From Ecological Soviet-Era Ruin, a Sea Is Reborn

from the San Diego Union-Tribune (Registration Required)

AKESPE, Kazakhstan (Associated Press) -- Standing on the shore under the relentless Central Asian sun, Badarkhan Prikeyev drew on a cigarette and squinted into the distance as one fishing boat after another returned with the day's catch.

Until recently, this spot where the fish merchant was standing, in a man-made desert at the edge of nowhere, represented one of the world's worst environmental calamities.

Now fresh water was lapping at his boots, proclaiming an environmental miracle-- the return of the Aral Sea.