The Murder of the Aral Sea

Al Gore has recently advocated that we need “Global Governance” to combat climate change (formally known as global warming.) People such as Al Gore seem to think that centralized government control is the key to be friendly to the environment. But what does history tell us? Does centralized government control help the environment?

One of the greatest man-made ecological disasters was caused under the central planning of the Soviet government. The Aral Sea was once the fourth largest inland saline body of water. The Arial Sea was equivalent to one of the United States great lakes. For generations that lake was used for fishing and recreation.

In the 1940s the Soviets decided to build cannels in a misguided attempt to improve agriculture. Many Soviet scientists by the 1960s understood that the government policies were killing the Aral Sea. However, it was politically dangerous to speak out. The official Soviet government response to the dying of the Aral Sea was that it was nature’s fault.

The Soviets also used the Sea as a dumping ground for biological and chemical weapons.

The Aral Sea is now pretty much gone. Over 80% of the Sea has disappeared. All the fish are now dead. What was once a lush area has been reduced to a barren wasteland. Rusting fishing ships serve as monuments to government planning.

I can only imagine what will be the result if we allow a central government to manage “climate change.”