Butterfly Effect: Aral--A Sea for Cotton

A construction sight beside a water body. Caption: In an attempt to save the threatened Aral Sea.

In the 1950's, the Soviets decide to turn the vast desert steppes of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan into fields of cotton and wheat. They diverted some of the rivers that feed the lake to irrigate the new crops. This depleted the Aral Sea, and in 1987, the level of the water falls so low that the sea splits into two bodies of water. It splits again in 2002. In 2014, the eastern part of the Aral Sea disappears forever, which causes an ecological disaster. Part of the "Butterfly Effect" series.

(Source: DCMP)

Metadata

Files 1

  • Butterfly Effect: Aral--A Sea for Cotton

    Type:
    Video
    Format:
    Streaming
    Accommodations:
    English Captions - Auditory, English Audio Descriptions - Visual
    Languages:
    English
    License:
    DCMP Membership
    Author:
    Films Media Group
    Length:
    25 minutes