A recent item in the Friends of the Earth Birmingham ( http://www.birminghamfoe.org.uk/ ) newsletter on water footprints reflected on the demands placed on water supplies and the environment by the production of everyday items such as foodstuffs.
For example about 12,500 pints of water are used, all told, in the production of one pound of beef. More examples, many of them very telling, can be found at http://www.waterfootprint.org/ (although you might have to contend with Litres and Kilos as the units of measurement).
The article then went on to mention the tragic case of the Aral Sea.
The Aral Sea has always fascinated me. The ‘little sister’ to the inland salt giant the Caspian Sea, the Aral was once the fourth largest body of landlocked water on the planet. The Aral was once the stuff of romantic legends and travellers’ tales as well as the source of sustenance and livelihood for the surrounding lands. Now, what little is left of the once wonderful expanse of water represents what is surely the greatest environmental disaster of modern times.
The first of our images shows the full extent of the Aral Sea around 1967. But since that time no less than 85% of the water has disappeared and the mere 15% that remains has split into two parts – 'Little Aral' and 'Big Aral' only the smaller of which has any chance of being saved.
Our second image shows the dreadful situation in 2007. What was once the bed of the sea is now a desert, with polluted winds blowing remnants of toxic fertiliser into the lungs of remaining inhabitants – I am tempted to say denizens. This catastrophe was caused by the arrogant, ignorant, egotistical stupidity of ‘planners’ and dictators of the Soviet era who
diverted waters from the classic feeder rivers to irrigation for cotton production.
If only one could believe that this would serve as a lesson for the distributed ecological disaster that is being wrought in China – whence much of our industry has been sent through globalisation to be conducted in more damaging ways.
The cost of all this is environmental damage is incalculable and further disasters on the scale of the Aral Sea can only be prevented by mankind placing more modest demands on the Earth and having more modesty about our own roles, ambitions and abilities.
Let us also hope that mankind will come to its senses and that the potential for an even greater disaster – in effect what would be a worldwide Aral – that would follow from runaway global warming can yet be averted.
The article then went on to mention the tragic case of the Aral Sea.
The Aral Sea has always fascinated me. The ‘little sister’ to the inland salt giant the Caspian Sea, the Aral was once the fourth largest body of landlocked water on the planet. The Aral was once the stuff of romantic legends and travellers’ tales as well as the source of sustenance and livelihood for the surrounding lands. Now, what little is left of the once wonderful expanse of water represents what is surely the greatest environmental disaster of modern times.The first of our images shows the full extent of the Aral Sea around 1967. But since that time no less than 85% of the water has disappeared and the mere 15% that remains has split into two parts – 'Little Aral' and 'Big Aral' only the smaller of which has any chance of being saved.
Our second image shows the dreadful situation in 2007. What was once the bed of the sea is now a desert, with polluted winds blowing remnants of toxic fertiliser into the lungs of remaining inhabitants – I am tempted to say denizens. This catastrophe was caused by the arrogant, ignorant, egotistical stupidity of ‘planners’ and dictators of the Soviet era who
diverted waters from the classic feeder rivers to irrigation for cotton production.If only one could believe that this would serve as a lesson for the distributed ecological disaster that is being wrought in China – whence much of our industry has been sent through globalisation to be conducted in more damaging ways.
The cost of all this is environmental damage is incalculable and further disasters on the scale of the Aral Sea can only be prevented by mankind placing more modest demands on the Earth and having more modesty about our own roles, ambitions and abilities.
Let us also hope that mankind will come to its senses and that the potential for an even greater disaster – in effect what would be a worldwide Aral – that would follow from runaway global warming can yet be averted.
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