This unit explores environments in a variety of ways. Beginning with a study of natural and man-made environmental issues in Nepal, students learn the importance of PREVENTION. One man’s dream of cleaning Everest is explored in detail – what are the environmental and personal ramifications? From mountains to urban centers, the physical environment is fleshed out. A metaphorical mountain is then summitted; students recognize and detail their own social environments. The unit culminates in an essay writing exercise, designed to push the envelope on both physical and social environments. There is a lot of supplementary material in this unit; you may wish to teach it over a two-week period.

Explain that this lesson will be about environmental concerns in the Himalayas. Include a backgrounder on Everest’s geologic history. Himalayas – Environmental Problems work sheet serves as a general introduction. Read the sheet whole class, then have students brainstorm in pairs about further natural and man-made problems that might plague the mountains. Delve deeper into the other issues students come up with. You might want to make a chart on the OHP.

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SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: Natural Concerns and Man-made Concerns work sheets detail some of the issues. You might want to assign the other problems for research.

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Nepal’s Environmental Woes work sheet is more specific about the damage tourists wreak upon the environment. Review formal letter writing guidelines before students attempt the letter writing exercise. Encourage students to come up with their own ideas for the letters.

Read Everest Clean-up 2000 aloud (or have students take turns reading) to the class. Jamie’s 2000 Report gives additional detail missing from the newspaper story. Download a map of Mount Everest (easily available on the Web), so students can understand where each of the five camps are located.

Arrange students in groups of 3 or 4 and have them share their newspaper stories with the rest of their group. What are the environmental topics of the day? Brainstorm the characteristics of a news story – record on an OHP. Students are assigned a newspaper story as homework. Writing a News Story will help those students who are having trouble.

Cleaning Up Kathmandu moves the students from the mountains to a city, somewhere they are more likely to be able to identify with. Pupils are asked to brainstorm ways to clean up their own urban home area. Is this something you could do on a class outing? Clean a nearby park? The school yard?

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SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: A hotel at Base Camp gives students the chance to argue for or against a hotel being built at Base Camp, Everest. Students have excellent background material already, and could research the debate using the Internet.

EXTENDING THE LEARNING: This would be an ideal opportunity to have a class debate, with half of the class preparing the FOR arguments and half preparing the AGAINST arguments. Know an environmentalist you invite in as the moderator?

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The Social Environment work sheet moves the students from a physical environment to an in-depth look at their social surroundings. Read the information whole class with the students.

Discuss the other issues the pairs come up with. Are there any specific examples that could be taken up with Guidance Counselors?

The final assignment in this unit, Environment Essays provide a wide range of essays for students to choose from. However, it might be advantageous to allow students to choose their own topics (pre-approved, of course). A help sheet, Essay Writing Checklist is available if needed.

1. TRIAL: It would be a fun exercise to put a student on TRIAL for a real or imaginary environmental offense. You’d need counsel for the defense, the prosecution, a judge, witnesses, etc.

2. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY: A study of the graduation of flora and fauna - how do they change and decline with Everest’s altitude? What specific adaptations do they have? Using field sketches of the Himalayan region, have students label all the geographic features (mountains, rivers, fields, etc). Make comparisons between natural and man-made features.

3. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY: Have students produce posters discouraging some of the worst effects of tourism in Nepal (e.g: litter).

The powerful Himalayas are surprisingly vulnerable to both natural problems and man-made ones! The mountain chain is young and is geologically active, which means the Himalayas rise by a few millimeters every year. Due to this, the mountains are still structurally unstable.

The Himalayas also feature a fragile ecosystem. For centuries, this ecosystem remained delicately balanced, resulting in the tremendous bio-diversity of the Himalayas. Only in recent years has the ecosystem been disturbed in various parts due to processes both man-made and natural.

Man has also been responsible to a large extent for some of the environmental problems faced by the mountains. As he strives for industrialization and modernization, man has disturbed the natural ecosystem of the Himalayas.

Over the centuries, pilgrims and explorers visited the mountains. However, in the past their numbers were few and the Himalayan ecosystem, fragile as it is, was able to cope with the effects of human exploration in the areas. But today, the story is different.

In the last few decades, an intricate network of roads have been built into the mountains, which have made some of the most areas more easily accessible. This has translated into a tremendous increase in the number of people who visit the mountains every year. The Himalayas are now being exploited for a variety of reasons, one of which is to provide materials for the growing number of forest-based industries. Thus, it comes as no surprise that environmental problems have emerged in the Himalayan region.

