Fields of sinkholes instead of beaches, roads swept away by floods, large industrial ponds instead of a sea and one overarching question: What can be done so that things don’t get even worse in the next 20 years?

Source: www.haaretz.com

This interactive really is a dramatic look at Israel’s endangered natural wonder, the Dead Sea, and explores the reasons why it is in danger of dying. Now if you are a wise guy like my students you are asking “How can it die if it is already the Dead Sea?”  Historically, we have undervalued the role of salty lakes in the broader ecosystem and physical landscape.  Humanity has searched for freshwater to fuel our settlements and has considered them ‘dead weight’ and not ‘living waters.’  The Dead Sea isn’t alone; hypersaline lakes such as the Aral Sea and the Great Salt Lake have also undergone transformations.