Why Russia Destroyed the World's 4th Biggest Lake

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[@SatyamKumar-vd7xm]

Here's a big cobra effect. When Mao Zedong's government won the Chinese Civil War, he wanted people to kill sparrows because they were eating all the crops. They killed the sparrows, but they didn't know that the sparrows also killed the bugs which were also eating the crops. So the crops actually were eaten faster and the bug population increased. Mao more like LMao.

[@CordeliaWagner]

That's why people who have no clue about a topic shouldn't make decisions.

[@CordeliaWagner]

That's why people who have no clue about a topic shouldn't make decisions.

[@player1GR]

That's stupid. If Uzbeks use so much water to grow their crops and cotton, it's clear that there won't be enough water left to feed Aral. That's totally understandable.

[@glorpvideos]

@@CordeliaWagner Tell that to the people that lead nuclear powers

[@eddenoy321]

​@@CordeliaWagner You just said this before

[@thenaiam]

You are not joking about the Aralkum desert being post-apocalyptic. Having the secret bioweapons lab in the middle of a former lake-now toxic desert sounds straight out of Fallout.

[@CancerGaming56]

It’s what inspired the COD Warzone Rebirth Island map. It’s funny and sad knowing that it’s not an island anymore.

[@kiko.j5]

@@CancerGaming56 not true, thats alcatraz Island

[@CancerGaming56]

@@kiko.j5 Should’ve clarified that it’s Alcatraz that the physical map layout is based off, but lore wise and what goes on in the island, where it’s set and so on is supposed to be on that bioweapons lab on that former island.

[@JaKingScomez]

@@CancerGaming56 why the hell are you talking about lore you nerd

[@EntryLevelLuxury]

I remember worrying about that years ago, when it was still surrounded by water... Shits crazy.

[@KikoAnimates]

As someone who's from Kazakhstan. I've got no words. I feel bad for Aral sea. And the thing what's more horrible, Kaspi sea is getting worser too. Losing water. I wish we could save it. We can't lose it. Though, I don't understand why this guy is mentioning Russia, instead of USSR.

[@ChrisKAy91]

good thing we get rid of russia now, should be on top of the list of most middle eastern countries.

[@robertodagostini4946]

This is what future generations get for following a broken ideology. I legit get scared when I see the west get super communistic. Because I see shit like this happen and wonder what calamity could happen if these woke university students tear down democracy

[@rodjarrow6575]

Several centuries ago, the Aral Sea was already drying up, but then the lake returned to its traditional borders. It is obvious that the drying of the Aral Sea is a recurring natural cycle, which is not affected by human activity. So, "Aral-Asar" is a settlement or a settlement of the XIV century, was found at the bottom of a dried-up section of the Aral Sea. These are residential buildings and a small necropolis. To the west of the settlement, the remains of rice fields were discovered (This is the former bottom of the Aral Sea) The settlement is dated to the 14th century according to the discovered coins of the Golden Horde period.

[@robertodagostini4946]

@@rodjarrow6575 oh shit really?

[@rodjarrow6575]

@@robertodagostini4946 This is a real archaeological fact of the existence of the city of the 14th century, discovered at the bottom of the Aral Sea, as a result of the beginning of the next natural cycle of shallowing of the Aral Sea. Alas, this is a fact of the science of archaeology, in contrast to the mythology of propaganda of the harmful influence of human activity on the Aral Sea.

[@prabhatsourya3883]

I have read somewhere that the Aral Sea dam had done a lot to help the Northern half of the Aral Sea. Apparently, after the completion of the dam in the northern Aral Sea, the salinity of the water had dropped from 30gpl to 8 gpl, which has led to the fish returning to the area in commercially viable quantities. Also, in the northern Aral region, the dam and the associated water rise has apparently given rise to rain clouds and moderate climates, reducing the climate disaster that was unfolding in that region. I would appreciate it if someone would give me an idea about what is actually going on in the Northern Aral Sea.

[@silvestervanmeijgaarden5350]

I've been reading about this stuff since I'm 11 and it still breaks my heart to see this beautiful Central-Asian pearl in the middle of the dessert having been destroyed by human actions....

[@oleh3415]

"human" actions

[@stubees88]

same

[@donatoclemente4421]

@@oleh3415 what do you mean by "human"? Suddenly irrigation canals are acts of God smh.

[@loboalamo]

Yes, it qualifies as *ruining* the earth. Greed. If people looked at their stock portfolios and 401k plan they would be surprised by what their investors are doing with their money.

[@lord6617]

The USA is doing the same thing to the Great Salt Lake. Humans gonna human.

[@temurbekbektashev3170]

As a person who lives in Uzbekistan, I am very happy and grateful that you are raising such an important topic, even though you are on the other side of the planet. Maybe by raising awareness among world population will help solve this problem. Actually, the UN and other organizations are dealing with it for the past 20-30 years, but there is no visible result. My guess is a high level of corruption in our country, unfortunately. Anyway, I do hope this problem will be solved peacefully, without any invasions and wars. Thanks again!

[@AL-lh2ht]

central asia is a weird place in geo politics. i surround giants but is not valuably enough to be messerd with as much as you would think. The sad truth is the rest of the world will likely leave central asai to rot.

[@timmccarthy872]

May I ask you, what is your opinion of the 2022 Karakalpak protests and the impact the Aral Sea had on them? Thank you! And of course, don't post anything that could get you in trouble with censors.

[@sabretooth1997]

@@AL-lh2ht A lot of that probably has to do with the history behind the saying "never fight a land war in Asia."

[@pavuk357]

I think it is more of a combination of both Central Asia countries combined corruption and that UN is unfortunately being inefficient, teethless and slow organization that again and again proves to be not capable to actually help solve conflicts or help underdeveloped and developing countries. I often try to be optimistic, but this case seems really depressing, and I have no idea whether it will be ever possible to avoid armed conflicts there.

[@albertalberto9988]

Uzbekistan was taken by USSR

[@Dara-ih6jq]

We fight war is over oil now, but in the future, we will be fighting wars over clean fresh water

[@iElementGraphics]

Its honestly insane just how balanced things in nature are. Like when you hear people talk about mother nature this is what they mean. Remove one lake and its a chain reaction of terrible circumstances.

[@3komma141592653]

Nah, it's only balanced until it isn't. Mediterranean Sea once was completely dry land. Same with the Black Sea.

[@terramater]

In fact, many of the world's endorheic (=terminal) lakes just like the Aral Sea are drying up currently. While we were researching this phenomenon for a new video, we found out that there is one in the USA that stands out: the Great Salt Lake. That's bc. the soil beneath is also toxic and if the US don't learn from Aral's history they could face a disaster comparable to the scale of Aral. With the difference that there's a major urban center right next to it: Salt Lake City.

[@core-experience]

But the great lakes are also glacier lakes aren't they? If there is no new supply of water coming in they are bound to dry up if human populations around them continue to grow and use them up.

[@core-experience]

Ah my bad, you meant the Great Salt Lake, not the Great Lakes.

[@bigbo1764]

The Utah and Federal governments are pretty aware of the crisis that faced the salt lake, they’ve pretty much cut off all harmful economic activity on the lake and have made a number of efforts to lessen water dependence on the lake. You can’t compare the Soviet government and it’s successor states blatant ignorance or the Aral to the great salt lake. If anything, the U.S. has been operating alternative economic activity on the great salt lake for longer than the Soviets had on the Aral, yet the results are vastly different, it’s not hard to see where the difference lies.

