Srinagar, July 17 -- By Dr. Rizwan Rumi

Summer sends thousands of us toward the mountains, chasing the same image the tourism brochures sell us: the stillness of Gurez, the green folds of Warwan, the high lakes on the Great Lakes circuit, and the hidden meadows of Daksum.

Cameras come out, and captions gush about a love of nature that seems, on the surface, genuine.

Then the tents come down, and the truth of the visit stays behind, including plastic bottles, foil scraps, styrofoam plates, half-burnt wrappers, and polythene bags scattered through grass that took years to establish.

Within hours of being photographed as paradise, the same meadow becomes a dumping ground.

Beyond an aesthetic complaint, this is an ecological one, and the...