Typically, Treehugger.com is a good source of inspirational, positive story ideas for Carbon Neutral Journal. This time, however, I'm outraged by their report that China plans to build a road to Mt. Everest–to provide easy access for the Olympic Torch runners, no less!

As Xinhua reported yesterday, China will build a 67-mile "paved highway fenced with undulating guardrails" up to the Mt. Everest base camp, partly in order to accommodate the "green" Olympics' monumental torch run, which China says will reach the 29,035-foot summit of Everest. It's the world's highest mountain in what was until recently one of the world's most remote areas. The 150 million yuan (£10m) project, set to start next week and take about four months to complete, will eventually become part of the new Tibetan tourist experience.

How out of whack can we get?

Expressions of outrage over Xinhua's report were predictably swift. The Times of India chronicled a number of reactions to the news:

Air Vice-Marshal P C Routela, honorary secretary of the Indian Mountaineering Federation (IMF), told TOI, "It's a preposterous idea. These are very fragile and eco-sensitive areas. Someone might call it developing the region, but it will end up destroying the area. Look at what we have done to high altitude areas and glaciers in India by building roads right up to the snouts and metalled roads to the last possible mile. Badrinath in Uttarakhand is a prime example. Decades ago it was pristine area, now it's an unmanageable sea of people and waste."

Syed Iqbal Hasnain, senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research and a renowned glaciologist, said, "Such an idea should be condemned outright. A road in an area like that can completely change the ecosystem dynamics. Glaciers are super fragile systems. If indirect impacts of warming can be seen so dramatically, such a direct human intervention would be dangerous for the Himalayan ecosystems in the areas the road goes through. Even in Alaska, the government refuses to build a second road despite people being there, because everyone realises what a road can do to such habitats."

Harshvanti Bisht, who was part of a 1984 expedition to Mount Everest, said, "At a time when the world is worried about global warming causing glacial fracturing and melts, and we have mounting evidence from the Indian side of the Himalayas, this is ominous news. The road will increase pressure on the entire region. There is enough knowledge on roads impacting ecologically rich areas all over the world. One can only guess the disastrous results such development could have around the world's highest peak."

There may be some "good" news, however: the International Herald Tribune reports that the Chinese have no plans to build any hotels on the road–for now.

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