Jan. 21, 2022 – A recent article about sand in Discover is a bit of an anomaly. Like many articles of this ilk, the author sounds the alarm about an international shortage of sand, but smartly makes the point that “given how reliant we are on it, putting a stop to mining in its entirety is impossible — and it wouldn’t be the solution either. She goes on to state that “to meet increasing global demand without harming the environment, closely monitoring and regulating sand resources is necessary” and proposes the “use of sand from Greenland’s melting ice sheet – which occurs due to climate change – to meet global demand” as well as “creating technologies to make desert sand usable and replacing natural sand with crushed rock sand, rice husk ash or recycled plastic.” Good ideas, but what about the cost and logistics of doing so? The only thing I didn’t see is reducing the permitting burden and opening up a greater harvest of existing sand resources already in place.” But the article is a start.
Let’s Talk About Sand
