... is the title of a conference being held by The Geological Society in London today:
Global demand for sand has been growing rapidly, leading to concerns that current sand use may not be sustainable.— Iain stewart (@Profiainstewart) January 25, 2019
Join me at @geolsoc on Wed 30th Jan to debate 'Is sand extraction a sustainable business?’
More details here: https://t.co/GDxYc3dWE3 @PlymEarth
Recent lurid headlines have suggested that across the planet we are running out of sand. This echoes similar contemporary concerns regarding the physical exhaustion of other natural resources which have in the past been assumed to be essentially infinite. Sand has been an essential raw material from the beginning of urbanisation – a mineral that has formed the foundations of civilisation through construction of our buildings and infrastructure.
Within the last decade or two, in some parts of the world supply of sand has become constrained. In a very few places, sand has arguably become a conflict mineral. As a result, some commentators now suggest we are threatened by the unmanaged and rapid depletion in global stocks of this essential mineral...
The presumption of sand supply continuity requires re-evaluation. With contributions from key experts, this meeting will consider sand as a commodity, assessing the benefits and disbenefits of its extraction and use against the backdrop of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
