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Sand Shortage
Nov. 20th, 2019 03:07 amHere's an article I was reading about an lesser known environmental issue
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191108-why-the-world-is-running-out-of-sand
The title is somewhat inaccurate as can be understood by reading the article itself, but there do seem to be a number of issues regarding the supply of this seemingly abundant resource. Apparently the type of sand being used in concrete, glass, and electronics is only available in certain locations. I have to wonder if this article doesn't misrepresent this issue somewhat regarding the first world not using sand that's extracted harmfully in the third world. A lot of harmfully extracted third world resources end up in the first world, so I'm not sure why harmfully dredged river sand would be any exception. Regardless of where it's being used, though, this seems to be more of an environmental issue than might be assumed given the perceived ubiquity of this resource.
While this is not as pressing an issue as climate change or aquifer depletion, it still seems concerning given the many industrial uses we depend on sand for.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191108-why-the-world-is-running-out-of-sand
The title is somewhat inaccurate as can be understood by reading the article itself, but there do seem to be a number of issues regarding the supply of this seemingly abundant resource. Apparently the type of sand being used in concrete, glass, and electronics is only available in certain locations. I have to wonder if this article doesn't misrepresent this issue somewhat regarding the first world not using sand that's extracted harmfully in the third world. A lot of harmfully extracted third world resources end up in the first world, so I'm not sure why harmfully dredged river sand would be any exception. Regardless of where it's being used, though, this seems to be more of an environmental issue than might be assumed given the perceived ubiquity of this resource.
While this is not as pressing an issue as climate change or aquifer depletion, it still seems concerning given the many industrial uses we depend on sand for.
