Yeah, just live in poverty instead. They’re practically forced to because nobody can turn down that money. You going to let your extended family starve?
These tourists pay huge sums of money; do you think it’s fairly distributed? Do you think the rich assholes treat these highly skilled mountaineers well? Despite all that, and the danger, they still do it because it’s good money. There’s not many high paying jobs in Tibet.
I still feel bad for the exploited sherpas. They’re in a shitty situation. This isn’t just as easy as “it’s a personal decision”, which is a fucked up perspective imo.