Disaster by Design: The Aral Sea and Its Lessons for SustainabilityMichael R. Edelstein, Astrid Cerny, Abror Gadaev Emerald Group Publishing, 2012 M11 27 - 300 pages Disaster by Design: The Aral Sea, Lessons for Sustainability addresses the impacts of the Aral Sea disaster. The virtual disappearance of what was the world's fourth largest inland body of water was neither natural nor accidental. It was the result of deliberate policy decisions. The sea's disappearance is hardly the entire disaster. Instead, we find an accumulation of cascading effects, beginning with the decision to grow cotton, reached remotely in Moscow that altered the farming practices surrounding the Aral Sea. Unsustainable choices resulted in soil salinization, water pollution and toxic blowing sands, impacting the entire bioregion and beyond. A remote island was used to test biological weapons. Uzbekistan, most notably Karakalpakstan, was the autonomous republic at the epicenter of the disaster. Sustainable prospects exist, including renewable energy, permaculture and strengthening the social fabric amidst poverty and ecological collapse. This volume of Research in Social Problems and Public Policy is essential reading for everyone concerned with averting environmental disaster and instead creating livable, sustainable communities. Disaster by Design is a clarion call and an insightful study of Central Asia today. |
Contents
SECTION ONE THE MULTIPLE DISASTERS OF THE ARAL SEA | 1 |
SECTION TWO THE ARAL DISASTER IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE | 75 |
AGRICULTURE AS THE VILLAIN | 153 |
CASCADING SOCIAL IMPACTS OF THE ARAL SEA DISASTER | 217 |
SOCIAL ECOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL APPROACHES | 323 |
IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL LEARNING | 411 |
ABOUT THE AUTHORS | 453 |
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Accessed on July agricultural Amu Darya Aral disaster Aral region Aral Sea Basin Aral Sea disaster Aral Sea region areas Asian benefit Bukhara Central Asia Chapter climate change contamination cotton production countries crop cultural Darya and Syr desert Disaster by Design diversion downstream ecological economic ecosystems Edelstein efficiency environment environmental farming fertilizer fields find findings first fish flood flow Gadaev Glantz global human Ichan Kala impacts increase influence irrigation Karakalpak Karakalpakstan Kazakhstan Khiva Khorezm land Lessons for Sustainability mahalla Mono Lake mountain Muynak natural Nukus official permaculture pesticides pollution population Problems and Public reflect Republic of Uzbekistan restoration Retrieved rivers rural salinization salt Salton Sea Samarkand scientific scientists significant Silk Road soil solar energy sources Soviet Union specific Syr Darya Tajikistan Tashkent technologies Uzbek value chain virtual water Vozrezdheniye water footprint water management water resources World Heritage zone