The Shrinking of the Aral Sea
.
What
The Aral Sea in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan was once the fourth largest sea, But over the last several decades, it has shrunk severely.
When
It started in the 1960s and has been shrinking ever since
Why
There were two major rivers feeding the sea, but the government started to use the water from those river to make desert into farmland. This was great for the desert but it devastated the Aral Sea, shrinking it to a small fraction of it's original size.
The sea as it was origionally
The sea in 2001
The sea in 2009
Where
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan
How does it affects The Environment
First of all, the shrunk sea wiped out lots of animals and sea life and the fisheries and others who relied on the sea were wiped out too. Secondly, the Aral Sea is salt water, so as it got smaller, it also got more salty. Thirdly, All the dust and salt blowing around from the dried up lake bed was a health hazard for the people and the salt and dust would blow all over farm fields and make the soil bad for growing crops. Lastly, without the sea there it made the summers hotter and dryer and the winters a lot colder.