Monday, 9 November 2020

Overuse of sand ‘one of the major sustainability challenges of the 21st century’

SandStories aims to raise awareness of the "looming global sand crisis": 
SandStories works to create awareness about the urgent need to manage our consumption of sand as a resource. We aim to bridge the gap between science, policy and industry by identifying and promoting potential solutions to the looming sand crisis.

 A new book is in the pipeline: 

Sand has always been perceived to be a symbol of abundance in many cultures. It is popularly believed to be both renewable as well as inexhaustible. This book will challenge that perception and draw the reader's attention to a common yet surprising phenomenon of the scarcity of sand as a resource. From glass to urban infrastructure, from silicon chips to pharmaceutical products, sand is used in mind-boggling volumes. But extensive consumption has resulted in several social, environmental, economic and geopolitical impacts across the globe. Although specific industries have already begun to find alternatives due to shortage of sand, the gravity of the situation hasn't percolated into the mainstream yet. This book attempts to fill that void and make the subject readily accessible to those who wish to delve deeper.
  

Whilst Aggregate Industries’ business model relies on digging up precious farmland to extract more of this limited resource, some companies are operating in a more sustainable way; we posted about one recently, who stated:
It largely goes unreported that sand is on the endangered natural resource list. Globally around 13 billion tonnes of sand are mined for construction and the impact on the environment is vast and unsustainable. 
Natural resources will not be able to cope with on-going demand, but there are alternative solutions that are sustainable.
Of course, there's another way too:
 
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