Everest's changing landscape

Earlier this year, in the month of May, I was in northeastern Nepal in the Everest region. I was there for a 11-day trek, covering 130 kilometres from Lukla (2,860 m) to Everest Base Camp (5,364 m) and back. We stayed in several Sherpa villages in lodges run by Sherpa women who prepared dishes ranging from traditional dal-bhat (lentil-rice) and local millet preparations to pizza-burger-spaghetti! Yes, a pizza at 5,000 metres above mean sea level! The cost of food is astronomical (I paid NPR 500, or INR Rs 315 for one apple at Gorak Shep village on the way to the EBC) as all the food ingredients, including LPG cylinders, have to be transported to these high altitude villages through long distances by porters or dzo (hybrid between yak and domestic cattle) or yaks. A local woman in Khumjung village (3,790 m) told me that refilling an LPG cylinder costs them NPR 12,500. Hence, firewood is what fuels most of these Sherpa kitchens. Sadly, induction of ‘modern’ food has come with a high cost. Plastic packaging waste is growing at an alarming rate. There is no mechanism in place to process or recycle these plastics wastes in the Khumbu region. Usually, they are burnt in the open.