[@sotch2271]

Heard a lot of you underground water in the east coast and the midwest were poluted

[@darthparallax5207]

You can trust the government for things like "will there be enough water for the wage slaves" in the US. You can't trust the government for things like "will workers be paid money or will inflation take it all away" The US government has always wanted slaves healthy enough to get work done to build big ships because we are obsessed with outdoing the British. The unusual dumb thing about Soviets is that they love love more than they love eating and drinking, so they are nice stupid starving people. The US loves power and will do exactly what keeps itself powerful. The Soviets hated the Czars, hate power, and hate competency. The US is an Evil Empire, the old Soviet lands are an Evil Slum. Trust me, Uncle Sam will never in a million years do any policy that could lessen its output of aircraft carriers. We will not fucking tolerate anyone ever thinking we built fewer boaty mcboatfaces than the British Empire. You only have to worry about America if aircraft carriers stop being good but we now have a Space Force. When Earth is squeezed dry like an Orange the United States of Jupiter America and Mars America will be importing shit from Barnard's Star to the Sol system. Evil or not we will make damn sure people compare us to Tiberius Caesar not to Joseph Stalin. Our issues are an entirely different flavor than Russia's.

[@777MasterHero]

One thing worth mentioning is that Uzbekistan has recently started planting bushes and shrubs across the former lakebed to try and anchor the dust that's being blown up from it. Whether or not that actually stops the dust storms is yet to be seen. Personally I'd like to see them fix the dam inefficiencies to get the water flowing, but they still have a high level of corruption that's slowing them down.

[@demonzabrak]

Here’s a fun bit of abnormal side-take. Did you know that corruption can actually speed up processes like these? I forget which channel, but I watched a thing about how China uses inherent corruption and sets it up to encourage productive corruption unofficially while still punishing unproductive corruption when they can. I’ll go poke around for it.

[@turtant9232]

@@demonzabrak you probably mean one of PolyMatter´s videos

[@demonzabrak]

@@turtant9232 You'll note I already linked it, but thanks for trying to help me remember, you're right!

[@MuzzaHukka]

Why not extract and export the salt?

[@creeperFIN123]

@@MuzzaHukka probs the amount of pesticides and fertilizer. Expensive to clean and pretty hard too u have to make big facilities for that.

[@Krischi6]

Holy crap, that's so much information gathered. I immense respect for your dedication. Knowledge is key, and you made a 2023 style video out of it, keeping it interesting and yet informative. Thank you very much for your work! Much appreciated!

[@Flitalidapouet]

Yea but it's all lie tough, (only truth are in the first 60 seconds) easy to pack information when you invent it form thin air, heck I could even do it. And Real Life Lore is a CIA/Department of Defence financed ans staffed operation. The guys is not a youtuber, but and employee reading script given to him.

[@skazki_na-noch]

Он Вам врёт.

[@alexanderkorabelnikov7483]

It's not in Russia, and never being there. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan (independent states) shares the lake

[@kaceywagner2705]

California used to have Tulare lake, which was the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. It was drained in the 1800’s by people diverting the tributaries for agriculture and municipal water supplies. Tulare lake lost most of its water through evaporation, which was blown towards the mountains to replenish the snowpacks, then melted and refilled the lake. Would love a video on Tulare Lake

[@TheLongDon]

Won't hear about it because Cali is a cesspool that everyome loves

[@jibril2473]

It’s obvious that RealLifeFiction is a Russophobe and an anti Russia propagandist.

[@alanmiller9681]

True enough. A similar thing happened to Mono Lake in nearly the same timeframe. Still I think the lesson to be learned today is much different than the average Joe realizes. While western countries like America have been much better about protecting resources, the forces of totalitarianism destroy everything beyond possible recovery. And radical environmentalism which is so powerful in the west plays into this destruction. Witness how the left quietly condones destructive lithium mining in Xinjiang while halting any and every attempt to do the same in Nevada and other states. This despite the fact that American mining standards protect the environment many times better than places like China or Russia. Aren’t we one planet? In this way, we are contributing to our own demise.

[@susiearviso3032]

I'm from California. Yep.

[@alanmiller9681]

@@susiearviso3032 We probably don’t agree, but I’m giving you a thumbs up anyway Susie.

[@oatlord]

Man. Humans have done some nefarious stuff for cotton over the years.

[@quasar5563]

You've heard of the devil's lettuce, now get ready for the devil's cauliflower.

[@bakomz]

People always do everything to satisfy their needs without thinking about the consequences, otherwise they will have to deal with the consequences of not fulfilling the need.

[@davesprivatelounge]

@@quasar5563 the greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing us the lettuce was as bad as the cauliflower

[@BobBob-et9io]

Insert Mr. Krabs "money"

[@galladrox7766]

Ooooh in land down south full of rattle snakes alligators and traitors ride away

[@user-yh5tb7de7l]

The lake is located in Kazakhstan, not in Russia. And during the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan had its own national government and was fully responsible for its actions.

[@user-sz3cy2sm2w]

Сказки не рассказывай про независимое правительство

[@AndreyUfa7]

The Aral Lake is located on the territory of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. But did Russia destroy it? The reason for the shallowing of the Aral Lake is a large shortage of water in Central Asia and Kazakhstan. With the development of agriculture in this region, the intake of water from the Aral Lake and the rivers that feed it with water increased. This led to the shallowing of the lake.

[@austinwilkerson84]

I visited Uzbekistan last year and made a special point to trek out west to the Aral Sea (not an easy feat, anymore). It's strange to walk through a desert littered with shells and skeletal, rusted ships. I wanted to visit not only to see the place with my own eyes, but also to both get a sense of what's to come, and to tell my grandchildren about this lake that will be long gone by the time they learn about it. Also, it was strange to see the tourism infrastructure built up around many of the "fishing villages" that now sit in the middle of the desert. Lots of bright colors and restaurants, and yet everyone walks around somberly-- justifiably so.

[@CRneu]

It would have been interesting for you to get a blood test before and after visiting the area. See what you picked up. edit; lol i meant lead/metal toxicity blood test. not STDs or anything. I thought this was pretty clear but I guess not.

[@bayersbluebayoubioweapon8477]

@@CRneu …Christ.

[@thebrowns5337]

@@CRneu ?

[@KazzoKiller3890]

@@CRneu what context was this question brought up from?

[@MrDmitriRavenoff]

@@KazzoKiller3890 the Soviet bio-weapons. Seems pretty obvious. It's like the poor stupid soldiers told to dig trenches in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Most of those troops are likely dead or debilitated by disturbing that cursed soil. All hail the great Soviet Union. (SARCASM!! )

[@RK-td2po]

Very interesting video. I had heard of the Aral sea before, but had no idea how dangerous that situation could potentially become. your channel is very interesting, keep it up.

[@shashankchouhan3852]

Video uploaded 5 min ago how you texted 3hr ago ?

[@DizzyMapping]

@@shashankchouhan3852 nebula probably. I have nebula and this vid was uploaded on nebula yesterday

[@shashankchouhan3852]

@@DizzyMapping what is nebula

[@alley4126]

Is this a glitch or he actually posted 3 hours ago when video is only minutes old!

[@DizzyMapping]

@@shashankchouhan3852 real life lore, wendovrt productions, and many others have a streaming service where they post extra content to subscribers. RLL has a modern conflicts series in which he has like 15 documentaries in his style abt wars like the Ukraine war and even the saddam wars

[@cacky0222]

Amzing topic, insane depth wich is explained very well, gorges editing. This is truly one of the best channel.

