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A Tale Of Two Nations: The North Aral Sea Rebounds While The South Aral Sea Dries Up
July 12th, 2025
Via Eurasia Review, a look at how – once a thriving inland sea – the Aral has become a cautionary tale of ecological collapse, political neglect, and uneven recovery, as efforts in Kazakhstan are bringing about a slow revival in the north, while Uzbekistan’s extractivist priorities leave the south gasping for life: Give a man […]
Read more »How Cities Run Dry
September 24th, 2024
Via Yale Climate Connection, an article on how – with rivers, lakes, and reservoirs long strained by overuse now facing climate change – some cities are turning to water restrictions to get back on track: In April 2024, more than 9 million residents of Bogotá, Colombia’s capital city, were told to collect rainwater – if the city […]
Read more »An Elegy For The Amu Darya River
March 6th, 2024
Courtesy of Guernica, a look at how – in so many ways – human behavior is emptying the Amu Darya: Most mighty rivers enjoy a spectacular finale: a fertile delta, a mouth agape to the sea, a bay of plenty. But it had taken me almost a week to find where the Amu Darya comes […]
Read more »Japan’s Role in Healing the Aral Sea and Engaging Central Asia
February 20th, 2024
Courtesy of The Diplomat, a look at Japan’s role in healing the Aral Sea: Multiple international actors have become involved in helping Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan alleviate the devastating consequences of one of the worst human-made environmental disasters across the Central Asian region: the loss of the Aral Sea. One notable partner in these endeavors is […]
Read more »Here’s How the World Looks When We Use Up All of Our Water
November 28th, 2023
Courtesy of The New York Times, an article on the Aral Sea whose demise holds sobering lessons for our water scarce future: Walking toward the shrinking remnants of what used to be the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan was like entering hell. All around was a desert devoid of life, aside from scrubby saxaul trees. Dust […]
Read more »Reevaluating The Forgotten River Civilizations of Central Asia
October 5th, 2023
Via PNAS, an interesting paper examining the Aral Sea basin in Central Asia in which its major rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, were the center of advanced river civilizations, and a principal hub of the Silk Roads over a period of more than 2,000 y. The region’s decline has been traditionally attributed to […]
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