army Bigyan Dev Pandey explained that not all the trash was placed in dumps.
“Some of the garbage was handed over to the NGO ‘Blue Waste to Value’, which recycles waste products,” he explained.
The clean-up concluded with a ceremony on World Environment Day.
“We finished in the presence of Nepal Army chief General Purnachandra Thapa on Wednesday, coinciding with the World Environment Day,” the general continued.
Four bodies were found among the trash.
Two of the bodies have been identified as a Russian mountaineer and a Nepali climber, though the origins of the additional two are currently unknown.
“We will continue this cleanliness drive next year also under our Safa Himal Campaign.”
Though the last Mt Everest clean-up occurred back in 2014, the government of Nepal is dedicated to organizing cleaning initiatives much more frequently in order to combat pollution at the tourist destination.
h/t: The Times Of India
