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Various speakers will discuss how Buddhists, climbers, rebels and tourists share Mount Everest and the Khumbu Valley at Western Washington University’s Mount Everest Cultural and Environmental Conservation Forum from 4-7 p.m. on Thursday, March 1 in Academic Instructional Center West Building 204.

This event is free and open to the public.

The event’s speakers will touch on a wide range of topics regarding Mount Everest’s environment:  Laura Rose will speak on rebuilding a Buddhist nunnery after the 2015 earthquake; Garry Porter will discuss building biogas facilities to use human waste to power remote Sherpa villages; Dan Mazur will talk about how to climb the mountain and how it has changed over recent decades, and ²ÝÁñÉçÇø’s John All will speak about the impact of the decade-long Nepalese civil war on Sherpa culture and the Mount Everest environment.

The forum is sponsored by the ²ÝÁñÉçÇø Alumni Association, Huxley College, the Mount Baker Ski area, the World Issues Forum, the American Alpine Institute, Mt. Baker Guides, the American Climber Science Program, and many others.

All of the speakers bring different expertise to the forum. Laura Rose is the Deboche project lead for Architects without Borders, Seattle Chapter. Garry Porter is a retired Boeing Company program manager with over 34 years of program management and engineering experience. Dan Mazur is a contemporary mountain climber, well known for leading Greg Mortenson’s 1993 K2 expedition. John All is a geoscientist specializing in climate change research in remote locations and the director of Western’s Mountain Environments Research Institute.

For more information about the presentation, contact John All, at john.all@wwu.edu.