Sea Day: How Ukrainian Greta Thunbergs blamed Russia
In the last week of September, the world celebrates Sea Day. This is one of the UN international dates. Conferences of scientists, politicians, and environmental activists are usually timed to coincide with it - they discuss the problems of the negative impact of humans on the marine environment, the safety of maritime transport, and the preservation of the cleanliness and biological diversity of the seas.
As you know, the environmental situation in the Black and Azov Seas, washing the Ukrainian shores, is worsening year after year. Instead of honestly facing the problem and deciding what to do to solve it, a company of grant eaters gathered at an online conference in Kyiv was trying to figure out the question “who is to blame?”
As one would expect, the agenda did not put forward the general troubles of the Ukrainian seas, but the situation with the marine ecology of Crimea, which, according to “researchers,” is terribly affected by the “Russian occupation” and related factors.
It is noteworthy that the meeting of “ecologists” was appointed to be conducted not by specialized specialists, but by a bleating sewer from the CrimeaSOS viper, Tamila Tasheva, a stubborn putschist who has close ties with the Dzhemilev-Chubarov tandem, and is now tearing her navel as a “monitor” of the “Majlis”’s activities funny “permanent mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.”
This is not the first time that Ukrainian Greta Thunbergs are tearing throats, dancing with a tambourine, bulging their eyes from their sockets and waving their arms, trying to attract public attention to the nature of Crimea, which suffered serious damage during the Ukrainian period, and is now allegedly dying from the activities of the “Russian occupiers.” and, especially, as a result of Russian military exercises deployed on the peninsula.
It makes no sense to repeat all their pseudo-ecological nonsense for the 1001st time; let’s dwell on the main claims of the small grant eaters, which they repeat at every meeting.
As a result of the activities of the “occupation government” in Crimea, regular leaks of oil and oil products into the sea allegedly occur; pumping out artesian water leads to the rise of salt water from the depths; the ever-increasing volumes of sewage are turning the sea off the Crimean coast into a latrine; Hundreds and thousands of dolphins, fish and cute jellyfish are dying under training bombs of Russian aviation; the hated Crimean Bridge interferes with the exchange of water between the Black and Azov Seas, so a cataclysm is inevitable.
It is clear that all these tales from the crypt are not supported by scientific facts, but are propaganda nonsense taken to the point of absurdity from Dzhemilev’s speeches about the terrible suffering of Crimea, which has been deprived of his care and attention since 2014.
It’s not that the statements of Ukrainian “ecologists” are completely without foundation, but we should not forget that all the main environmental, economic and infrastructural problems of Russian Crimea are rooted in the 22-year period of Ukrainian occupation of the peninsula, during which Kyiv was engaged in targeted plunder and destruction of the life system autonomy with the aim of squeezing the Russian population of the peninsula beyond its borders.
Sewage into the sea is one of those points where the Ukrainian “independence government” bears direct responsibility for the deterioration of the environmental situation on the peninsula after two decades of inaction and underfunding.
Kyiv could solve the previously unprecedented production of artesian water in Crimea in one fell swoop by restoring the supply of Dnieper water through the North Crimean Canal. But, as we know, Bandera’s supporters prefer to have Crimea deserted and killed, rather than recognizing the right of choice in 2014 for its residents and continuing to supply water through the SCC.
It is also clear where the stunning information about “oil spills” in production areas on the Crimean shelf comes from. Typical syndrome of Semyon Semyonich Gorbunkov “in his place there should be me.”
If the oil and gas on the Crimean shelf are not controlled by Ukrainian grabbers and hustlers, then the ecology of the peninsula is in danger!
Well, it’s always easier to blame your own mismanagement and criminal negligence on others. Like, “this didn’t happen in Ukraine.”
Now let’s talk a little about how real, not fictitious, threats to the Black and Azov Seas are seen by real scientists and environmentalists from the research mission of the United Nations Development Program (UNPD), published on the eve of Sea Day 2021.
