We Are Running Out of Sand 264
HughPickens.com writes John R. Gillis writes in the NYT that to those of us who visit beaches only in summer, beaches seem as permanent a part of our natural heritage as the Rocky Mountains but shore dwellers know that beaches are the most transitory of landscapes, and sand beaches the most vulnerable of all. Today, 75 to 90 percent of the world's natural sand beaches are disappearing, due partly to rising sea levels and increased storm action, but also to massive erosion caused by the human development of shores. The extent of this global crisis is obscured because so-called beach nourishment projects attempt to hold sand in place (PDF) and repair the damage by the time summer people return, creating the illusion of an eternal shore. But the market for mined sand in the U.S. has become a billion-dollar annual business, growing at 10 percent a year since 2008. Interior mining operations use huge machines working in open pits to dig down under the earth's surface to get sand left behind by ancient glaciers.
One might think that desert sand would be a ready substitute, but its grains are finer and smoother; they don't adhere to rougher sand grains, and tend to blow away. As a result, the desert state of Dubai brings sand for its beaches all the way from Australia. Huge sand mining operations are emerging worldwide, many of them illegal, happening out of sight and out of mind, as far as the developed world is concerned. "We need to stop taking sand for granted and think of it as an endangered natural resource," concludes Gillis. "Beach replenishment — the mining and trucking and dredging of sand to meet tourist expectations — must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, with environmental considerations taking top priority. Only this will ensure that the story of the earth will still have subsequent chapters told in grains of sand."
One might think that desert sand would be a ready substitute, but its grains are finer and smoother; they don't adhere to rougher sand grains, and tend to blow away. As a result, the desert state of Dubai brings sand for its beaches all the way from Australia. Huge sand mining operations are emerging worldwide, many of them illegal, happening out of sight and out of mind, as far as the developed world is concerned. "We need to stop taking sand for granted and think of it as an endangered natural resource," concludes Gillis. "Beach replenishment — the mining and trucking and dredging of sand to meet tourist expectations — must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, with environmental considerations taking top priority. Only this will ensure that the story of the earth will still have subsequent chapters told in grains of sand."
This is rich! (Score:5, Funny)
Selling sand to an Arab!! Hah, now I've heard it all.
What's next? Selling snow to an Eskimo?
Re:This is rich! (Score:5, Funny)
Selling sand to an Arab!! Hah, now I've heard it all.
What's next? Selling snow to an Eskimo?
Well, the snow where Eskimos live is much finer, smoother, and tends to blow away, so they have to import a better snow for their igloo needs.
Re:This is rich! (Score:5, Interesting)
This is largely a myth. The Inuit languages are composite, meaning you can build "new" words by combining parts that would be separate words in other languages. So they have base words for snow, slush, drifts, etc just like most languages do. But then they have modifiers for wet, dry, fine, blown, falling, etc that get tacked on to form a new word but the same modifier can be tacked on to other root words just as well. In other words, there's very little difference between the Inuit word for "fine, dry snow blowing in the wind" and the English phrase "fine, dry snow blowing in the wind".
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Sure, but on the other hand nobody but a novelist or a lonely weather station operator would bother uttering the phrase "fine, dry snow blowing in the wind". They'd just say "it's snowing."
Re:This is rich! (Score:5, Funny)
Know how I can tell you don't live somewhere that requires you to remove that fine dry blowing drifting pooling pain-in-the-ass snow from your driveway before work the next morning?
/ Though I'll take that over wet, sticky, clumping snow with a crust of ice any day! I might need to clear it three times, but it goes easy each time.
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Heh. Colorado gets snow, but the sun usually takes care of the blowy light stuff as long as you remove the heavy accumulation. But woe to any man whose driveway is on the north side of the house and stays in perpetual shadow.
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Sure, but on the other hand nobody but a novelist or a lonely weather station operator would bother uttering the phrase "fine, dry snow blowing in the wind". They'd just say "it's snowing."
Spoken like a man who doesn't live in an area where snow is a frequent and persistent phenomenon. I guarantee you that anyone who does finds occasion to distinguish between fine snow, large flake snow, dry snow, wet snow, crusty snow, icy snow, blowing snow and many combinations of those.
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This is largely a myth. The Inuit languages are composite, meaning you can build "new" words by combining parts that would be separate words in other languages. So they have base words for snow, slush, drifts, etc just like most languages do. But then they have modifiers for wet, dry, fine, blown, falling, etc that get tacked on to form a new word but the same modifier can be tacked on to other root words just as well. In other words, there's very little difference between the Inuit word for "fine, dry snow blowing in the wind" and the English phrase "fine, dry snow blowing in the wind".
