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It's a small world after all, say scientists warning of sand scarcity
The Christian Science Monitor ^ | September 14, 2017 | Eoin O'Carroll

Posted on 09/14/2017 2:53:17 PM PDT by Jagermonster

SURFACING MODELS OF THOUGHT

Out of the complexity of the global sand trade has emerged something of a butterfly effect, in which an economic decision in one place can wreak social and environmental havoc on the other side of the world.

If you’re looking for a way to express something that’s staggeringly hard to count, you won’t find a more reliable metaphor than grains of sand.

There is indeed quite a bit of it – about 7.5 quintillion grains on Earth’s beaches and deserts, according to one estimate. But if you think that this would be sufficient to supply an ever-expanding global economy with all the concrete, asphalt, glass, and semiconductors it could possibly desire, think again.

Our consumption of sand is outpacing our understanding of the economics and environmental impacts of extracting, transporting, and consuming it, finds research published last Thursday in the journal Science. Out of the complexity of the global sand trade has emerged something of a butterfly effect, in which an economic decision in one place can wreak social and environmental havoc on the other side of the world. Using a holistic, interdisciplinary approach called telecoupling, the researchers’ analysis of the global sand trade opens a window into the global interconnection of human and natural systems.

“The demand is skyrocketing, and the supply is increasingly limited. And also the consequences, both the environmental and the socioeconomic impact, are enormous,” says Jianguo “Jack” Liu, director of Michigan State University’s Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability and a co-author of the paper.

Sand mafias and vanishing islands

Modern society is literally built on sand. Most of our buildings and bridges are made with concrete...

(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: concrete; construction; rawmaterial; resources; sand
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Excerpted per rules.

I knew it! They must have put the U.S. Government in charge of the Sahara!
1 posted on 09/14/2017 2:53:17 PM PDT by Jagermonster
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To: Jagermonster

Here’s another Thread from last week, same subject:

https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3584009/posts


2 posted on 09/14/2017 2:54:58 PM PDT by Red Badger (Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
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To: Jagermonster

Venezuela is importing oil
and there’s a sand shortage.
We’re not doing it right.


3 posted on 09/14/2017 2:56:10 PM PDT by sparklite2 (I'm less interested in the rights I have than the liberties I can take.)
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To: Jagermonster
atmosphere
ozone
sand

Just great, another thing to obsess over.

4 posted on 09/14/2017 2:57:17 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (7.5 mos M/R joining dems to block Cons. agenda? No problem. Trump deal w/Dems, big problem! Ah NO!)
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To: Jagermonster

Anthropogenic Sand Shortage Cooling Warming Change!


5 posted on 09/14/2017 2:57:32 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: Jagermonster

Another reason to invest in beachfront property.


6 posted on 09/14/2017 2:59:08 PM PDT by dhs12345
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To: Jagermonster

Have we witnessed peak sand?


7 posted on 09/14/2017 2:59:54 PM PDT by miliantnutcase
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To: Jagermonster

Sand fleas hardest hit.


8 posted on 09/14/2017 3:00:24 PM PDT by Trillian
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To: Jagermonster

Too bad there isn’t a bullsh!t shortage.


9 posted on 09/14/2017 3:00:27 PM PDT by Impala64ssa (Islamophobic? NO! IslamABHORic)
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To: Jagermonster
umm.... 75% of the globe is covered with water... and underneath that water is... anyone? anyone? That's right, SAND!!

Now what happens when demand increases and supply decreased? Very good, price goes UP... making it profitable and worthwhile to grab sand from under the water, at ever-increasing depths.

Why must Liberals make everything far, far more difficult than it should be?

10 posted on 09/14/2017 3:01:43 PM PDT by Teacher317 (We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men)
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To: Jagermonster
The place I live and the last place I lived have tons of it.

Another crock of BS

11 posted on 09/14/2017 3:02:16 PM PDT by MarMema
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To: Jagermonster
Chips I made from sand are exiting the solar system aboard the Voyager Space Probes.(ahem) That's where some of it went.)
12 posted on 09/14/2017 3:03:40 PM PDT by blam
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To: Jagermonster

So, have we reached Peak Sand? We will now go into sand scarcity just as Global Warming, or, perhaps, a new Ice Age, or maybe Climate Change...depending on the hysteria of the moment, where our lack of sand will...uhm...make it easier to have sex on the beach?

I am surrounded by a sea of sand in Florida. My contents of my carpet alone would build enough iPhone IC’s to supply the globe. I will happily supply anybody! Bring money.


13 posted on 09/14/2017 3:04:14 PM PDT by Gen.Blather
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To: Jagermonster

Sand is clearly a social justice issue.

The White man’s hand controls the land with the sand!


14 posted on 09/14/2017 3:04:26 PM PDT by PGR88
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To: Jagermonster

New Mexico

15 posted on 09/14/2017 3:04:33 PM PDT by MarMema
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To: DoughtyOne

Saudi Arabia’s next big export. And we thought by ruining OPEC we could make them eat sand. SANDPEC, the world’s next great cartel.


16 posted on 09/14/2017 3:05:26 PM PDT by taterjay
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To: MarMema

Michigan

17 posted on 09/14/2017 3:05:36 PM PDT by MarMema
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To: dhs12345
Another reason to invest in beachfront property.

That's nickels and dime stuff. You should invest in North Africa, get thousands of acres of Sahara sand for real cheap! Over 3.6 million square miles of desert sand, equal to the size of China.

18 posted on 09/14/2017 3:05:39 PM PDT by roadcat
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To: Jagermonster

Rats!

The Mid-East wins again!


19 posted on 09/14/2017 3:07:02 PM PDT by G Larry (There is no great virtue in bargaining with the Devil)
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To: Jagermonster

20 posted on 09/14/2017 3:07:08 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You cannot invade the mainland US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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