THINK: The article tells us some of the environmental concerns affecting the Himalayas. Add to the lists below:

The higher reaches of the Himalayas remain under a perpetual cover of snow and it is here that countless avalanches occur, involving the movement of thousands of tons of ice and vertical displacements of over 1,500m.

Avalanches take place in areas where there is a rapid accumulation of a huge mass of snow. The snow may “fail” or begin to slide downhill at a very fast pace due to the increase in stress. This increase in stress can occur for many reasons: wind drifting, heavy snowfall in a short span of time, blasting, seismic activity or even thunder.

In the high mountain peaks of Nepal, like Everest and Nuptse, avalanches occur frequently and provide a spectacle for the visitors. But these avalanches do not really affect human lives. It is the avalanches that occur near human settlements that are feared most, especially in the barren cold desert regions.

In the cold deserts, avalanches cause widespread loss to the natural and human environment. They are also responsible for changes in landform conditions as snow slides tend to scour the mountainside, particularly when being accompanied by rock fragments. Villages have been completely wiped out by avalanches. In 1838, Tunda village in Ladakh, India, was completely destroyed by an avalanche.

Large amounts of debris are carried by avalanches and left in freshly scoured gullies. When the snow melts, the debris is washed away to rivers and stream by the snowmelt waters.

Avalanches are also a constant threat to forests and pastures. Trees are broken at about breast height due to the excessive force of the on-rushing snow. It is common to come across large tracts of avalanche-affected forests and pastures near the snowline. Young saplings are the most prone to damage by avalanche as they offer the least resistance to the mass of on-rushing snow.

Large parts of the Himalayas are covered by glaciers, which also cause certain environmental problems. The glaciers and the melt waters released by them are a major source of erosion in the barren areas having little vegetative cover.

Receding glaciers, just like avalanches, leave behind unconsolidated debris that may become the source material for landslides in the near future. The debris left behind is called terminal moraine. The vast areas left open by these retreating glaciers tend to remain barren for a considerable period of time; there is large-scale erosion.

Moraines may block the passage of the meltwater, act as dams and form morainal (glacial) lakes. Many lakes in the Trans Himalayan regions trace their origins to the glaciers.

Sometimes this debris dam gives way, causing the water to drain away with considerable force. This results in heavy flash flooding. Two such accidents occurred in 1980 and 1985 in Nepal; water swept away roads and bridges, killed many people and initiated numerous landslides.

In recent years, mountaineering and trekking have become increasingly popular sports in Nepal. A large number of peaks for climbers and trails for trekkers have been opened up for such expeditions. These adventure expeditions provide a boost to the local economy and help to popularize the sport. They are also a source of valuable foreign exchange for the governments. However, they do leave behind a host of environmental problems.

Garbage tends to be left behind by adventure expeditions. This not only creates an eyesore but also pollutes the environment. The adventurers also draw upon the local vegetation for their energy needs and for fodder to feed the pack animals that may be accompanying them. Often the vegetative growth of the region may not be sufficient to support such a large number of animals. These large mountain expeditions also cause disturbance to the wild animals living in the areas.

Construction of roads is necessary to open up remote areas of the Himalayas to the rest of the world. A tremendous road building endeavor has been undertaken, especially in the last three decades. Today, an intricate network of roads crisscross the Himalayas. But, in spite of the vast benefits that road construction has, there are a number of environmental problems connected with this important activity.

Mountainsides are generally blasted using dynamite to create roads. However, blasting may not be advisable in many parts of the Himalayas for a variety of reasons. For one, in many areas the slopes are unstable and the blasting may disturb these weak slopes. Worse, blasting may lead to the reactivation of geological faults, which in turn cause landslides and rock slides which endanger life and property.

The debris from the excavation of the mountains tends to cover forests and grasslands and damages the regenerative vegetative growth that may be occurring in the region. Debris also damages agricultural fields and human settlements.

Communities in the remote areas of the Himalayas build houses made from stones that are quarried from the nearby mountainsides. This is a common practice in the barren cold desert areas. Quarrying affects the environment adversely in many ways.

By quarrying, a lot of land is lost that could have been put to other uses. Also, precious trees and undergrowth are removed for quarrying the stones that lies underneath the soil. The productive topsoil, which could have been used for agricultural operations, is lost. Quarrying also disturbs the wildlife population of the area, causes declines in the local water table and increases air pollution due to the dust.

