In 1960, the Aral Sea was the fourth-largest inland lake in the world. Located on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea played host to a fishing industry that supported some 3.5 million people around its shoreline. Then things began to change. In 1959, officials in the Soviet Union diverted the two streams that fed the Aral Sea so that they could irrigate cotton fields. While the cotton grew, the Aral Sea shrank. Within a few years, the lake began to evaporate and by 2014 most of the former lake bed was a desert. People moved away. Lively cities became ghost towns and now the only tourists that visit this once popular area are those who enjoy seeing ecological...