Credit: Bibek Raj Shrestha
Over 20 Indonesian islands mysteriously disappear. One of the world s deadliest criminal syndicates rises to power. Eight cities the size of New York will be built every year for the next three decades. What connects them is sand, embedded in the concrete of nearly all of the world s buildings, roads, and cities, the glass in the windows, laptops and phone screens, and COVID-19 vaccine vials.
The unexamined true costs of sand - broadly, construction aggregates production has spurred a group of scientists to call for a stronger focus on understanding the physical dimension of sand use and extraction. They also suggest new ways to achieve economic and environmental justice.