[@josephmatthews7698]

Holy cow. Imagine all of lake superior just drying up. Insane.

[@Kapnohuxi_folium]

@josephmatthews7698 The US actually had the same thing happen to it in Cali, look up the Tulare lake and what happened due to irrigation, same story different place unfortunately.

[@arwinsculler7198]

@@Kapnohuxi_foliumthe same thing happen? Your Whataboutism "comparison" is beyond stupid. Lake Aral max 68000 square km, Tulare 415 square km. AND NOW crawl back under your rock again!

[@HoennMaster]

I’ve been fascinated by the story of the Aral Sea for a few years now. It’s such a tragic thing and sadly humanity never learns. This is already happening with multiple large lakes around the world, including here in the United States with places like Lake Mead and the Great Salt Lake.

[@GodwynDi]

Saying we never learn is false though. Utah is taking a lot of action to try and prevent the same thing from happening.

[@andrewrussack8647]

Lake Mead is man-made!

[@sirzorg5728]

There is no non-harsh way to resolve this. The US is blessed by having control of it's own headwaters.

[@tiredman99]

The only reason lake Mead is dropping is because California has been parasitizing it for decades. We've known it was going to be a problem for decades as well.

[@Grizabeebles]

I remember reading that the original 1964 agreement between the states through which the Colorado River flows divides up "the first 7.4 million acre-feet of water". Meanwhile, the actual river flow varies between 4.4 and 22 million acre-feet of water. This was always going to happen eventually.

[@TheCrimsonAtom]

I first noticed it when I played Crusader kings when I saw a giant lake near the Caspian sea thinking to myself "What is that? I can't even find it on Google maps" and then I heard how it died in recent times, truely sad.

[@user-bv1xd3yi4j]

It is mistake - there were no sea there at that time.

[@TheCrimsonAtom]

@@user-bv1xd3yi4j got any proof for that? From real maps I've seen it's there too

[@mr.cuddles1805]

@@TheCrimsonAtom A bit late, but. There is a comment above stating: "And Aral Sea has already dried up two times, between 100 and 500 AD and between 1200 and 1500 AD." Though I after a couple short searches could not find anything more definitive than in the lakes wikipedia article under the history section a line states: "Muslim geographers, such as Hafiz-i Abru, wrote about the disappearance of the Aral Sea in 1417 due to diversions in both the Amu Darya and Syr Darya." Which lends this statement some credence.

[@user-sz3cy2sm2w]

@@mr.cuddles1805 oh my sweet summer child. It is the conspiracy theory, that very popular in Russia and Central Asia. Here many people don't believe in global warming. They don't think that environmental degradation is caused by human activity, so they come up with theories, fairy tales and "i bet you that's true" stories. If you speak to them in Russian, you will learn even more fiddlesticks from them. One guy in comments here already write about ancient cities and "let's unite together again, only Russia can save us from dying, only Russia knows how to survive".

[@user-fy3bd2lk9j]

как всегда: американец заворачивает кусочек правды в огромную упаковку лжи. тут главное кушать и не задумываться )))

[@olzk4705]

1. Soviet Union, 2. Interestingly, this might be possible to reverse, but, I guess… Irrigation in desert? :) 3. You’re expanding much on the regional politics and it looks like a retrospective view. The region now is much more dependent on China, strange you don’t mention it.

[@edwallace2828]

Well done. I was a Soviet Studies student in the 1980's. I remember learning of the massive increase in cotton production. The discussion of the potential for conflict at the end of the video is eye-opening.

[@karlhans8304]

What were you taught about the baltics at the time?

[@robertmanfredthurrigl9424]

Communism was an experiment gone horribly wrong creating man made famines , crop failures, mass terror, mass purges and denounciations , mass starvations, slave labor , gulags , mad unrealistic quotas at break neck speed that could not be reached through five year plans and great leaps forward etc The communists walked on the bones of the people and the ink turned red . Stalin in one night alone signed the death warrant of 5000 . He did that every other night or so. Soon they ran out of victims and boxes to tick so the NKVD just went to far flung villages, picking up peasants randomly just in order to keep up with the mad quotas and not to upset uncle Joe and were afraid they themselves could find themselves on the death list . Now you have a re incarnation of Ivan the Terrible in Putin. The West was wrong to help the soviets in WWII . By siding with that scum it created 42 years of mad nuclear arms race and a cold war. Patton said shortly after the war in Europe ended : We fought the wrong enemy all along. He was right. Nothing ever good or well meaning comes out of a former communist country .

[@SiberianHusky-jv4zv]

Soviet Studies, African Studies , Indology are basically white man's burden theory pampering departments.

[@edwallace2828]

@@SiberianHusky-jv4zv Thanks for the non-sequiter response.

[@edwallace2828]

@@karlhans8304 It's been a while, but what I remember is that they were the most Westernized of the Soviet states and were Russia's "Silicon Valley." Lots about how the Soviets incorporated them in the USSR.

[@myrdana]

this isnt the only lake they ruined too. lake baikal used to be the cleanest lake in the world, suposedly clean enough to drink from without filtering and holds over 20% of all fresh drinkable water in the world, but due to heavy industry in its surroundings its gotten much more contaminated. Edit, compared it others its still a very clean lake, but from what i heard it's just not as clean as it used to be.

[@joujou264]

I'm so glad we kicked those bastards out in 1991.

[@Ankidoom]

it have only one factory near baikal lake and it is closed 90% of the time

[@joujou264]

@@Ankidoom Good, hopefully the lake can recover over time.

[@bibobeuba]

You probably mean Lake Karachay. This lake was so much contaminated with radioactive waste, that the Soviets had to fill and thus somehow "close" the lake to avoid radiation from spreading. In fact the radiation is so high that you'd die within less an hour (!) while standing at the lake.

[@TrevorsMailbox]

@@joujou264 there's still a whole bunch of industrial sludge... Like 6.5 million tons...in Baikalsk near the lake. It wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for earthquakes. There are projects to clean up these toxic pools, but as of today, it's still there. And that's just one of several hundred dying/dead industry towns that sprang up around the lake. It's far from an ideal situation and the lake is still very much at risk.

[@lukehamilton5142]

What an excellent video! Great detail and analysis of a catasrophe that is appallingly little known in the West. The only thing I would quibble with is: - the pronunciation of Kyrgyzstan (it's a hard G, no question about it) My mum worked on an MSF (Doctor's Without Borders) project in Urgench in the early 2000s (western Uzbekistan in the Khorezm province, a district which incidentally gave us, via Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, the English word "algorithm"). The project had been founded partly to investigate whether the wind-blown dust and fertilizer/pesticide residue was the reason for local low health metrics, especially high TB rates. The evidence really didn't support this as the culprit and the project gradually evolved into mainly delivering TB treatment.

[@user-gy2xk4ot8f]

Is Russia also to blame for the biblical flood? The Aral Sea is located in Central Asia, about 1000 km from the border with Russia. Not a single Russian river flowed into the Aral Sea. It was fed by advertising the Syr Darya and Amu Darya, which originate in the glaciers of the Pamirs and pass through 4 Central Asian states. Each of these states built dams and tried to capture as much water as possible for agriculture. Under the USSR, there were also the republics of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan with their own leadership, government, and only they made decisions on economic issues.

[@pdoylemi]

I almost didn't watch this because I knew a lot about the death of the Aral sea - but this taught me a LOT more! Thanks. As late as the 1990's Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada were calling on the federal government to look into diverting water from Lake Michigan to them, for much the same reasons - expanding their agriculture (and golfing). It was being taken so seriously that our Governor (MI) and the Governor of Illinois both threatened to use the National Guard to block any such project. Canada also had huge objections, because all the Great Lakes are connected. You cannot drain Lake Michigan without draining the rest.