Every year, more than 350,000 tourists visit Nepal. And over 80,000 tourists go trekking in the hills and mountains regions. Many of the visitors are not well informed about the sensitivity of the natural environment of the mountains.

Tourists are not aware that their actions adversely effect Nepal, its people and its economy.

The thousands of tourists who climb and trek in the Himalayas each year leave a trail of garbage, toilet paper, plastic bags and blunt tree stumps as locals burn wood to feed the army of 'backpacker' tourists.

Both Annapurna and the Everest region were at one time covered by dense, evergreen tropical forests that provided shelter and fodder to wildlife and livestock, creating a perfect niche that had sustainable bio-diversity.

Tourism grew to include extensive mountaineering and trekking activities within these two regions. The area mushroomed, attracting hundreds of locals to build more lodges, houses, transporting huge amount of provisions to support the visitors.

The growth of tourism brought in money directly to these rural areas, but also brought garbage in the form of toilet paper, empty oxygen cylinders, bottles, plastic bags and containers. Garage is strewn along the main trekking trails and along the back yards of 'tea house lodges,' including the base camps of celebrated peaks such as Mt. Everest.

Environmental groups are now working to:

• minimize the negative impacts of tourism on the environment and culture of Nepal
• maximize the benefits of tourism to Nepalese people, especially those living in rural areas
• provide environmental, culture and safety information so as to encourage appropriate behavior from tourists
• increase public awareness of environmental issues in Nepal to both Nepalese people and tourists.
• help Nepalese people to protect and manage their natural resources, environment and cultural heritage

Although trekkers and mountaineers contribute to the problem of firewood use and the rubbish along the trails, they are not the only violators. Garbage is starting to appear even along trails that are not used by the western tourists. Locals have to be informed and proper information has to reach them to prevent further spoiling of the environment.

There are several things that will reduce the amount of rubbish and pollution in the hills:

• By not drinking plastic bottled water - carry a canteen and treat water with iodine. Almost 200,000 plastic bottles were dumped in the Annapurna region in 1995 alone!
• Individual trekkers should carry their own garbage out or dispose it properly.
• Toilet paper is one of the unpleasant sight along the trail, burn it properly.
• All non biodegradable and solid matters should be brought back by employing extra porters to Kathmandu and disposed off properly.
• The depletion of forest is a severe problem throughout the Himalayas, particularly in Nepal. Trekkers can do their part to aid Himalayan conservation. The use of firewood can be minimized by staying at lodges that use kerosene, fuel-efficient wood stoves or solar heated hot water. Using a large open fire for warmth should be avoided. Wear more clothes instead! Keep hot showers to minimum, or, ideally, avoid showering altogether if wood is burnt to heat water.

The good news is that there is now emerging a new breed of tourist willing to respect the natural and cultural environments in which they are guests. These environmentally aware ' eco-tourists' realize the need for conservation. Such tourists are demanding facilities where environmental consideration come first - even if it means pay little more. It IS possible for an environmentally sensitive tourist to have a fantastic vacation without suffering physical discomfort, health hazards or extra costs.

A team of climbers went to Mount Everest in April and May. With them was a clean-up team, the Everest Environmental Expedition, that included 25-year-old Ross. Each member of the clean-up team paid $10,000 to clean up the environment on Everest.

In 1996, Ross had read about a previous clean-up expedition to Everest and called the people in the article to see if he could get a position on the next mission. He had been to Nepal before and was an experienced climber. After a few phone interviews he was accepted.

The team's mission was to find and remove trash left by previous expeditions, sort it out, bring it back down the mountain and ship it out. In an attempt to clean up the environment, even human waste was treated and taken down to the Nepalese farms to be used as fertilizer.

Anything that could not be burned or properly disposed of was shipped to Calcutta, India, for recycling. If Calcutta could not handle the recycling, it was sent to Los Angeles, America, to be properly disposed.

"We paid for that ourselves. Other expeditions are becoming more environmentally aware. We know this from reports of guides on Everest. Things are now remarkable compared to what they were 10 years ago.

"This is the third attempt at cleaning up Everest. Two previous were in 1995 and 1992. In 1995 they actually brought out more trash than they took in," said Ross.

