The Aral Sea is in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Major efforts to grow cotton were what led to the Aral Sea shrinking. The Aral Sea is actually a salt-water lake. This sea was once the 4th largest lake in the world. As it shrank salt and pesticides dominated habits of many plants and animals also threatened the health of human. Semiarid and arid means no rainfall or little, because of this these lands are best for livestock grazing.
The Cold War
The United States and the Soviet Union were the two most powerful countries in the world, after World War II. Since their very different political and economic systems, conflict and tension arose between these two. The Cold War became known for this conflict since these countries don’t fight one another directly. The United States and the Soviet Union made nuclear weapons. To try to prevent the communism to spread to other countries, the US went to war with the Vietnam and Korea in the 1950s and 1960s. Mikhail Gorbachev was the last president of the Cold War.
Chernobyl
April 26th, 1986 in the country of Ukraine in Chernobyl had the worst nuclear disaster in history. At a power plant a nuclear reactor exploded and caught fire. Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union at the time of this very bad disaster. A cloud that was radioactive about 3,280 feet up and spread over some parts of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. Fallout was carried by wind into parts of Central Europe and Northern. Humans, Animal, and plants have been caused by this radioactive material.