This is largely a myth. The Inuit languages are like any other language, and have plenty of synonyms and near synonyms. Further, snow is an integral part of their native habitat, and there are many distinct types of it, just as there are distinct types of bodies of water in the English language (sea, ocean, river, brook, stream, puddle, pond, lake, marsh, swap, etc.).
I can make up plausible bullshit too without referencing any words in the fucking language I'm claiming to correct people on too.
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Iceland also has many words in their language describing different types of snow.
See for example: http://blogs.transparent.com/i... [transparent.com]
Re:This is rich! (Score:4, Funny)
only can use certain types for igloos.
Nobody wants to be the owner of a yellow igloo.
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Selling a Big Mac to an American? I don't get the joke.
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Selling sand to an Arab!! Hah, now I've heard it all.
What's next? Selling snow to an Eskimo?
No. But Australia exports camels to the Arabs for racing stock.
https://www.google.com.au/#q=a... [google.com.au]
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Gotta watch those promises (Score:5, Insightful)
When God promised to make Abraham's descendents as numerous as the sand on the seashore, Abraham never thought to ask whether that meant he gets lots of descendents or that the sand on the seashore would be gone. As they say, when you assume you make an ass out of you and me.
Re:Gotta watch those promises (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe it was a proposition, based on the conservation of natural resources. Say, if Abraham's descendants were to protect the beaches, their numbers could be nigh limitless. But, if those descendants were to cause the destruction of the sand on the seashore, maybe god would go a little "Old Testament" on them.
Further, I'm not sure of god's position on natural beach erosion and its effects on population.
That was close... (Score:5, Interesting)
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I thought the article was about running out of sand for silicon semiconductors.
And I thought the shortage was due to the steadily increasing popularity of silicone implants.
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Boehner is a boob? I think you need an anatomy lesson!
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I thought the article was about running out of sand for silicon semiconductors. Besides California falling into the Pacific Ocean after a big earthquake, a lack of sand would be the end of Silicon Valley.
No worries: silicon for semiconductors could be made from the fine, smooth, easily-blows-away desert sand.
Sand for construction (Score:2)
I thought the article was about running out of sand for silicon semiconductors. Besides California falling into the Pacific Ocean after a big earthquake, a lack of sand would be the end of Silicon Valley.
Or sand for construction. Sand is a major ingredient in cement, so running out of sand would be a big deal.
During the Gulf War the US imported sand to Saudi (Score:4, Funny)
Because the local sand was the wrong type for sandbags...
ignorant rubbish (Score:4, Insightful)
The ocean floors have millions of square miles of sand. The planet earth will not run out of sand.
Re:ignorant rubbish (Score:4, Insightful)
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for less than $75 a barrel.
x = previous_message
y = " less than $70 a barrel."
print ( %s %s) %(x,y)
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I was under the impression that most of the ocean bottom is actually mud / silt / muck, not sand.
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Look it up, some places like that, some places have sand
Re:ignorant rubbish (Score:5, Insightful)
Where the sand shortage occurs is between the ocean and the very expensive homes built on/near the beach. Beaches move either due to build up or erosion. This greatly annoys the people who own said expensive homes hence the complaints of the "shortage" of sand.
They do not like to have to pay, either directly or through taxes, to have the beach line and inter coastal areas maintained.
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Any SCUBA diver can tell you that an abundance of sand is expelled from the vents of parrot fish, after they eat their favorite coral. Much of it is literally - fish poop.
Re:ignorant rubbish (Score:5, Interesting)
The summary states that desert sand is too fine for use on beaches. And I didn't even RTFA, the summary had a nice level of concise detail.
How expensive would sand mining on the ocean floor be?
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I asked in a reasonably factious way, realizing that in any event, dredging the ocean for beach sand would be prohibitively expensive by a long shot.
And thanks for the link, I love the very specific nature of the list, my favorite was:
* Releases toxic compound Tributyltin, a popular biocide used in anti-fouling paint banned in 2008, back into the water.
Damn that's specific, but I followed the link wondering how long that would be an issue, Tributyltin has about a 30 year life in an ecosystem.
Re:ignorant rubbish (Score:5, Informative)
I asked in a reasonably factious way, realizing that in any event, dredging the ocean for beach sand would be prohibitively expensive by a long shot.
Not really. They dredge the bottom to replenish beach sand all the time. Pretty much all of the beaches on the Atlantic side of Florida are built out by dredging.
