Water, the most important foodstuff for all the earth’s inhabitants!

It’s a chilly morning at just 17 degrees. We quickly leave our dream camp and drive our horses north. The snow gates protect us from the west wind. Then the road bends sharply to the east again. The master really pushes us forward. My anemometer shows speeds of up to 50 KMH, i.e. wind force six. Under such ideal conditions, we fly through the steppe landscape in high spirits. To our left and right, violent thunderstorms are raging. Sometimes the clouds follow us and drop their water just behind or next to us. Only a few drops manage to reach us. After a few hours, we stop for a chocolate bar. A lonely, gnawed hut huddles in the grass. Broken construction machinery, a large rusty oil tank, a construction trailer and a crooked toilet block litter the area around the home. “Look what it says on the door of the outhouse,” says Tanja with a laugh. “Toilet entrance fee 10 tenge”, (185 tenge = 1 ?) I read. “And in the middle of the steppe. Well, business isn’t going to be good,” I say, also amused.

As the few villages on this route are not directly on the road, we are forced to take a detour to get some fresh water. When we park our bikes next to the magazine, the villagers ignore us for a moment. But curiosity gets the better of us after a while and two young girls, about 16 years old, come to ask us the usual questions. “Can we have your autograph?” they ask us shyly, holding out a notebook. “But of course,” we reply kindly and write a few nice sentences in their notebooks. They thank us profusely and run off giggling.

The biggest environmental disaster of the last century!

For hours we have been accompanied by huge wheat fields to the left and right of the road. They have such gigantic dimensions that they merge with the horizon. 25% of the entire country is used for agriculture, which accounts for 7.8% of Kazakhstan’s gross domestic product. As we cycle past the huge fields, we understand why 22% of the working population earn their living here. Nothing remains of the beautiful wild steppe. Everything has given way to cultivation, which is why there are apparently no more trees. Even before 1920, farming was mainly carried out by nomadic shepherds, of whom there are only a few here in the north. Under the former Soviet government, the cultivation of crops was more or less forced upon the Kazakhs through widespread mechanization and the construction of large irrigation systems.

When I see the gigantic areas under cultivation now, I think of the fatal consequences they have had over the decades. I’m thinking of the Aral Sea, which is only 430 kilometers away from here as the crow flies. The once fourth largest lake in the world has already been deprived of 70% of its water and it is assumed that it will dry up completely in 15 years if development continues at the same rate. Again and again I look to the side and watch the young wheat stalks bending in the wind. It is actually a beautiful sight, but at the same time it harbors a deadly danger.

For half a century, the water from the two large tributaries of the Aral Sea has been used to irrigate cotton fields covering several million hectares. The Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers have been the lifelines of the Aral Sea since time immemorial. Almost the entire cotton production of the former Soviet Union came from the farmland that was supplied with the necessary water by the two rivers. As a result, the rivers became rivulets and are no longer able to feed the Aral Sea with water. Salinization and pesticide pollution are still on the rise today. The newly formed shore areas of the ever-shrinking lake are covered by extensive salt deposits. The effects on our environment range from climate change with extreme temperatures in summer and winter to an increase in cancer and respiratory diseases. The infant mortality rate has also risen.

Due to the ever lower water level, all the banks are deserted and uninhabited. Many villages and large towns such as Aralsk and Muinak, which until 50 years ago were still located on the lake, are now kilometers away from the water. Repeated termite infestations in areas formerly covered by the lake also caused many inhabitants to migrate

The decline in the volume of water in the Aral Sea is leading to climatic changes throughout the region. The reduced thermal equalization effect due to the reduced water mass causes an increase in continentality. This leads to a shortening of the growing season, lower crop yields and a deterioration in the food situation of the population in the neighboring countries.

The United Nations describes the ecological tragedy as the greatest man-made environmental disaster of the 20th century.

I think about the fact that in some countries there are already wars over water. Water is the most important foodstuff for all the earth’s inhabitants. And here, one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world is traded for wheat and cotton. Although the master is giving us a good day today, my thoughts are going round in circles. How can we put a stop to such madness? Who even presumes to judge or condemn this situation? Me? A person whose insight into the global economic interplay is so limited that it cannot even be measured? Somehow it’s exasperating. Does humanity need so much cotton that it endangers itself in the process? Do we need so much wheat to survive? Couldn’t wheat and cotton cultivation be shifted to areas where it rains more? What would the countries bordering the Aral Sea, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, say if they were suddenly deprived of their predominant agricultural product? “Look at that! What’s that?” Tanja suddenly calls out, interrupting my thoughts. I lift my head, take my eyes off the asphalt in front of me and spot a small plane flying low over the fields. “That’s a double-decker. Can you see the clouds of mist it’s trailing?” “Yes.” “I think it’s spraying poison against insects and pests,” I reply.

Dear reader of our diary!!!

We are happy to write down our experiences here. We are happy to share our experiences with you. However, our journey also has a meaning for us, a deeper meaning. We no longer expose ourselves to such efforts just for the pleasure of it. We have experienced too much for that. Of course, our motivation is still to experience peoples, cultures, their customs and traditions. We are still exploring the unknown corners of our mother earth with an unquenched thirst for knowledge. It gives us energy and purpose in life. However, despite all the positives, we have also experienced many of the downsides of human civilization. We have seen with our own eyes a tremendous amount of human suffering and environmental destruction. It hurts us as if a knife were penetrating deep into our own skin. Our life project “The Great Journey” has taken on a different dimension for us for years now. During the trip, during our travel life, we also want to do something to balance things out. Giving something back to the troubled planet. Not out of selfishness or gratification or self-aggrandizement, but to really do something sustainable. To do something for us humans. For our children. So that they too can breathe fresh air tomorrow. So that they too can play in the sandpit in the open air and swim in clean rivers. We wish all beings on this wonderful, fantastic planet a future worth living. So we urge you to plant at least one tree a month for the Green Vein. You can find more information on our website. (One tree 5,- Euro) We can’t do it alone. We don’t have the financial means. Not yet. Only together can we make a difference. Our motivation lies not only in knowing that our texts are currently read by between 40,000 and 50,000 (forty thousand and fifty thousand) people a month. Our motivation is to work together to create something sustainable for our human future. Together means together with all of you. That’s why we write, that’s why you can read the texts without any financial investment. So we ask for a donation to the mountain forest project. A project that works without profit. A project we have been looking for years to give our name to. A project we trust. We ask you to donate trees. Trees that give us air to breathe. Habitat for insects and birds. Living space for the earth’s population in future years. The donations do not benefit us financially in the slightest. Everything you give goes to Mother Earth!!! We guarantee this with our life project and our name.

Donations are very welcome at:
Bergwaldprojekt e.V.
Keyword:Green vein
GLS Community Bank
SORT CODE 43060967
Account number 8022916200

Mother Earth is alive!

We look forward to your comments!