The Aral Sea, which was once the 4th largest sea in the world, is currently dry. So much in fact, that the news reporters in this clip are able to drive straight across it.
To he honest, if I didn’t see the rusty ships scattered across the land, I would have thought it was just another desert.
The Aral Sea wasn’t always one of the “worst environmental disasters.” Before the 1950’s there was a thriving fishing industry in the region, but due to a demand in cotton production the two rivers that fed it (Amu Darya and the Syr Darya) were cut off.
Since 2008 (when this video was made), there have been efforts to revive the region and currently there are fish that are able to survive in the rising water conditions. Still, it will probably take decades before it will ever become the same sea that it once was.