[@obbiebeal3060]

Rob Peter to satisfy Paul FOOLISH decisions to build / buy in the desert. Do not think the thirty desert dwellers going to stop. Didn't they know the land was a ARTIFICAL DEVELOPMENT, subject to droughts? NO! they did not know so now they want to a bail-out at the expense of other states, and belive me money talk. It cheaper to trust JEHOVAH / GOD to send enough ... to restore ALL the water; buuuut who need GOD when you got politicians who can personally make millions by draining THE Great Lakes.

[@traildude7538]

Makes me think of how California tried every trick they could think of to try to get a pipeline to carry water from the Columbia River. I was one of the people who supported a ballot initiative that would have set the price of Columbia river water to states that didn't border it at a pound-for-pound trade for 99.99 fine gold. It never even got close to getting on the ballot, but the idea itself shocked a lot of people in California (at least according to relatives who lived there) enough that the hope of getting Columbia River water withered and vanished. Which makes me think of a comparison between the Aral Sea region and California: California could easily build desalination plants to generate al l the fresh water they need; the Aral Sea region has no such option.

[@pdoylemi]

@@traildude7538 Well, I would not say they could EASILY build them - they are massively expensive and power hogs - but they could. They could also get more serious about water conservation and recycling. LA has a pilot plant that literally takes sewage and grey water and converts it back into drinking water. But they need a lot more of that. Unfortunately, the two biggest things they could do are to costly economically - stop growing almonds - which to my surprise turn out to be one of the most thirsty crops there is, and stop, or curtail the beef and dairy industry because they are extremely water intensive too. Places like the Great Lakes basin have the water to take all that over. But it infuriates me that they don't seriously enforce water restrictions on the rich. People with their mansions, watering their lawns every day! My brother is a fairly rich guy in San Diego, but when he built his big house, the front "lawn" was artificial turf, and the back yard is populated with plants native to the dry climate. No irrigation going on there.

[@traildude7538]

@@pdoylemi With "easily" I had in mind that the water source is right there at hand, plus a summary of a paper I read describing how a fusion power plant could provide desalinated water for the same number of people for whom it provides power, though that's still in the future. Inland cities should be aiming for something the Gates Foundation is working towards: building cisterns big enough to hold a year's supply of fresh water, and a system that recycles the water so drawing from rivers or aquifers would only happen in emergencies. Interesting about water restrictions. When my older brother the mathematician was tutoring doctoral candidates at UC Berkeley there was a water crisis one summer and the water utility had an interesting response: they didn't ration, they just had rates that got higher and higher the more water you used. I don't remember the numbers, but everyone got X gallons a per month at the regular rate, then with every additional fifty gallons the price got higher. He said you could tell which houses had really rich people in them because they were still watering flowers and paying on the order of fifty cents per quart! The scale they used got them through the shortage and also raked in enough money for some long-needed upgrades. There was a drought where I lived once that one hardware guy made a bundle from: he devised a simple crude filter to go with a system that once installed allowed a house's gray water to be routed to a holding tank from which it could be used to water plants. I remember one house where they skipped the holding tank and just ran the water into the landscaping. The trouble is that all of these creative solutions, with the exception of the cisterns proposed by the Gates Foundation,depend on a significant water source to begin with. On the lighter side, in a science fiction story I wrote once an inventor managed to achieve something thought impossible: he "pierced the membrane" between universes and made a "tap" that allowed stuff to flow from the target universe into his home universe. But he only got it to work once, and that "tap" just happened to hit a fresh water supply in the target universe -- so he bought a chunk of property out in a big desert and set the tap flowing at its maximum, about a hundred gallons per hour, making his own oasis. I thought of that as I watched this video.

[@j0m4m46]

They already killed off the Colorado river, sort of. The water never reaches the ocean.

[@Consigpal]

Fun fact: Soviet union isnt Russia Irigation systems were constructed decades ago, and used today for No1 industry in Uzbekistan. So if Uzbek government want to restore Aral lake, then they could do it in a few years

[@The_whales]

I looked it up, but it isn’t just Uzbekistan, but also Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan

[@Consigpal]

@@The_whales Uzbekistan use vast majority of water.

[@The_whales]

@@Consigpal oh then, ya your right

[@henry8302]

This is just false to imply that the USSR is an entirely separate entity from Russia. the Russian people chose revolution and they never abandoned their national identity. The main difference is that the USSR included more territory.

[@Consigpal]

@@henry8302 but when we talk about Chernobyl disaster we are talking about Ukraine or USSR? Or maybe Russians? Fun fact, Russian empire was even larger than USSR

[@Omerta2times]

Great vid, love the civ. Graphics

[@wanali4504]

The Aral Sea sounds like as close to the apocalypse we can get right now I mean, there is accidentally shrinking a needed lake. And then there is creating toxic salt-sandstorms infected with extremely deadly germs while destroying several industries.

[@satan7710]

Why are all the bad things of the USSR attributed to Russia, while the good ones are shared? Not only did the defining events take place under the leadership of a Georgian, but it was also on the territory of Kazakhstan, not Russia. They were still separate republics.

[@antoniocarlosoliveira9146]

Because the central government of the USSR was located in Moscow and all decisions made to a federal level ( such as the canals diverting water from the sea ) , and this situation practically happens with all sorts of federation / union countries , for example, the UK while technically being England , wales , Scotland and Northern Ireland , it is practically just England , all decisions of federal level are taken in London , the house of the prime minister and other import government facilities are also located in London .

[@betamvmt]

It's ignorance.

[@piotrczubryt1111]

@@antoniocarlosoliveira9146 Well, then BOTH good and bad things you should attribute to the capital of USSR. And no, Scotland and Wales are not England, and prime ministers do not have to be English. Same with Washington DC, it does not equal America.

[@antoniocarlosoliveira9146]

@@piotrczubryt1111 i said " technically " , so Yes, Wales or scotland isnt england , however, pratically speaking , the uk acts like its only england , england is basically the Jupiter of the uk system , just like how Russia was the Jupiter of the ussr.

[@aleksandar4756]

​@@antoniocarlosoliveira9146Uzbekistan and Tajikistan had 30 years to stop this after the fall of USSR..

[@MonkeyShinesu]

"The Great Transformation of Nature" is such a soviet thing to say

[@newshodgepodge6329]

I'm in the Midwest and we are currently under an advisory that a dust storm that began in the Sahara is making its way across the ocean toward us. I wonder how far the dust storms from central Asia travel.

[@raechey3980]

That’s a good question. This type of reckless nature reformation plus global warming… I think it’s even going to become more crazier. Not to mention insects, heatwaves, agriculture, disease it will impact a lot of lives. The world powers have been thinking that the world is “overpopulated”. I guess the lack of enthusiasm to correct this issues shows how much they care about life and nature over money and power

[@jaredwat8478]

You should do a video on the issues with the Mississippi River. It’s the lowest it’s practically ever been to the point where old ship wrecks are starting to surface

[@darthparallax5207]

The Mississippi River is big, and well connected to huge oceans. For small lakes I think commanding nature to bend to our will is a fine idea, but even though there's a lot of nearby water to try to refill Mississippi with, I appreciate there's a good chance we could screw it up and over flood the place with an overadjustment. That's the last thing New Orleans needs.

