For nearly 50 years, Turkmenistan has had a fiery reminder of an idea that looks good on paper doesn’t always pan out the way you’d like it to when it comes to the real world application of said idea. Look no further than the outskirts of a Derweze, a small village of 350 people in the middle of the Karakum desert. It is there a 230-foot-wide crater has been burning off methane gas since 1971.
