Turkey’s president promised Saturday to rescue the Marmara Sea from an outbreak of “sea snot” that is alarming marine biologists and environmentalists.
A huge mass of marine mucilage, a thick, slimy substance made up of compounds released by marine organisms, has bloomed in Turkey's Marmara, as well as in the adjoining Black and Aegean Seas.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said untreated waste dumped into the Marmara Sea and climate change had caused the sea snot bloom. Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city with some 16 million residents, and five other provinces, factories and industrial hubs border the sea.
Marine mucilage has reached unprecedented levels this year in Turkey. It is visible above the water as a slimy gray sheet along the shores of Istanbul and neighboring provinces. Underwater videos showed suffocated coral covered with sea snot.
Erdogan said he instructed the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization to coordinate with relevant institutions, municipalities and universities. Teams are inspecting waste water and solid waste facilities, along with other potential sources of pollution, he said.
“We will save our seas from this mucilage calamity, leading with the Marmara Sea,” Erdogan said. “We must take this step without delay.”
Marine experts say that human waste and industrial pollution is choking Turkey’s seas. They say the rise in water temperatures from climate change is contributing to the problem.
Ceres, an environmental nonprofit and sustainable-investing advocate, said banks are far more exposed to climate change than previously disclosed.
San Francisco has a population of over 883,000 residents, but it only has two cemeteries for the entire city. But neither of them perform active burials. So why are bodies showing up under the city?
Taiwan has hit 200 days without any domestically transmitted cases of COVID-19, highlighting the island’s continued success at keeping the virus under control even as cases surge in other parts of the world.
Forecasters say Hurricane Zeta is crashing onshore in southeastern Louisiana.
Justin Turner was removed from Los Angeles’ 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 6 of the World Series after registering Major League Baseball’s first positive coronavirus test in 59 days.
Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat, joined Cheddar to discuss what he feels is the need for Joe Biden to win the November election as the country faces the climate crisis.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has declared Japan will achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050 in his first policy speech since taking over from Shinzo Abe.
Deaths per day from the coronavirus in the U.S. are on the rise again, just as health experts had feared, and cases are climbing in nearly every state, despite assurances from President Donald Trump over the weekend.
Scientists say the moon's shadowed, frigid nooks and crannies may hold frozen water in more places and in larger quantities than previously suspected.
Heavily protected crews in Washington state have worked to destroy the first nest of so-called murder hornets discovered in the United States.