[@jaredwat8478]

@@darthparallax5207 I don’t think you realize that the Mississippi’s connection is to the Atlantic the Gulf of Mexico specifically and it flows INTO the ocean.

[@bdd7881]

Or the Colorado River.

[@flowerpower2067]

Isn't it also connected to the st Lawrence too now

[@saltnsunshine9127]

Here in southern Illinois it's looking pretty dry...

[@jeepmega629]

I think that it's also important to note that has disappeared and reappeared many times before the 1960s, due to natural diversion in the Amur and Syr Darya rivers. For example, records from between 1400 and 1500 tell that the entire sea had disappeared, and then reappeared during the 1520s.

[@thegame7557]

Just out of curiosity where did the rivers drain into after natural diversion in those times? Are there other outlets in the region that held the water?

[@adrianstucky3186]

Interesting. It’s kinda like how global warming as a whole can be normal. But if we use our brains it’s easy to draw connections to humans.

[@morewi]

There is an ancient outlet into Caspian sea.

[@akbarshoabdulkhamidshoev]

@@thegame7557 There is a way to Caspian sea and Sarikkamish lake for example When Chengiz Khan invaded Gurganch he destroyed large dam builded on Amudarya which altered river.

[@akbarshoabdulkhamidshoev]

I just want to ask a question are you sure it said disappeared entirely or partly because i heard same thing but it was partly sea never declined in this rate

[@Diiapazona]

Russia? Aral Lake in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. That's all you need to know about the level of content on this channel.

[@Master-Master]

Well they started destroying the lake during ussr in 60s

[@dmitryseverinov3053]

The Aral Sea is not Russia, it is Kazakhstan, Tajikistan. The problem is that the agriculture of the Central Asian countries intensively uses two large rivers flowing into the Aral Sea.

[@juanvilas5341]

How sad, it would have been incredible to see this gigantic Lake in the middle of the desert.

[@Head_Coach]

Well, the government choose economy over the lake. Still, that’s not enough.

[@Ohhiohh]

@@Head_Coach communists fault

[@backtomakingvideos]

@@Head_Coach Istanbul: **exists** Russia: *MORE CANALS! JUST CONNECT IT ALREADY!*

[@Da...]

@@backtomakingvideos wth are you talking about

[@eugene.4081]

Aral sea is not located in Russia. Yes, the process of drying of Aral started in Soviet era, but the one ended 32 years ago and Uzbekistan and Tajikistan did nothing to change the situation and the problem got much worse since the collapse of the Soviet union

[@user-yz7uu9iy4f]

Никому не говорите об этом ! Это лично Путин высосал всю воду. Пусть весь мир знает об ещё одном военном преступлении ! ))

[@whydidiwatchthis5174]

This is the "wrong" history. The average American should know better that the "Russians" were doing something villainous...

[@byzer1]

It's a Turkish guy making the video, they play both sides, depending what benefits them, ukraine is not Russia but this lake is Russian fault, go figure..

[@rixille]

What could these central Asian countries have done to transform their economies away from cotton production to preserve the water?

[@justarussian8714]

They called Russia guilty on purpose. Their anti-Russian propaganda uses every chance to spread 'little' lies.

[@JaceDanielFilms]

I love learning about central asia, as it's such an obscure part of the world that people forget about. Maybe because it's so landlocked, but that makes it a true interior world

[@mooripo]

04:28 the Icon of Cotton is from sid Meier's Civilization game ❤❤❤❤ 11:13 also, beautiful to see those icons jere

[@MrDDiRusso]

The Colorado river in the South Western U.S. used to reach the Gulf of California but it has been diverted and restricted that it ends in the middle of the desert.

[@Praisethesunson]

It ends in California yes.

[@joelwillems4081]

Most of that is California's fault.

[@Praisethesunson]

@@joelwillems4081 How dare you blame the hard profitable work of agricultural billionaires on the state of California.

[@CRneu]

@@joelwillems4081 DOES ANYONE ELSE HATE CALIFORNIA? HERP DERP.

[@Lexicologist1971]

@@CRneu , yes, most of the nation hates California. They're like Russia in our back yard.

[@Natycik]

So... It's not exactly Russia that drained the lake, but a country that doesn't exist anymore and the draining was started by a man who's not even Russian. The lake's not even on Russian territory, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are now responsible for its future. But because these countries are supplying Russia, it's also responsible for it? Russia's involvement in the lake's state didn't come up until you mentioned the Russia-Ukraine conflict. By that logic, if Kazakhstan supplied any other country, that country would be responsible for the lake. This is seems really far fetched.

[@neshie9724]

I keep coming back to this video to show others. Really good breakdown of the mismanagement insanity and the extent of the environmental consequences.

[@SHREK2]

I watched this video before reading Range by David Epstein. He discusses in the early chapters how the Uzbek / Kyrgyz people underwent modernization and technological advancement largely due to agriculture and cotton. I could visualize the region thoroughly thanks to your content! If you're curious about what he touched on, he talks about a researcher who studied peoples' abilities to group dissimilar items together like a dagger and a bullet or similar shapes drawn slightly differently in which one group was less exposed to modern advancements and were representative of the "old way of life" and the other group was more modern. In premodern groups, he found that objects were more conceived of in the most literal sense and in how they applied to their daily lives, whereas folks who were exposed to more modern trappings / education could abstract objects into concepts or traits more effectively.

[@lavillenouvelle]

The Aral Sea was very shallow (10 m on average), and so a small change in the region's rivers can make a big change in the lake's surface. During history, Amu Darya has changed its course several times, discharging in the Caspian or Aral Sea. And Aral Sea has already dried up two times, between 100 and 500 AD and between 1200 and 1500 AD.

[@VladislavYe]

This KZbin chanel was created for produsing anti-russian fakes. Viva Lenin and Stalin!

[@Carnivalcs]

Nah it's too hard to learn history. Better to put provocative title for views

[@Antonismi]

@@Carnivalcs Well, I'd suppose they didn't use pesticides or had environmentally hazardous research facilities back in the day. Also the population just happened to blow up exponentially.

[@Carnivalcs]

@@Antonismi Aral sea in Kazakhstan which was a part of USSR. Main rivers of the region Amu Darya and Syr Darya changed its channel in past 50 years. Also some amount of water was taken for farming

[@entropybear5847]

Yep, people love to clickbait about marginal, sensitive environments prone to relatively rapid change. Not that humans didn't have a hand in what happened to the Aral sea, just that it is no stranger to these drying up (and later refilling) events.

[@MMaksat]

It is so strange that only Kazakhstan is trying to rectify the situation and is taking some action (building a dam to retain water inside the Aral Sea), and Uzbekistan simply continues to destroy nature, but it is Uzbekistan that will get the biggest consequences of this disaster.

[@ilovephotography1254]

I feel the title should have been "Why the Soviet Union...

[@reign3864]

for sure. this video seems more emotionally charged than usual.

[@red-vg2ds]

@@reign3864 true, it's even more the case when you compare with his older video on the same subject which was titled "How WE destroyed the 4th's largest lake"

[@joemamaobama6863]

Hating rusisa would get more views now ig

[@2hotflavored666]

Nope, the USSR was entirely controlled and dominated by Russia, Russia also formed the USSR completely on their own. The USSR was literally Greater Russia/Russian Empire in disguise, which fooled no one except useful idiots.

[@davidford3115]

@@joemamaobama6863 Or because the policies that lead to this ecological disaster came out of the Kremlin. Local control and decision making only really started after 1991.