Ross's 1998 Everest Environmental Expedition was the most successful yet in removing the trash to date. Non-biodegradable hardware such as oxygen bottles, batteries and fuel canisters posed the greatest threat to the environment; as did tin cans and wrappers that had been discarded by climbers.

Ross was in charge of sending radio reports every three hours to the rest of the world from the 5,100-metre base camp. That's five-kilometers straight up - a scant three-kilometers below where airliners fly.

"Our job as the Everest Environmental Expedition Team was to support the climb on Everest. The climbers did well. Five of the 10 got to the summit, the most successful climb this year, so far," said Ross.

Ross also spent his time sorting trash; replenishing supplies, including ordering food from down the mountain, and mounting rescue efforts.

"We had three incidents [accidents]," Ross said. Once, a climber was sighted on a fixed rope by another climber. He wasn't moving and the weather was turning bad and it was getting dark. Assuming the climber was in danger, Ross and his colleagues began to organize a rescue. In this case, the climber made it to the next site on his own. Crisis averted.

Getting accurate weather reports was essential if the climb was to be successful

"Not just any weather reports, these [were] from Brockwell, in England, the same source the international airlines use to ascertain the direction and speed of the high-level jet stream. We hung on every word for four days during which time the weather reports actually ran our expedition, because they forecast a major storm coming at us from the Bay of Bengal. The storm could have dumped as much as two to three meters of snow on us. Then finally we received the all clear report ... and five of the 10 climbers made it to the peak of Everest."

How did he and the others keep their sense of humor during the stressful times? "In emergencies, like when people were hurt, we made the best of it by joking about it - to lighten it up - learning that in highly adverse conditions it is imperative to keep a good perspective. For this, a sense of humor is essential."

"As the Fed Ex planes flew over, the crew wondered how we might order a pizza and have it delivered by Fed Ex. We thought it was a great promotional idea," laughed Ross.

Ross raised the money for his part in the clean-up effort by selling T-shirts and speaking to groups about his plans.

Mount Everest has become one more human junkyard. Young environmentalists, like Ross, hope you will be ready, as parents and as a community, to support their efforts when your children come from school and point out the recycling you can do at home and in your neighborhood.

When was the last time you walked along a sidewalk or through a park and picked up some trash? Maybe it’s time you should ...

Environmental expeditions to Nepal, and to Mt. Everest in particular, are not new. In fact, cleanup projects have been taking place on or around the mountain since at least 1989 when a team of Sherpas organized major cleanup projects for the Base Camps of four of the most climbed peaks in the region. This project was initiated to address a lack of environmental responsibility demonstrated by the majority of expeditions in Nepal until this time. It was not uncommon for expeditions to leave significant amounts of their trash at their respective Base Camps (sometimes buried under rocks, sometimes left in the open) upon leaving the mountains. In places where Base Camps are located on a glacier, trash that is buried one year is often exposed in later years as the glaciers continually move down-valley.

In 1998, the Everest Environmental Expedition team, under the leadership of Bob Hoffman, succeeded in removing a great amount of trash from the mountain. Including its own waste, the team collected, sorted and removed over 325 kg of burnable trash, 200 kg of biodegradable waste, 100 kg of recyclable material (tin, cans, plastic), 157 oxygen bottles, 216 gas canisters and 520 batteries.

Trash was transported down-valley from Base Camp by porters and yaks. All burnable trash was transported to Namche Bazaar to be incinerated. All recyclable material was taken to Kathmandu to be processed. The remaining material (gas canisters, batteries and oxygen bottles) was then exported from Nepal to the United States where it could be dealt with at the proper facilities.

Soon after the 1998 expedition, plans began to form for a return trip with a more concentrated environmental effort. In particular, we hoped to assemble a team devoted solely to the Environmental Program. By separating the expedition into two teams: the Climbing Team and the Environmental Team, the environmental projects could be tackled without the confounding pressures of climbing the highest mountain in the world. This separation was also necessary for logistical reasons, because the facilities and equipment of the two teams were completely independent, and it ensured that all funds raised for the Environmental Program were directed only to this program.

In an effort to reduce the total amount of waste being brought into Nepal by the team, every effort was made to minimize the amount of packing material used. Excess packaging was removed from all equipment and food purchased in the United States prior to packing.

Further, rather than use disposable packing material such as styrofoam and bubble-wrap to protect equipment during transport, the team used men’s, women’s and children’s clothing. Prior to the expedition, a clothing drive carried out in collaboration with local schools in California generated over 320 kg of donated items. These were distributed to Sherpa members of our team and their families once everything was unpacked.

