The Aral Sea was once a vast body of water between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, supporting millions of people through fishing and trade. Then, in the 1960s, rivers feeding the sea were diverted for massive cotton farming projects. The plan promised wealth. Instead, it delivered destruction. Within decades, the sea shrank into toxic puddles. Fishing towns were left miles from water. Ships rusted where waves once crashed. Salt and chemicals from the exposed seabed blew into the air, poisoning crops,