2 Water washes everything
I was in kitchen at “Mulla ki Basti” all soaking wet trying to stay calm and find some heat. There was a gas stove with rice on it and some coal was burning but nothing was of any help. Some people, luckily, in completely dried clothes (I envied them), were cooking rice. Some local men were filling the orders of the guests, a few seeking a shelter, like me. My group mates were quite behind me, so I was waiting for them to come one of them was carrying my bag. It was starting to get dark and very cold. Now this is bit strange that even with the injury I was ahead of rest of them and survived a very long rain in only shirt without any jacket, parka or anything but that story will come up later. A few locals were also sitting there and somehow one of the guy, who was trying to cook the rice, asked the local to mind the garbage and in response local guy told him that it will be thrown away in the river and water will take everything with it.
“oh really, and that is how I got my foot cut by the glass.” I said with anger.
Everyone was quite suddenly. I did not pull it longer as I did not want any tension. The local was a nice guy, in fact a while ago he offered me his jacket as I was shaking uncontrollably. I admit that I got that cut by my own mistake but what if that jar was not thrown in the water, or not everyone could see where he/she is stepping in the water. Someone might have got the cut crossing it in the dark.
Responsibility towards the environment might sound like a high edge moral. Something locals, who are only concerned to earn a living, might oversee. But it’s same for everyone. For tourists, that the place will not be very charming with all the garbage forming boundary of lakes and trail. For locals, that tourist will prefer a cleaner place hence less business. Beside the tourism, garbage destroys the natural environment whether in the water or outside. And most of these items take hundreds of years to disappear. Most of us do not realize that. But with commercialization and unethical conduct, we are damaging the nature with more than just two hands.
Just to see how long our waste will take to finally disappear.
But not everyone is the same. I have seen people picking up the garbage of others and feeling proud about it. I have heard how an alone foreign mountaineer was picking up the wrappers at K-2 basecamp. Even at Dudipatsar, some of my group members were very careful about leaving footprints. Nature needs us as much as we need it.
“Leave no Trace” policy is well known policy consisting of 7 basic principles and it’s followed around the work. This should be wide spread so that we all realize and educate others how with ignorance we are shrinking the places we love so much. Besides the tourists, we need to create awareness among the local inhabitants of those areas to enforce eco-friendly tourism. As they can actually enforce and monitor it more strictly with their strong and serious network.
_7 Basic Principles of #LeaveNoTrace_
Can anyone name any trail in Pakistan where no Biscuit, chips, Nimko, chocolate wrapper or plastic bottle were not found?