The cleanup portion of the Environmental Team was comprised of Sherpa climbers who were assisted by the Climbing Team. The plan for the cleanup was to focus on three locations on the mountain: 1) Base Camp, 2) Camp II and 3) Camp IV (South Col). These camps are where the majority of the trash on the mountain can be found. As outlined below, each camp presents unique challenges in terms of locating and collecting trash that has been left in previous years.

It was quite common in the past for expeditions to leave their garbage behind at Base Camp at the end of an expedition. However, Base Camp is currently relatively free of recoverable trash. This year no major trash repositories were found, although odd pieces of garbage were still collected throughout the Camp. This indicates that much of the trash has been removed, although it is likely that there are still several piles that remain buried under the loose rock, which sits upon the glacier, and underlies the entire Camp. This material can only be recovered if it is eventually exposed as the glacier continues to move down-valley.

To ensure that our camp remained clean and the trash we generated was properly managed, we established garbage and “recycle” bins throughout Base Camp. Several baskets at each of the camp’s three kitchens and at the main dining tent allowed us to separate trash when it was being disposed of rather than sorting it afterwards. Waste was separated into burnable trash (paper, cardboard, etc), recyclable materials (tin and glass), re-exportable materials (gas canisters, batteries and oxygen bottles), and organic waste (food). These baskets were emptied on a regular basis into large bags, which were then labeled and stored for transport down-valley. Much of this material was transported to Namche Bazaar during the expedition in an effort to reduce the size of the loads at the end of the season when all of the other team equipment is carried down.

Camp II is also known as advanced Base Camp because climbers spend a significant amount of time there during the climb. Most teams have permanent cooking and eating facilities (as well as cooks) at Camp II for the duration of the climbing season. As a result, large amounts of general trash are produced and left behind. This includes items such as gas canisters, batteries, food waste and food packaging (tins, plastic, glass, etc.). The camp is also littered with climbing equipment left behind in previous years (such as rope, fragments of tent fabric and tent poles).

This year, it was one of the team’s goals to remove as much of the recoverable trash from Camp II as possible. In normal years this would have been a reasonable proposition, however, the spring 2000 climbing season was one of unsettled weather and almost daily snowfall. As a result, the trash at Camp II, which is usually exposed as the snow melts during the spring season, remained completely buried. The only way to find and collect the trash was to physically dig it out of the snow, a difficult task at 6,400 m. Realizing that a comprehensive cleanup at Camp II would be impossible, the cleanup team collected what trash it could (270 kg), and then turned its focus to Camp IV where snow accumulation isn’t as big of a problem due to constant high winds.

The types of trash found at Camp II varied from a partially eaten leg of goat, to tent poles and old books. The majority of the material recovered was burnable trash. Tin cans also made up a significant portion of the trash collected, while miscellaneous metal (i.e., metal that was not recyclable such as tent poles, old stoves, crampons, etc.) was the third most common type of material found. Once this material was returned to Base Camp, it was sorted, weighed, and then packaged for transport down-valley.

Although climbers generally only spend 2-3 nights at Camp IV (7900m), an enormous amount of equipment is required simply to sustain them. Tents, sleeping pads, stoves and pots are just a few of the things that are found at this camp. However, the most common type of trash found at Camp IV is oxygen bottles. These materials are often left at Camp IV because the harsh environment makes surviving at this altitude for any length of time extremely difficult and the extra effort for waste removal is often not considered or feasible.

This year, our Sherpa cleanup team, as well as Sherpa climbers from other teams, spent a great deal of time ferrying loads of oxygen bottles from Camp IV to Camp II, and then to Base Camp. Due to the range in weight of oxygen bottles, a single load could vary from 3-7 bottles. Upon arrival at Base Camp, the bottles were drained, counted and weighed. They were also inspected to determine their date of manufacture, which ranged from 1941 (a British-made bottle possibly used by Sir Edmund Hillary’s team on their historic first ascent of the mountain in 1953) to 1999. In total, 632 bottles were removed. At an average weight of approximately 5 kg, this amounts to a total of approximately 3160 kg of bottles transported from 7900 m to Base Camp, and eventually to the United States.

Such a successful cleanup of Camp IV would not have been possible without our 23-person Sherpa cleanup team, and the help of Sherpa climbers from other teams. Each climber who brought bottles to Base Camp was remunerated based on the weight of the bottles. This was done to encourage the collection of all types of bottles, rather than only the newer, lighter bottles.

