During their period of high-altitude adjustment in Lhasa, volunteers pick up litter from the Potala Palace Square. All take the protective measures of wearing sunglasses, applying sun block,and crouching low if they experience headaches from high altitude.	Garbage being sorted.	Supportes by his fellow team members, Liang Lu picks a plastic bag out of the river.

Liang Lu is of medium height and very sturdy. He is the only volunteer actually selected by the sponsor of the “2006 Mount Qomolangma Environmental Protection Action,” to assist, with others, in a succession of public environmental protection activities on Mount Qomolangma this year.

Liang Lu did not ask his family or friends to see him off on his journey because it seemed to him that, as an IT professional, going on business trips was nothing unusual. He had taken part in other public welfare activities before, but this was his first trip to the plateau. Lhasa is 3,700 meters above sea level, where the air has only 65 percent of the oxygen content of that on the plains. As it was Liang Lu's and other volunteers' first time on the plateau, on their first evening they all suffered such altitude symptoms as headaches, shortness of breath and nausea, but acclimatized after three days or so. On the way to Xigaze City, however, two team members had to withdraw because of colds and reactions to the high altitude. The farther the team advanced, the higher the elevation, and the more members that fell prey to recurring altitude reactions. Finally the team arrived at its destination – Mount Qomolangma base camp, at an altitude of 5,300 meters, where the air has only half the oxygen content of that on the plains. Tasks that were easily accomplished on the plains then became a challenge as volunteers could not help but be affected by the considerably higher elevation. The team captain regularly measured volunteers' blood oxygen contents and pulse rates, and those with less than 60 percent oxygen in their blood, or a pulse rate higher than 120 beats per minute were promptly administered oxygen. The garbage the team collected consisted mainly of plastic bags, cans and cigarette butts that had been blown into crevices and the river. The volunteer network collected every piece of litter in an organized format, consolidating it in a form that could be easily taken with them on their departure.

“This is a meaningful and gratifying activity, and I feel very lucky to have been chosen,” says Liang Lu warmly. “I am glad to be here and to have been given this responsibility. I will do everything I can to promote and fulfill this nationwide environmental protection activity.”