Disaster by design : the Aral Sea and its lessons for sustainability
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Disaster by design : the Aral Sea and its lessons for sustainability
（Research in social problems and public policy : a research annual / editor, Michael Lewis, v. 20）
Emerald, 2012
Available at 10 libraries
Note
Includes bibliographical references
Description and Table of Contents
Description
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.
Table of Contents
List of Contributors.
Acknowledgments.
Maps of Uzbekistan and the Greater Aral Sea Region.
List of Tables and Figures.
List of maps.
Preface.
Section one The Multiple Disasters of the Aral Sea.
An Overview of the Aral Sea Disaster.
Going with the Flow: Economic Impacts from the Overuse of Irrigation.
Pollution and Salinization: Compounding the Aral Sea Disaster.
Death and Rebirth Island: Secrets in the U.S.S.R.'S Culture of Contamination.
Potential Climate and Hydrological Changes in the Aral Sea Region.
The Significance of Being Downstream: Uzbek Concerns Over the Rogun Dam.
Section Two The Aral Disaster in Historical Perspective.
A Last Movement for a Lost Sea.
Aral Sea Analogs in the American West.
Disaster by Design: The Multiple Caused Catastrophes of the Aral Sea.
Section Three Cotton, Cotton Everywhere, But not a Drop to Drink: Agriculture as the Villain.
What went Wrong: The Case of Un-Ecological Agriculture.
The Nonarable Aral: Loss of Productivity in Uzbek Agriculture.
Cotton in our Ears: Water, Agriculture, and Climatic Change in the Post Aral Context.
Water Footprints: Integrated Water Resource Management to the Rescue in the Aral Sea Basin.
Section Four Adapting to Catastrophe: Cascading Social Impacts of the Aral Sea Disaster.
The Tragedy of the Aral: Counting on Cotton, a Region Loses its People.
Reflections on Growing Up in the Karakalpakstan Region.
An Unhealthy Place to Live: Prioritizing Public Health and Addressing Environmental Contamination in Karakalpakstan.
A Physician's Observations of Karakalpak Health.
Ecological Change in the Aral Region: Adaptations by the Spoonbill and Black-Crowned Night Heron.
Environmental Change as a Threat to the Khorezm Heritage.
Whose Disaster is it Anyway? Romancing the World Heritage Status in Uzbekistan.
Section Five:Designing Solutions: Social, Ecological and Technological Approaches.
New Thinking and New Approaches: A Bioregional Response to the Lost Aral Sea.
Renewable Social Energy: Mahalla.
Clearing the Pipes: Providing Potable Water through Well Restoration.
Renewing with Renewables: Direct Solar Energy Use in Developing Countries.
Getting the Salt Out: Innovative Solar Technologies for Rural Clean Water.
Renewable Energy as a Key Factor for Sustainable Development in Uzbekistan.
Permaculture Restoration of the Aral Sea Watershed.
Section Six Lessons of the Aral Sea Disaster: Implications for Social Learning.
Aral Sea Demise as a Dry Run for Climate Change: From Cumulative to Cascading Impacts.
Highlands-to-Sea Cooperation in the Aral Sea Basin: Linking or Sinking?.
About the Authors.
Disaster by Design: The Aral Sea and its Lessons for Sustainability.
Research in Social Problems and Public Policy.
Research in Social Problems and Public Policy.
Copyright page.
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