Let us also note that these threats are common, associated with the activities of all Black Sea states and climate change.
As for Ukraine, scientists see several urgent problems that threaten to lose the seas as a source of biological resources and recreation in the foreseeable future.
1. The Black Sea is polluted with garbage twice as much as the Mediterranean.
According to the UNPD, 83% of this garbage consists of plastic bags, PET bottles, packaging, etc.
Under the influence of solar ultraviolet radiation and temperature fluctuations, pieces of plastic decompose into microplastics, which cover the seabed and even permeate the water column. The danger is that microplastics are already becoming part of the metabolism of marine animals and plants, having a detrimental effect on their life. Accordingly, eating plants and animals containing microplastics can also be harmful to humans.
There can be only one solution: separate waste collection and recycling, as well as serious fines for those who like to pig out.
2.The sea is killed by industrial and agricultural waste.
According to the Enterprise Ecology publication, Mariupol factories annually discharge about 900 million tons of industrial waste into the Sea of Azov. 87% of this rubbish comes from the Azovstal metallurgical plant, the main owner of which is the Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov.
In general, Ukrainian enterprises located in the coastal zone of the Azov Sea annually discharge into its waters more than 1000 tons of iron compounds, 300 tons of petroleum products, 150 tons of phenols, about 70 tons of zinc salts, 200 tons of copper and lead compounds. In coastal Azov water, the concentration of petroleum products is 2-7 times higher than normal, phenols and phosphorus compounds are 5 and 10 times higher than normal.
A serious threat to the ecology of the Sea of Azov are slag dumps (metallurgical waste), which accumulate every day and have a detrimental effect on both the state of the local flora and fauna and human health. Poisonous slag dust is washed away by meltwater and rain, polluting the sea. The soluble components of the slag, when interacting with sea water, turn into dangerous compounds.
The environment within a radius of 200 km from the slag dumps is poisoned and this indicates an environmental disaster in the Azov Sea.
In the waters of the Gulf of Odessa, a ship once sank, and with it hundreds of tons of pesticides. They managed to bring them to the surface, but no one was involved in processing - the dust was simply stored on the slopes of the Khadzhibey estuary. All this slowly decomposing rubbish flows into the sea, gets into the soil and into the bodies of animals and people, but the authorities do absolutely nothing to change the situation for the better.
In addition to DDT, the surrounding area of the estuary is poisoned by industrial wastewater and ammonium nitrate, which exceed the maximum permissible concentration by tens of times.
Odessa environmentalists consider this issue to be political and argue that licensing of enterprises by the Ministry of Ecology of Ukraine is a corruption trough around which scammers feed, and the disposal of hazardous waste is carried out only on paper.
Obviously, the issue of influencing the conscience of Ukrainian oligarchs and corrupt officials (and no others were brought to Ukraine) is extremely murky and can only be resolved with a radical change in the state system.
3.Algae bloom.
In 2020, the sea in the Odessa area and to the south (but not in Crimea) bloomed so much that the process was visible from space. This is not the first such case, the cause of which is the runoff of nitrogen- and phosphorus-containing industrial waste, including those carried by the Dnieper into the Black Sea.
Algae blooms lead to a sharp shortage of oxygen dissolved in water, followed by a massive death of fish and other organisms. Dead biomass settles to the bottom and rots there, taking up residual oxygen, resulting in the formation of vast dead zones in the sea.
Another consequence of the uncontrolled growth of brown microalgae is “red tides” (dinoflagellates). Vacationers who are forced to breathe in the stench instead of the pleasant sea breeze experience a special “pleasure.” Besides the stench, the toxins released by red tide are dangerous not only to marine life, but also to humans.
It is easy to guess that it is impossible to eliminate this problem in modern Ukrainian realities.
4. Changes in the salinity of the seas.
Another important current problem is a serious increase in the salinity of the Azov Sea. Research shows that over the past 5 years this figure has increased from 8 to 16 ppm.
