The Sands of Time
Are They on Our Side?
What commodity, extracted from the earth, legally and illegally anchors our current lifestyle yet is typically ignored by the public? This unique commodity, familiar to everyone, seemingly as infinite as grains of sand on a beach, with demand accelerating as the Global South continues to prosper, is, in fact, sand.
As humble as this commodity is, it is essential in meeting the needs of our modern world. To meet these needs, industries annually consume 50 billion tons of sand and its production partner, gravel. These inputs are combined with water and cement to produce concrete. To provide a sense of how much sand and gravel this is, imagine an 88-foot wide and high wall built utilizing a year’s consumption of these two commodities. Such a wall would be long enough to encircle the earth. To provide another perspective, aside from water and air, sand, if measured by weight, is the most utilized input. If you’re like me, you were ignorant of the extent sand plays in today’s modern economy. As we all know, it is a crucial ingredient in concrete, underpinning the world’s vast construction industry, beach revitalization, fueling tourism, glass production, enabling us to view the world from our EV while driving on streets built with sand, gravel, and cement, and silicon chips, making today’s surge in all things tech possible. Yet, I had never stopped to think how much sand those uses require, especially for construction. Had you? River sand is typically preferred for construction over sources closer to oceans because of its lower salinity.
While seemingly simple and unassuming, sand is very complex as we dig deeper. In rivers, it acts like a sponge, contributing to groundwater replenishment. Also, excessive sand extraction can lead to erosion, saltwater intrusion of rivers, reduced protection from storm surges, and loss of biodiversity. With increased extraction, these side effects become more pronounced. To give a sense of the growing demand for construction sand, China used more cement (mixing it with sand and gravel) in three recent years (2011–2013) than the United States used in the entire 20th Century [See]. As the world’s most populous, fast-growing economy, will India eclipse China’s feat? And what will be the ecological consequences? University of Amsterdam researchers concluded we are already consuming river/construction sand at an unsustainable rate.
Like other activities such as overfishing and emitting pollution into the atmosphere and waterways, river sand extraction appears to be an example of the Tragedy of the Commons, where collectively, individuals have an incentive to overuse a resource when measures are not in place to limit its use. This is particularly the case for river sand mined illegally for construction. However, unlike pollution and overfishing, utilization of river sand tends to fly beneath the radar. After all, it’s just sand, is what Halinishi Yusuf thought during her childhood growing up in a Kenyan village relying on sand extraction for the residents’ prosperity. However, she has changed her mind due to her study of the environmental impacts of irresponsible sand harvesting. While Ms. Yusuf’s view has changed, most people probably still believe it is just sand and there is an infinite supply, introducing a unique complication in sustainably using sand — it is anonymous. If a problem arises from sand extraction, the problem may be attributed to a higher-profile problem such as climate change.
Irresponsible river sand harvesting is just another in a long list of initially unnoticed or ignored adverse impacts of human activity we now need to cope with. Fossil fuel use probably tops the list of items needing attention, but anonymous sand needs to be added. However, there is a bright spot. We are a curious species, and when a problem arises, we want to find a solution. Fortunately, we often do. For example, substituting natural gas for coal has made a measurable difference in carbon emissions. Nonetheless, many would object to the continued use of fossil fuels and the oil industry hyping a solution favorable to them, but what is the best way of accelerating environmental progress? For me, making fossil use a second-best solution for consumers is the answer, and that takes exercising our curiosity at a higher level.
For example, EVs, with their significant efficiency advantage over fossil fuel-powered vehicles, are impressive, and today’s EVs are substantially improved over those from just 10 to 15 years ago, serving as an example of what our quest to improve things can accomplish. Behind these advances are a mindboggling number of individuals working on improving EVs. The results have been a steady reduction of the cost of EVs while simultaneously improving their range, but there is still a long way to go before EVs are the first choice of most consumers. Hopefully, we can witness similar improvements in river sand extraction, but until the public stops thinking it’s just sand, we have a problem.
I look forward to the advances that await us as the sands of time pass through the hourglass. Hopefully, time is on our side.
