The World Is Built on Sand... and We're Running Out

Some might call sand coarse, rough and irritating, but there’s no denying that it’s used everywhere: from glass to asphalt, sand is a key ingredient for all sorts of materials in construction and technology. But this heavy reliance on sand means that we’re also reaching a limit on this seemingly infinite resource.

Hosted by: Hank Green

SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It's called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at http://www.scishowtangents.org
----------
Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow
----------
Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever:

Jb Taishoff, Bd_Tmprd, Harrison Mills, Jeffrey Mckishen, James Knight, Christoph Schwanke, Jacob, Matt Curls, Sam Buck, Christopher R Boucher, Eric Jensen, Lehel Kovacs, Adam Brainard, Greg, Ash, Sam Lutfi, Piya Shedden, KatieMarie Magnone, Scott Satovsky Jr, Charles Southerland, charles george, Alex Hackman, Chris Peters, Kevin Bealer
----------
Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet?
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow
Tumblr: http://scishow.tumblr.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow
----------
Sources:
https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/rising-demand-sand-calls-resource-governance
https://geology.com/stories/13/sand/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/29/the-world-is-running-out-of-sand
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sand.html
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191108-why-the-world-is-running-out-of-sand
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/world-needs-get-serious-about-managing-sand-says-un-report#
https://www.rsc.org/images/Construction_tcm18-114530.pdf
https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/sand-mine/
https://vaasphalt.org/asphalt-facts/why-choose-asphalt-2/#:~:text=There%20are%20more%20than%202.2,be%20America's%20pavement%20of%20choice
https://na.unep.net/geas/getUNEPPageWithArticleIDScript.php?article_id=110
https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/17/13660014/miami-beach-sand-erosion-nourishment-climate-change
http://beachnourishment.wcu.edu/
https://amti.csis.org/island-tracker/china/#Other%20Features
https://www.americangeosciences.org/critical-issues/faq/what-frac-sand
https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/28163/SandSust.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0025326X19303868#s0005
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/world-facing-global-sand-crisis-180964815/
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/world-needs-get-serious-about-managing-sand-says-un-report#
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1477370816649627
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5456819/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-0001-2.pdf
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-018-0218-6
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950061816313927
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/business/concrete-cement-manufacturing-green-emissions.html
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/45267909_Recycled_Concrete_as_Aggregate_for_Structural_Concrete_Production
https://eos.org/articles/sand-from-greenlands-melting-ice-sheet-could-bring-in-business
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-018-0218-6
https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-07-19/concrete-production-uses-ton-sand-and-emits-lot-carbon-here-are-some-greener
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-24630-6
https://www.gatesnotes.com/about-bill-gates/concrete-in-china