Living Beyond Our Means: The Declining Aral Sea

Stephen recently spotted this horrific story on the European Space Agency (ESA) website, a clear example of humans living beyond our means and creating extreme environmental degredation in the process. The Aral sea (once the world's forth largest) has been effectively 'mined' for its water for 50+ years, and the result has been a drying inland sea with sandstorms and land poisoned by salt intrusion. The image at http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMGVT6CTWF_index_0.html shows the retreat of water between 2006 and 2009 - worth seeing.