Earth Is Running Out of Sand - Mateo

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a39880899/earth-is-running-out-of-sand/

I read a Popular Mechanics article called "Earth Is Running Out of Sand ... Which Is, You Know, Pretty Concerning" which is linked above. It covers first the importance of sand to the global economy and especially the construction industry. As the second most used resource behind only water and is a key part of industrial development and is used in buildings and roads everywhere and will continue to be used at an ever-increasing rate as Africa and India continue to industrialize.  Not only will the global demand for sand continue to increase but the current demand for sand has already caused the creation of a mafia-run black market for sand. 

This pretty much came as a complete surprise to me because not only had I not really considered sand a finite resource before this but also I had just never thought about really how much sand exists in our everyday lives from the glass in our homes and our cars to the silicone in our phones and the concrete on our sidewalks sand is much much more pervasive than I had really thought. The solutions to this included substituting mining by-products for sand in construction in addition to recycling demolished materials. But nonetheless, these don't seem like they could really supply the quantities that would be needed to supply the further industrialization of Africa and India so this will likely be a crisis that will come to the forefront of the news soon.

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