Do you remember the USSR?

I was born in 1972, so I grew up in the cold war. The propaganda at the time was constantly telling us how horrible it was to live on the other side (for both sides, that is :} ), and even now I'm still curious of what was really happening behind the iron curtain...

Here is a glimpse of what was the ecological situation in the USSR (article from nov. 1995, and here is another article from 1991).

"...
The ecological and social, and economic processes occurring in the region of the Aral Sea today give every reason to call the area an ecological catastrophe zone. In the last 30 years the Aral Sea's water level has fallen by 14 metres; its surface area has suffered a reduction of 40%; the volume of its water mass has dropped by 65%; and its average salinity has increased 2.5 times.(1) The Aral Sea previously yielded 7% of all fish caught in the former USSR; now it has no value for the fishing industry whatsoever.
..." [from: Europe-Asia Studies, Nov. 1995]

"...
The unrestrained use of mineral fertilisers on the soil has led to a situation in which irrigated land has become not merely polluted but a source of pollution for the environment.
...
As a result of this, the overall death rate in the region has increased twofold in the past 25 years, and infant mortality has risen from 44.7 per 1000 births in 1965 to 71.5 per 1000 in 1986 (and, in places, to 80-90 per 1000)
..." [from: Europe-Asia Studies, Nov. 1995]

"...
The economies of the sovereign republics of the former Soviet empire affect the global biosphere to a major extent, given their very size and the extremely high concentration of the world's natural resources found there. The destruction of the environment in this vast portion of the biosphere is of concern to the entire world community.
..." [from: Perspective Volume II, No 2 (November 1991)]

Sounds funny today, where the global warming propaganda is always blaming the western countries for practically everything... :>

However the situation improved with the fall of the USSR:
"...

Adramatic change in the ecological conscience of Soviet society gives hope that, in the future, public organizations may play an important role improving the environmental situation. Since 1988, ecological organizations of various types have been mushrooming, attracting a growing number of participants.

The growth of social and political activity has resulted in the elimination of official restrictions on topics open to public discussion and protest. A new political and social climate now permits challenges to a formerly "taboo" sector—the Soviet military.

..." [from: Perspective Volume II, No 2 (November 1991)]