Unfortunately, the expedition was not able to accomplish all of its goals related to the cleanup due to poor weather conditions that lasted for the duration of the climb. It is for this reason, that a "final sweep” is being organized to finish the job during the spring season of 2001. The team feels obligated to finish this project and wants to make one final attempt at removing all recoverable trash from the mountain. With the success of this year’s cleanup at Camp IV, it is felt that this is a feasible proposition.

Using a similar team structure and many of the same Western and Sherpa team members, an expedition under the leadership of Bob Hoffman will return to Mt. Everest in the spring of 2001.

WRITE A NEWSPAPER STORY: Using the information from the Everest Clean-up 2000 story, Jamie’s report and your imagination, write your own newspaper story. You could write it in a variety of different ways:

• As a straight factual story, you’d need to condense the facts into hard news
• For a softer news story, a feature, you might want to delve deeper into Jamie’s background and imagine why he is so passionate about the clean-up
• An opinion editorial would be written in the first person, explaining what YOU think about the clean-up and why
• An investigative piece would explore the “hidden” agenda in the clean-up. Jamie had to pay $10,000 to help clean Everest. While that might seem like a lot of money, it usually costs over $65,000 to CLIMB the mountain. Did his team climb Everest and then pick up a few bits of garbage on the way back down?

When you are writing a news story, you need to decide first of all what the focus of the story is going to be. Begin with the basic facts of the story – who, what, when, where why and how. Make sure “the lead”, your first paragraph (no more than two or three sentences), gives a clear statement of the important facts.

Afterwards, include supporting details in order of importance. Keep your writing simple and use short paragraphs, one for each main point.

Most journalists write their stories in the form of an “inverted pyramid”:

News stories usually begin with the most important or up-to-date information - the lead. The rest of the story explains the lead. It doesn’t matter what order the events actually happened in. Newspaper reporters rearrange the events in the order of importance: the most important facts come first and the minor facts come last.

There are two reasons why news stories are written this way. First, the stories are often cut to fit into the space on a newspaper page. Since the least important information is at the end of the story, it is easy for editors to “chop” the end of the story, thereby deleting the least relevant details. Second, newspaper readers often “skim” stories, so they usually only read the first few paragraphs to get the most important information.

   Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, is rich in cultural heritage and boasts exceptional architecture, designs and monuments. Unfortunately, it is rapidly giving way to the pressures of urbanization with: increasing population; congestion of traffic; fumes and smog from motor vehicles and factories; rapid construction of ugly concrete buildings; and the derogative impact brought by tourism in general.
   Many old houses of monumental value have been demolished and hollow, characterless new constructions without any cultural consideration have been built. People in Kathmandu are finding the city an increasingly unhealthy place to live; the local government lacks the capacity to collect and dispose of municipal sewage. Nor can the government control effluents from industry and emissions from outdated, badly engineered transport and factories.
   Infrastructure and services have not been able to keep pace with the discharge of pollution, and the concentration of waste has overwhelmed the assimilation capacity of the natural ecosystem within city boundaries. These problems are likely to escalate further, as rapid urbanization continues at an expeditious pace, unless the whole community and the government take positive action collectively to overcome this eventual environmental and social catastrophe.
   The cost of urban environmental degradation has brought about enormous damages to human health and environment. It is by far the highest price paid so far, followed by higher productivity costs to producers and consumers. These costs include the higher costs of supplying clean water due to polluted sources, of transport due to congestion, of repairing and maintaining of buildings damaged by air pollution, higher wages to compensate workers for working in unhealthy environments and the huge losses in tourism revenue.

Thus far, the residents of Kathmandu have made an enormous effort in two ways to clean up their city:

1. Clean Air Initiative – the diesel engine of the auto-rickshaw is effectively being banned; drivers are encouraged to replace their decaying engines with more environmentally friendly alternatives
2. Plastic Bag Elimination – shopkeepers and vendors are now offering customers biodegradable paper bags or cloth reusable bags

THINK: What about your city? How could you “clean it up”? In pairs, make up a master plan! Think of transportation, waste management, construction plans, seasonal issues and, of course, your own ideas!

It has been proposed recently that a HOTEL be built at Mount Everest’s Base Camp. Read on ...

Objections to plans to build a hotel at Mt. Everest's northern Base Camp smack of being pompous and arrogant, say various opponents.

