For those who are wondering what the hell this is about. Here are some information I gathered :
Apparently rural exodus has strongly intensified in the last few decades in most developing countries. And cities require a whole lot of sand to get constructed (the big player here is concrete which is mostly made of sand, but it's also used in glass and in a lot of other everyday products). This has led to a razzia on sand accross several countries. Legal authorities have been forced to take measures to preserve ecosystems from being destroyed by the sand business. Thus inflating sand prices even further and leading to black market and gangs taking over the supply of that now rare resource.
... my personnal thoughts on the subject :
This should really be a red flag concerning the current unsustainable rate our society is evolving : we've managed to turn sand (one of the most common resource on the planet) into something rare and valuable. We are currently riding a train without brakes going at more than 300 km/h and going straight into a giant wall of concrete (no pun intended).
... But economists are not afraid : their models all agree, business shall continue as usual...
PS : I copied pasted an answer I made on an other post, thinking maybe people would like to have a short summary to explain the situation.
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For those who are wondering what the hell this is about. Here are some information I gathered :
Apparently rural exodus has strongly intensified in the last few decades in most developing countries. And cities require a whole lot of sand to get constructed (the big player here is concrete which is mostly made of sand, but it's also used in glass and in a lot of other everyday products). This has led to a razzia on sand accross several countries. Legal authorities have been forced to take measures to preserve ecosystems from being destroyed by the sand business. Thus inflating sand prices even further and leading to black market and gangs taking over the supply of that now rare resource.
... my personnal thoughts on the subject :
This should really be a red flag concerning the current unsustainable rate our society is evolving : we've managed to turn sand (one of the most common resource on the planet) into something rare and valuable. We are currently riding a train without brakes going at more than 300 km/h and going straight into a giant wall of concrete (no pun intended).
... But economists are not afraid : their models all agree, business shall continue as usual...
PS : I copied pasted an answer I made on an other post, thinking maybe people would like to have a short summary to explain the situation.