How the USSR Created The World’s Greatest Environmental Disaster

About this video

What you’re about to see is one of the worst environmental disasters in human history. The Aral Sea, once the world’s third-largest lake, has almost completely disappeared. In the 1960s, the Soviet Union diverted two major rivers to grow cotton in the desert. Within a few decades, the water was gone, and so was an entire way of life. Today, the Aral Sea has shrunk to less than 10% of its original size, leaving behind rusting ships, toxic dust storms, and abandoned towns. Once home to thriving fishing industries, the region is now one of the poorest in Central Asia, plagued by high cancer rates, anemia, and birth defects caused by decades of pollution. In this 2&20 documentary, we travel across Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, from Almaty to Karakalpakstan and the ghost town of Muynaq, to uncover how one decision in Moscow caused one of the greatest ecological and economic collapses of the 20th century. You’ll see how Soviet ideology tried to "conquer nature," and why that failure still shapes the region today. 00:00 - Intro 01:25 - Into The Desert 08:00 - Destination Nukus 11:42 - The Human Costs 22:47 - Disaster Zone 26:15 - Conclusion