The Aral Sea is a perfect example of how humankind throughout the years has changed the Earth's environment.

The comparison of these two satellite images, taken more than 20 years apart, clearly shows the environmental disaster that has struck.

Between 1960 and 1990, water was diverted from the Aral Sea basin for agricultural and irrigational purposes by the Soviet Union.

Once the world's fourth largest lake and most fertile region, the Aral sea has lost roughly 40 percent of its surface area.

This has sparked a disastrous chain of events- the weather has changed; salt sand and dust from the exposed lake blows across the region wreaking great damages to human health and agriculture.

Experts predict that by the year 2015, the Aral Sea could totally disappear.