Bill Ruthven, the honorary secretary of he Mt. Everest Foundation, said: "This is commercializing Everest. It should be left aloof from the masses."

And Andy MacNae, of the British Mountaineering Council, chimed in with: "There are far better ways of managing the environment around Everest base camps than building a hotel."

Like what, good sirs? Creating unsightly rubbish dumps at the various base camps by years of "exclusive" use by climbers, as they have done? Littering the mountain with oxygen bottles and food packaging, as they have done? And what gives them claim over the mountain anyway?

The hotel, the brainchild of New Zealander Russell Brice, who was based in South Canterbury during the 1980s, will be in Tibetan territory, and authorities there have given it planning permission.

The hotel will fit in with the environment and recycle its own waste, and at 52 beds is hardly going to be a monstrosity.

The camp is one tourists can already drive to, so rather than creating a new market Mr. Brice will in fact be catering to an existing one, and doing a better job of managing the impact than is currently the case.

It is all part of the world becoming a smaller place, and if high and mighty climbing officials do not like that - too bad!

1. When you first started reading this editorial, did you think the writer was going to be for or against the building of the hotel? Why?

2. Did the end of the editorial surprise you? Explain why or why not.

DEBATE: With a partner, one of you take the FOR side, and one of you take the AGAINST side. Is it really a good idea to build a hotel on the highest mountain in the world? Use the information you have already learned from the rest of this unit when composing your arguments.

You know a lot about your physical environment – the city you live in, your house, your room ... but what about your social environment? What is a social environment? Think about it ...

Your social environment “rings” make you who you are: The most immediate social environment for a given adolescent generally consists of parents, siblings, and best friends. The next ring includes larger peer groups, which may vary by setting (e.g., friends at school, on sports teams, or at religious institutions); teachers; other relatives; and other important adults in an adolescent's life (e.g., coaches, religious advisors, or other youth group leaders). The outer ring includes the broader community of business (e.g., neighborhood merchants and major employers in the region) and community leaders as well as local and national government leaders (ranging from school superintendents and police chiefs to mayors), with the top of the outer ring reserved for mass media and advertising. Your social environment has a profound influence on the choice you make as a teenager. Here are just a few examples:

SEXUAL ABSTINENCE PLEDGES: Teenagers who make sexual abstinence pledges apparently mean what they say, at least for a while. A study says teens who promised to refrain until marriage delayed having sex about 18 months longer than others.

Among those who formally promised to avoid unmarried sex, about 50% remained virgins until age 20. Among non-pledgers, 50% had sex by age 17.

The virginity pledges seemed to have the greatest effect on those who took the oath at age 16 to 17, while there was little effect found for those pledging at 18 or older. The effect of pledging earlier, at age 14 or 15, depended on the students' social environments, the study found.

SMOKING, DRINKING & DRUGS: Current youth prevention efforts tend to be comprehensive and to target factors in the adolescents' social environment – from ring to ring.

Much of the popular youth culture - frequently cited by parents, other adults, and youth as among the primary reasons for an adolescent's use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs - is developed primarily in the outermost ring of a young person's social environment (i.e., mass media, advertising, and businesses that target peer-group identity to encourage youth to engage in various behaviors). For example, advertisements, rock music videos, radio, and youth-oriented publications are adult- created aspects of youth culture that model ways to seek independence and define identity, including sexuality and attractiveness, both of which are crucial developmental issues for adolescents.

   Research also indicates that sporting events and music videos, which are especially appealing to adolescents, expose youth to extensive alcohol and tobacco use by people they view as positive role models. In sporting events, beer commercials predominate and include images or themes that portray activities which are dangerous when combined with drinking (e.g. boating).
   Until recently, prevention efforts concentrated on changing only family, school, peer, and other immediate interpersonal influences (i.e., the first two rings). Even then, interventions with families have been limited.
   Interventions aimed at the outer ring of a young person's social environment, however, are beginning to show promising results. Youths need to be shown, for example, that underage drinking is not as prevalent as advertisers would like them to believe; not everyone is participating.