[@Super-JD]

I've been there when traveling in Uzbekistan. Very impressive to see an abandoned coastline city with desert where these was sea. Abandoned rusting ships in sands and abandoned fish factories. There is a lot of wasted water on the way to get there , parks in the capital are constantly irrigated so that every inches of grass and trees looks perfect and they produce a lot of cotton. The desert left after the sea is contaminated and an easy access for ressources so they don't plan to fix it. Kazakhstan did on his side tho.

[@asylumental]

I hate grass. One of the worse things we ever popularized as the human race

[@Carahan]

@@asylumental Lawns were created to demonstrate wealth. A demonstration that you could pay enough people to turn your land into a monoculture and still keep it alive. An environment blight. There are just about always native grasses that can be planted.

[@asylumental]

@@Carahan none of that is the issue. Grass is one of the lowest beneficial plants on the planet, and people literally consider the real beneficial native plants as "weeds" and destroy them, so they can have a prestige lawn... but the lawn does fk all for the planet or for the ecology around it.

[@Uchqunbekuz]

I'm from Uzbekistan, In Uzbekistan, the problems of the Aral Sea are also being raised and efforts are being made. But it is true that there is little movement, unfortunately, the aralkum cannot be filled anymore. How many cultivated fields will remain without water. Saxovol is currently being planted on the aralkum

[@scottgordon1781]

Must ask a mate , he worked on a mine in Uzbec , they must need water :-)

[@andreytolmachev1435]

It's very easy to restore Aral lake: just to eliminate all cotton plantations in Uzbekistan. Not sure if Uzbekistan would support this bright idea.

[@free4photo]

Why Russia? USSR is not only Russia . The lake were on the territory of Khazahstan and Uzbekistan

[@osheridan]

I mean, yesn't. The Soviet Union wasn't like the UK, it was closer to the British Empire

[@Interitus1]

I remember seeing photos of rusty boats in the middle of a desert and it being displayed as art. When I was a child I didn't really understand what I was seeing but thought it was cool. As I grew up and understood what happened to the Aral sea it dawned on me what I had seen in those pictures all those years ago. And it utterly shocked me.

[@incumbentvinyl9291]

Gasp!

[@keiralum1797]

Don't ne sad. The lake itself is appeared in 17th centrury when the ice in mountains started to melt. Before that on the place of the lake there was a settlement and even a temple that was found after the lake was gone. You can find info about it. The ice is almost over - that is the reason. By the way, if you find satelite pics of the Sea in 1991 and now you'll notice, that the main problem with the Sea happened after the 90s.

[@incumbentvinyl9291]

@@keiralum1797 That's not true. The critical decisions were made long before the '90s, and the volume lost was far more significant prior to the '90s. It just looks more dramatic in satellite photographs the past three decades because the areas are now land instead of water. However yes, lakes come and go. It's not a big deal, even when it's man made.

[@therealauspol]

Its so interesting, I literally wrote an essay on this for university a few months ago, and also had it passed to a environment policy think group and a foreign relations think group here in Australia. My university tutor said my concerns were baseless. the foreign relations think group were concerned but didnt think the water flow would drop, and the environment group said the situation was getting better not worse. only one of my uni lecturers agreed that we are likely to see a serious conflict in central asia based around these rivers, all the others dismissed it. shows how little the rest of the world really takes notice of what happens in central asia

[@John_Smith_86]

"Er... who gives a shit about a bunch of dirt poor foreigners fighting over water in a shit part of the world far far away, with no geo-political implications for the rest of the world? It affects the rest of the world to a negligible degree. Like, who cares???"

[@therealauspol]

@@John_Smith_86 massive geopolitical implications. Water scarcity means refugees into neighbouring countries. Not sure if you noticed but the middle east hasn't been particularly stable of late. Ethnic tensions between central Asian communities and Pakistan, Iran, etc. There's huge flow on effects. Not to mention reduced rainfall isn't just impacting central Asia, but also the middle east, east asia and south east Asia. So you're talking about people moving into areas that are already in water stress, and more people is only gonna add to that.

[@John_Smith_86]

@@therealauspol Yes, and these neighbouring countries are pretty worthless too, right? So who gives a shit? (China, to its East, is more than capable of fighting off and defeating these refugees) And nowadays Europe pays for mercenary troops to guard its borders, so its vulnerability has also sharply decreased. Therefore, who exactly is affected by this water crisis?

[@BlondeQtie]

i learned the lake went dry and toxic in school, but not in that detail!!!! good job 👏🏼

[@sebastianpereiro4119]

To the video, in my opinion, there are many questions - these are the next dances on the coffin of a long-dead state. Why claims specifically to modern Russia? The USSR consisted of 15 republics. At the moment of collapse (which was facilitated by "friendly" states, one speech of the President of Russia in the US Congress is worth something, shame, shame, followed by devastation, impoverishment and death of ordinary people) Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, as well as other self-proclaimed the republics took as much sovereignty as they could, but apparently the responsibility for everything that happened after that fell solely on Russia. What is happening with the former Soviet republics testifies to the low efficiency of the work of their authorities and more or less acceptable results can be achieved only by acting together (within these five countries), otherwise there will be no positive development. Hoping for help from Russia, which has a lot of its own problems, in the near future is at least naive. August 2023

[@williamlloyd3769]

If you like disappearing lakes, California has had several lakes disappear in historical times. The Central Valley once had steam boats navigating on rivers and lakes that were also diminished by agricultural expansion. Overuse of water remains a huge issue dispute recent improvements in water management. Separately, Los Angeles drained Mono Lake on the other side of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

[@marcgw496]

The Central Valley’s groundwater has been depleted so much that the ground elevation has dropped almost 30 feet in some areas in the past 100 years.

[@sjvw95]

Owens Lake was drained. Mono Lake was reduced in size but mostly still exists

[@deron2203]

Never understood why we decided on building large cities in the desert just such a massive waste of resources ffs just look at the water consumption in the sun belt

[@Praisethesunson]

The Salton sea is a hilarious bit of toxic water management coming to bite LA in it's overpopulated behind.

[@TheGecko213]

Also growing crops like Almonds which are huge water hogs in the desert.

[@Tinil0]

Growing up in the late 80s and early 90s I was always fascinated with the Aral sea due to it's size and how I knew nothing about it, even less than the nearby Caspian. It was weirdly depressing seeing updated maps in the early 2000s and it just...not being there.

[@jsmith6599]

> Russia Excuse me, but Russia doesn't own any land near Aral Sea's shore. And before you say "but USSR was basically Russia" - all Soviet republics was equal within the Union, Aral Sea region's irrigation was mainly used to the benefit of Uzbekistan, and Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic gained absolutely nothing from this.

[@FlyingOktober]

The title is misleading as it was the Soviet Union who destroyed it, not Russia. As of 1991 Russia had no direct impact on the sea as they don't border it.

[@NzPekka]

I watched your first video on this lake roughly 4 years ago, then you put out this masterpiece with even more information, and things i had no clue about

[@keiralum1797]

Lies. Uneducated lies. USSR has nothing to do with the problem of the Aral Sea. It disappears naturally. 5 times in 10000 years. There was even found an old settlement and a temple of 14-15th century on the bottom of the Sea when it dried up.

[@Mr1und2]

i enjoyed the use of civilization icons for the ressources

[@stefanomarchesani8804]

It's not Russia, it was one of the many post Soviet era Dictators ruling Uzbekistan

[@christianpaetz]

The last 33 years, its not longer Russia but Uzbekistan and Kazhakhstan!

