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Parent Category: Lower-Intermediate News Lessons

Category: Environment Lessons

Written by Chris Cotter

Mt. Everest is the world's tallest peak at 29,029 feet (9,848) meters. No one successfully climbed to the summit until 1953. It used to be an untouched area, but it's now a trash heap.

Despite the risk of death, hundreds of people try to climb the mountain every year. The hikers hire Sherpas too, and this means there is a lot of traffic up and down the mountain. As a result, many items are thrown aside, such as oxygen canisters, sleeping bag parts, broken tents, and food wrappers.

There has been an effort to clean up the mountain, though. For example, environmentalists have conducted fund-raising campaigns to remove the trash. The Indian Army has also climbed the mountain to remove some of the trash. Teams of Sherpas have hiked into the dead zone, which is an area above 26,247 feet (8,000 feet). Oxygen is very thin there, yet the Sherpas still hauled off 4,000 pounds of garbage. And perhaps the idea with the greatest impact is a new law which requires each hiker to bring down eighteen pounds of garbage. If a hiker ignores the law, he will be banned from all future attempts to climb the mountain.

However, even with recent efforts, the amount of garbage continues to increase. Mt. Everest has been called "the world's highest junkyard" as a result.