SEXUALITY EDUCATION: Sexuality education is a lifelong process of acquiring information and forming attitudes, beliefs, and values about identity, relationships, and intimacy. It encompasses sexual development, reproductive health, interpersonal relationships, affection, intimacy, body image and gender roles. Sexuality education addresses the biological, socio-cultural, psychological, and spiritual dimensions of sexuality from (1) the cognitive domain, (2) the affective domain, and (3) the behavioral domain, including the skills to communicate effectively and make responsible decisions.
   Parents are the primary sexuality educators of their children. Infants and toddlers receive this education when parents talk to them, dress them, show affection, play with them and teach them the names of the parts of their bodies. As children grow, they continue to receive messages about appropriate behaviors and values as they develop relationships within their family and the social environment. Children learn about sexuality through their observations and relationships with parents, friends, teachers, and neighbors; television, music, books, advertisements, and toys teach them about sexual issues.
   School-based sexuality education programs conducted by specially trained educators can add an important dimension to children's ongoing sexual learning. These programs should be developmentally appropriate and include such issues as self-esteem, family relationships, parenting, friendships, values, communication techniques, dating, and decision-making skills.

Q: How do most people learn about sexuality? A: Through their social environment. Recent polls indicate that most young people look to their parents as their most important source of information about sexuality. Friends are the second most important source, school courses rank third, and television is fourth.

Talk about it: With a partner discuss the three topics above. What other issues in your life that are affected by your social environment? How about:

• Dating
• Teen pregnancy/birth control
• Delinquent behavior (skipping class, criminal behavior.etc

Choose only ONE of the following essay topics to write about. Some questions may seem “easier” than others – challenge yourself!

1. Recall Ben Webster and Nancy Feagin will be attempting to climb Mt. Everest in spring 2001. You’ve already warned them to take care of the physical environment in Nepal. Now think about their social environments. What sort of social environments must Ben and Nancy live in today? How is it that they are realizing their dreams? Choose Ben OR Nancy. Imagine what their childhood would have been like. Did they have any barriers to overcome? And as they moved from teenager to adult – was it a smooth transition? What sort of social environment should they keep to in Nepal? Will there be any temptations along the way?

2. In March 2001, Graham Ratcliffe will set out to climb Mt. Everest – again (he’s already summitted twice). This time, though, he’ll be helping to clean up the garbage on the mountain to restore Everest to its natural majesty. Research Ratcliffe’s background and compare his expeditions to Jamie Ross’ expeditions. Are they similar or different or both? Is it possible Ratcliffe has a "hidden agenda?"

3. If we’re told from an early age, “Don’t pollute!” and “Save the environment!” again and again, then why don’t we follow the same advice with our bodies? We might smoke, drink alcohol or take drugs, all of which pollute our bodies. How can we get the message across to teenagers to “Save our bodies!” as effectively as we save the environment?

4. Communication is so important in our lives! Think about Ben and Nancy climbing Everest together. They need to communicate honestly with each other and their expedition partners – their lives are at stake! To have a healthy relationship with friends and family, open communication is key – more damage is done to relationships by what is left UNSAID, not by what is said. Research communication skills and write about how communication affects your social environment.

5. We’ve been focussing on Nepal and Mount Everest. Are there environmental issues in your own city and country which need to be addressed? If so, detail the issues and ponder solutions.

6. It’s been said, “I’m just one person. How can I help the environment? One person can’t make a difference!” Write an essay agreeing or disagreeing with the statement. You will have to provide specific evidence!

Before you begin writing an essay, read the ideas below to ensure that you are aware of all the elements needed in your essay and the stages of its development:

Topic: What topic did you choose?
  Is it a topic that you are interested in? It should be!
  Is it a topic that will be relatively easy to research?
  Will you be able to find enough evidence to support your viewpoint?


Gathering information: How do you generate ideas?
  One way of stimulating ideas is to brainstorm about your topic with a partner or group.
  Ask your librarian!


Note-taking: How will you organize the information you collect?   You may want to take notes on recipe cards, in a notebook, or even straight onto on your hard drive.
  You will need to focus on the main idea (and supporting ideas) from each of the sources you access.


Thesis: What will the main idea of your essay be?
  You should now have a lot of information about your topic.
  You need to identify the most important information from your research and put it into a single sentence: the thesis.
  You will need to support your thesis with evidence and arguments; make sure you have enough information in your research.


Structure: The parts of the essay.
  OPENING PARAGRAPH: This paragraph should capture the interest of the reader, explain the thesis and introduce the main points you intend to make.
  BODY: The middle of your essay should provide the evidence or arguments to support your thesis.
  CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH: This paragraph should state your thesis again, in a different way. The final paragraph should also.