[@bazarbekovic]

It was not Russia but USSR. After USSR, Uzbekistan didn’t help either to sustain Aral Sea. Biggest precipitation to Aral are Syrdariya and Amu Dariya, and both take the beginning in Uzbekistan. So Uzbekistan is also Responsible (plus, cotton industry was located in Utbek SSR). Russia has nothing to do with it. Moscow had, but political elite of modern Russia are not communists and Moscow doesn’t have power over that region. Uzbekistan has. I blame Uzbekistan, and it sounds more right

[@maxhocks2006]

Stuff like this is why I’m soo against pumping water from the Great Lakes to the southwest. Giant lakes can dry up if the water is messed with. It’s soo sad what happened to this giant lake.

[@xxxBradTxxx]

We don’t need water pumped here, we just need to stop farming cotton, corn, alfalfa, and flax in the Arizona desert.

[@davesprivatelounge]

Lakes are a lot more delicate than people think

[@wolimoli]

Correct me if im wrong but I dont believe that is happening at all? It would be prohibitively expensive to pump water all the way from the Great Lakes down to anywhere in the South East. Even to put those into water bottles to ship into that area would be incredibly expensive. Which is why water bottles generally are sourced from the same area they are sold to.

[@gamincaimin9954]

@@wolimoli it might be a pitch still, but I haven't heard of it at all, which I'm glad for, stay away from our lakes!

[@DacLMK]

In my country we managed to evade an ecological catastrophe about 20 years ago when the small Doiran Lake was on the brink of completely drying up, due to both the Macedonian and Greek side using it extensively for irrigating crops. A couple of artificial water canals were constructed from both sides, and within a decade the lake returned to its normal water levels.

[@grundgesetzart.1463]

This was destroyed by the Soviet Union. Russia itself was a member but not the only member of this bigger state. Uzbeks were fondly growing cotton, it gave them a livelihood. The bad effects of using this lake for irrigation became known later on, as it was already too late.

[@MarbelCube]

The salt issue is also noticed on Arabian peninsula. Roughly at the same time with cotton plantation in Asia they started extracted underground water for their new agricultural plans. Where top layers was nice, clean and fresh just few meter below the desert. With years progressing drainage, they had to dig deeper and deeper to get the water, extracting at the same time more salt on the surface. Meanwhile an Arab used 4x times more fresh water than an European daily! On freaking desert!

[@yootani]

"Russia, Russia, Russia" Do you know the difference between USSR and Russia?

[@lesnoyelf228]

No he doesn't. Bro really graduated from "Red Heat" movie. Wouldn't be surprised if he put some bears on monocycles and such.

[@sanlivia9203]

Thank you so much for sharing this info. I really love the civilization 6 icons for resources, makes me more immersed into the video. Keep up the great work!

[@ZachKingslayer2]

This is like some mad max post apocalyptic hell on earth

[@johnythefox100]

at 23:07 you incorrectly show the Crimean peninsula as part of Russia. As everyone knows, this is (hopefully) temporarily occupied territory and unrecognized by any nation on earth (that matters)

[@MatthewChenault]

When you say “Russia,” you mean the Soviet Union, correct? There was no “Russia” at that time as it was a part of the USSR, which had a different political system and attitude to such projects compared to the modern country of Russia.

[@squidwardfromua]

No. As a citizen of former USSR republic, nothing changes except the name. Russian empire absolutely = USSR absolutely = modern Russia. All that changes is name and flag color. Changes in political system result in the same result at the end anyway. Empire stays empire.

[@Gastell0]

@@squidwardfromua Political leaders were from various places in the USSR, including Georgia (namely Stalin) and Ukraine (Brezhnev?), dumping it all on Russia doesn't help your clause since political leadership and party higher members were not all Russian.

[@ricksticksgaming]

Very nice video... very interesting. Reminds me of the Salton Sea, south of California which is drying up and threatening similar disaster of salty, toxic dust to surrounding cities including Los Angeles. I think multiple countries sharing 1 river system is always going to be a ticking time bomb if drought occurs.

[@klausvolk2654]

Not to forget Lake Mead and Lake powell. The Colorado river is being sucked dry; a disaster in the making. KV, Az, United Socialist States of America (USSA)

[@DjMicr0dot]

oh I didn't know there was a chemical bio lab out there too!!! maybe a lil diff then what there saying here Frnd

[@igorbednarski8048]

The difference is that the Salton Sea was created by people by accident, so it evaporating is actually nature going back to how it was before

[@thanhavictus]

Central valley Farmers are notoriously selfish and ignorant because they think the water is infinite and will overtap it because there's more water vouchers than there is actually water. It's over stressing our waterways, and they keep lobbying to drain more.

[@h8GW]

Welp, at least the Salton Sea was created from an engineering mistake, so we're just reverting it to what is was before.

[@monsieurlaflamme995]

It looks like the CIA is sponsoring this channel 😂

[@ljutko7]

Nice videos u made. Keep rolling

[@alterbart7916]

So... if was the USSR who pushed the production of the cotton, then it was more than thirty years of Central Asia countries abusing their water resources, and today it is Russia that has destroyed the lake. Keep on doing the great journalism. /s

[@bouwer020]

Clickbait journalism that is!

[@indycoon]

Russia is always guilty in everything for them.

[@Yuyuzu17]

It was already fucked by the time the USSR was dissolved in 91.

[@sarahn372]

Whatever happened BlamePutin😂

[@Madi_Ernar]

​@@sarahn372or Trump XD

[@Strype13]

Even at 6.3 million subs, this channel is still woefully underrated. It's easily one of the best (and most educational) channels on the entire platform. Thank you for another superb presentation, guys.

[@MonTube2006]

Nonsense

[@Strype13]

@@MonTube2006 Appreciate your opinion, I suppose. However, since you seem to vehemently disagree, do you happen to have anything of value to add to your response? Perhaps an informative channel or two that you would recommend?

[@tp200animations]

@@MonTube2006 Nah, YOUR NONSENSE

[@I-Nex]

@@Strype13 yeah, I can give you names of few other misinforming propaganda channels, you want?

[@egor1326]

Aral sea is NOT located in Russia. Sea was OK when it was part of Soviet Union

[@Alex.Pasquale]

Озеро находится НЕ в России The lake is NOT located in Russia

[@bababababababa6124]

This is almost as sad as lake Chad drying up

[@alexs_toy_barn]

That wasn't due to human factors, that was from natural climate change, back when it was literally called lake mega-chad

[@trunestor]

@@alexs_toy_barn gigachad

[@0x0michael]

Now it's called Lake Weeb

[@starguy2718]

A lake named "Chad"! Is it surrounded by 304 lakes? 😄😄😄

[@Default78334]

Virgin climate change vs. Chad lake

[@Marlin123]

I find it so ominous that rusty rotten ships can be found in a desert along with whale skeletons

[@romazone101]

There were whales in the Aral Sea? Fresh water whales?

[@andreasmagnussengriis6539]

​@@romazone101 It was not always fresh water. Caspian sea whale are indeed a thing, and they are found in the Aral Sea too. Their bones that is. Because they died out when they lost connection to the ocean. Yet it remains true, there are whalebones there.

[@romazone101]

@@andreasmagnussengriis6539 That's so interesting. Thanks for the reply, I'll check that out.

[@papagrounds]

Where did you see the whale skeletons?

[@ericvulgate]

I was intrigued by the idea of whales in these waters, so I looked it up. Sadly there is no evidence of whales in the aral or Caspian.