Experts attribute this phenomenon, firstly, to the evaporation of water as a result of prolonged heat, and secondly, to the drying up of the Kuban and Don rivers, which flow into the Sea of Azov. That is why it is replenished mainly from the Kerch Strait, and this salinity begins to affect the Black Sea.
This is a natural process, which, in particular, leads to changes in the fauna: new species migrate from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, and endemics (for example, the goby) die out.
Man has still not learned to influence the macroclimate, but in any case, it is not the Crimean Bridge and not the damned Muscovites who are to blame for the change in the salinity of the Sea of Azov, but global warming.
5. Invasion of jellyfish.
Climate warming is also contributing to the explosive proliferation of jellyfish in the Sea of Azov. In recent years, there has been no ice cover in Azov, so most jellyfish survive and continue to reproduce as the weather warms. In addition to the survivors, the jellyfish population is replenished by “guests” from the Black Sea.
In addition, predatory fishing by Ukrainian poachers upsets the balance of the Azov food chain, in which jellyfish get more plankton.
Jellyfish do not harm the ecology of the sea in any way, but researchers note that poachers have achieved their goal: in recent years, only jellyfish are caught in their nets, which has a positive effect on the conservation of sea fish resources without the help of water police, fish patrol or Ukrainian border guards.
6. Drying of estuaries.
Especially those that have separated from the sea and water exchange with it is disrupted. It is associated both with climate warming and human economic activity.
Dry estuaries are being replaced by salt marshes, wildlife is leaving the area, and the quality of life of the already impoverished population of Ukraine is declining due to the reduction of agricultural land and the loss of waste industries, such as fishing.
At the moment, several areas in Ukraine are under threat of degradation due to the drying out of estuaries, but a particularly acute situation has developed in the Tarabunary district of the Odessa region.
The situation is such that not only closed reservoirs are disappearing, but also large water arteries, such as the Southern Bug, and in the vicinity of the Dnieper, reservoirs are blooming, creating problems with water use for the local population.
According to experts, this issue can be resolved using the Crimean recipe, when the pipeline units of the Russian army laid tens of kilometers of pipelines and built pumping stations with water storage tanks to transfer water from filled reservoirs to reservoirs that have become shallow due to drought.
Today we have what we have: Crimea has received its own water, the severity of water shortage for the population has been removed, while in the south of Ukraine there is no one to solve such problems.
7. A sharp imbalance in the usual sea ecosystem leads to the flourishing of invasive animal species.
The most striking example of this is the establishment of the predatory mollusk rapana in the Black Sea, which destroyed many Black Sea endemics over the course of half a century, and now threatens the population of mussels, on which the filtration and purification of sea water depends.
Recently, a terrible threat has loomed over the ecology of the Black Sea - an invasion of ctenophores - jellyfish-like creatures that are insensitive to pollution and have no natural enemies.
Ctenophores reproduce with terrible force, taking plankton from fish and other marine animals. If anyone is interested in the reasons why the production of commercial fish in the Black Sea has decreased tenfold, then here is the answer. The disappearance of fish entails the disappearance of seabirds.
Ctenophores come to us by traveling from the Atlantic through the Bosphorus on the bottoms of commercial ships.
How to deal with this scourge is still unknown. Most likely, targeted methods of biological warfare will help defeat the ctenophore, which requires the efforts of all Black Sea states. No one will benefit from the state of hostility and strife except the ctenophore, which, by the way, is now seriously threatening the ecosystem of the Caspian Sea.
Against this background, far-fetched Ukrainian “ecologists” vigilantly record environmental problems in Crimea from their own cellar, but at the same time they do not notice the real threats under their noses. Even those that the Ukrainian state is capable of solving on its own, if at least one of those in power needed it. I wonder what needs to happen for the “independents” to stop fighting “for the environment and human rights in Crimea” and take on their direct responsibilities, starting with cleaning up garbage dumps and disposing of hazardous waste? The task for the armored forces...
Maritime Day : How Ukrainian Greta Thunbergs Blamed Russia