[@shlomomarkman6374]

The deal is that the modern Aral sea appeared only around 1575. Before that it had existed only partially while the Amu Darya flowed into the Caspian. Old maps from before 17th century do not show the Aral sea and do show the rivers draining into the Caspian near the modern city of Turkmenbasy. People did survive in the region and it was relatively prosperous prior to Genghis Khan despite the partial absence of the sea. The old outlet was dammed-up at around 1575 and the Amu Darya was redirected into the Aral while the inhabitants of the old channel left.

[@81Heino]

You forgot to mention the Balkash sea. You can see it on the map east side from the Aral sea. It is very shallow (24 m max depth), and China is going to take water from the lone river that feed that lake. It would be disasterous.

[@mikenikefrombrazil3348]

A similar thing is happening in the great salt lake in utah. It has been rapidly drying up due to people damming up the river flowing into it to get more water for agriculture and for the use of the thousands of people living in the area. It is also due to global warming because the lake has no outlet. It's water levels have been dropping rapidly since the 80s after the lake flooded and is reaching critically low levels. I hope you make a video going into more detail on this topic soon.

[@CRneu]

For more info, the NY Times' Podcast "The Daily" has an episode titled, "Utah's Environmental Nuclear Bomb" that goes over how SLC is failing to deal with the lake drying up.

[@patrickwilliamson29]

Who really cares, most the only people in salt lake city are mormons and the world would be a better place without them. Nature will eventually take it back when we go

[@takeiteasynacho]

I live here. The government penalizes the average person for using water during off hours. Even though businesses citizens and golf courses only use 30% of total water. It’s farming in deserts that kill water tables.

[@adrianc6534]

most people in utah dont even believe in climate change, but they will get their comeuppance soon enough.

[@kukuhaplus]

Yeah, a good header - Why Russia Destroyed the Great Salt Lake?

[@stanradziwon4359]

Is the mixing up Russia with Soviet Union not intentional?

[@darkmatter5424]

Very intentional for propaganda purposes. Ironic that back then, the Soviet Union was largely Ukrainian-led. 😅

[@user-ow8qv6gi3c]

​@@darkmatter5424Source: "Trust me bro"

[@TheWerelf]

​@@user-ow8qv6gi3cjust like this whole video: "trust me bro"

[@somebuddy8940]

Are you banned in Google?

[@tatianar7032]

@@darkmatter5424 Who was the first to fly into space? O! Those Russians! Who raised virgin soil and at the same time killed the nature of Central Asia? These are not Russians - these are the USSR!

[@atabekmnajatdinov6692]

How to 10 times hit the button like?? I am from Karakalpakstan and i can say that you say that even i knew history of aral sead this video is amazing even residents of my country. You show all information so clearly and vividly

[@midian767]

Wow. Just wow!. Your video is the most apocalyptic one I have seen. And it's in real time.

[@jovis6995]

My grandma who is ethnically Russian used to live in Turkmenistan when it was part of the Soviet Union. She said they were brought to pick cotton there as kids and she suffered health problems from the pesticides they were spraying there :(

[@keiralum1797]

You don't need pesticides during harvesting

[@jovis6995]

@@keiralum1797 Maybe. I honestly don't know. She just complained about that and who am I to question her experience I have no idea about.

[@farmalmta]

@@keiralum1797 Defoliants, arsenic acids in particular, are likely the compounds her mother would have encountered. They were sprayed on the cotton plants to cause rapid and complete defoliation before the bolls open so that there is less trash in the fibers.

[@isavana33]

@@jovis6995 And who is she to claim that because of pesticides she has a bad health? Is she a biologist, an immunologist?

[@kimberlysheridan5530]

I have read and seen videos how Kazakhstan used a loan from the World Bank to bring back the fragment of the North Aral Sea. Fishing has returned to Kazakhstan, and so has tourism. Kudos to Kazakhstan. Whether the rest can ever return , I don't know.

[@Soufriere84]

That's up to Uzbekistan and right now they don't seem very interested… ☹

[@keiralum1797]

So it is a propaganda of the World Bank that hooks countries in slavery for their loans? Did you know there was no any Sea before 17th century and that Kazakhstan robs other countries keeping all the water on their side?

[@islal3489]

Chinqui👋🏼

[@TASMADIGITAL]

Aral sea died in Soviet time, not in Russian period

[@Ledecral]

Man: Let's play God God: I'm grabbing the popcorn.

[@peregrine1993]

Visited Uzbekistan in 2015 and even then was able to see many of the issues and conflicted mentioned here play out in real life. Fantastic video!

[@bilalemin4125]

You should visit again, Uzbekistan Significantly changed after 2016, with more modern technology and tourist attractions, 2015 was depressed Uzbekistan tbh

[@axelnagy5601]

Great video excellent content but a small problem: what the connection with the title of your video? Aral sea is not in Russia. Russia is not responsible today or since more than 30 years of this desaster

[@isavana33]

Propaganda is doing its job! Whatever happens, Russia is to blame!

[@bouwer020]

The title should be more like: what alternative modes of employement and industries could replace the cotton industry in Central Asia and would this help to restore the Aral Sea

[@eaglestowereaglestower664]

Russia is responsible for everything, it is always Russia, especially when it is nowhere near

[@Telhias]

It was Russia that decided to start the cotton production in the desert. The entirety of the Soviet Union was controlled exclusively by Russia with the center of power in Moscow. They called themselves Union but individual members had next to no say in what the central government decided. There was a saying that our relationship with Russia within the CCCP is one of give and take. "We give them our bread and they take our meat." What Russia said went within the Soviet Union. By the time Soviet Union collapsed and they no longer decided what went on in the individual countries that made it up - it was already too late. Aral Sea was about to be destroyed and nothing you could do would stop this destruction. Even if you somehow stopped all the water diversion and kept it in the rivers, the Aral Sea would not come back.

[@isavana33]

@@Telhias The USSR was headed by a Georgian and a Ukrainian. They are to blame for everything, Ukraine and Georgia are to blame. So there are claims against these two countries.

[@CookieOfFortune]

It was't Russia, but Soviet Union. It is a huge difference.

[@Jonathan_Doe_]

Didn’t grasp the scale until you aid the shipping towns have ended up over 100km/60 miles away from the remaining water

[@ramibelhaj5151]

Wait a second! Not Russia, but USSR! It is important, because that was made by several countries Including Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan etc.

[@lesselp]

Putin will get them back, don't worry.

[@user-sd5gp4dd3f]

Вы просто не поняли. Главное в этом видео это "облить грязью" Россию. Высохшее море автора интересует мало.

[@MrZveroid]

Every time, when it's going about some inventions or achievements of USSR, russians say: "It was mostly made by Russia citizens - other USSR countries just used things we have made" But when someone telling about ecological disasters provoked by USSR, russians magically start telling about much bigger role of other USSR countries :D

[@stolz999]

Why Russia? Is there no distinction between Russia and USSR?

[@davidford3115]

There is, but it is minor before 1991. The Russian Soviet dominated the Union until the collapse. Decision making was in the Kremlin, not the local Commissariat.

[@alekxcrafter]

@@davidford3115 🤡

[@davidford3115]

@@alekxcrafter Sure, that is a real mature response. Name calling doesn't make your argument, it just proves you have nothing of value to say. "I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left." - Margaret Thatcher

[@joshuamoeller3591]

When you say russia in à title nowadays you gain more views f

[@Vladimir-Ipostasiy]

when people talk about the successes of the Soviet Union, they call it the Soviet Union, but when you need to talk about bad things, Russia appears in the title from somewhere