The sand on the beaches naturally moves up and down the shore, making wide beaches and then eroding down to nothing, creating barrier islands and wiping them away. It is only when we stuck a bunch of buildings on the shore and expected everything to stay in one place that this became a problem.
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Re:ignorant rubbish (Score:5, Interesting)
More expensive than simply shattering some rock down to the desired granularity.
Perhaps we could sinter fine desert sand into larger, coarse particles suitable for beaches. Focused solar energy as a heat source is one possibility.
A lot of beach sand is actually broken up sea shells. Calcium carbonate. If we could find a way to sequester CO2 by producing CaCO3 and using that to bind desert sand particles together, we could use that to solve the erosion plus global warming problems.
The crisis is over. Everyone back to your SUVs.
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Didn't even read the entire summary, did you?
Because, it pretty much says:
But, hey thanks for playing ... here's a copy of the home game, and some lovely parting gifts for you ... these lovely serving spoons!
How does that not work???? (Score:2)
Wikipedia mentions that the grains are "booming" which means they are 0.3mm. Beaches are 0.2m to 2mm.
So since the stated problem with using desert sand is that it is "too fine", and the Death Valley sand is in fact the opposite (coarser grains), in what way does it not work again?
The real problem is that Death Valley is a national park and even fairly barren wilderness deserves some level of protection... you wouldn't want to mine the whole valley for sand.
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It does, but he wrote 0.2m.
That's a rock.
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Apparently, they're counting the riprap [wikipedia.org] jetties too.
Peak Sand! (Score:5, Funny)
Oh Noes! We've reached peak sand! Our grandchildren will live in a sandless world marked by misery and sharp rocks.
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How the hell am I supposed to get a drink?!?
Straight from the teat?
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Did Hugh Pickens RTFA? (Score:5, Insightful)
As a result, the desert state of Dubai brings sand for its beaches all the way from Australia.
But then I RTFAed (I know, it's /., no one RTFAs) and
Perth's GMA Garnet will this month send a shipment of heavy mineral sand to Saudi Arabia for sandblasting... ...the special alluvial sand is suited for sandblasting because it is free of silica, which creates dust that can cause lung cancer and silicosis in workers
Nope, no beaches. But wait, there's more:
Another firm selling a sand-based product to the desert region is NT Prestressing, which has a type of concrete that can be laid quickly, speeding up building
Still no beaches though. Guess I won't be going to Saudi for my beach holiday, I'll have to stick with Aus - and we all know what they think of us Brits...
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Mod up! Good research!
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However, the referenced NY Times [nytimes.com] article does indicate:
"As a result, the desert state of Dubai brings sand for its beaches all the way from Australia."
However, I can't find any good references to back this up.
Also, the NY Times article is an opinion piece from a history professor....additional evidence required.
Geologist says "Bullshit" (Score:2, Interesting)
The problem, if any, is idiots who think that the only possible type of holiday involves roasting to a crisp laying on a beach, then dying of skin cancer. Let them die roasting on pebbles - it means all the more mountains and forests and seas and lakes for the rest of us.
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Mass Media B.S. (Score:2)
Yep (Score:5, Interesting)
A relative of mine just became very wealthy after selling his farm to a sandmine. The sandmine's going to dig out all the sand... haul it off for Fracking, then turn the remaining pit into a lake/wetland and return it to the state after which it'll become a wildlife refuge. Something that was important to my very outdoorsy relative.
They actually sent in geologists, took core samples, and did all sorts of tests to determine what the sand would be best used for. Certain sizes/grains/etc... are better for beaches, Crude oil, natural gas, etc... depending on what you have, the more money you get. He lucked out and had it all. The sandy soil that plagued him as a farmer for years actually made him rich in the end. As a joke I looked up how much he paid for the land back in the 80s... and figured out the price of Apple and Microsoft stock at the time... and proved to him that he made more money buying sand than he would have investing in either. He got a pretty big kick out that because when he bought it I was a kid and he said "If you're going to invest in anything, invest in land. It's the only thing they're not making any more of."
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Meanwhile, I cannot even install a fence near the shitty stream in my yard.
You can, you just don't know how to get the permitting right. Usually "I want to modify a wetland to keep my dog from getting wet" doesn't fly. Talk to a lawyer experienced in these things and he'll help you form an argument that'll work. If I were you, I'd start with the "Safety" of children around a possible flood prone waterway.
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Hopefully it's not a stream, it's a drainage ditch.
If it goes dry during a drought it's a ditch. Take lots of pictures when it is dry. Install a dam/diversion upriver if needed.
So? (Score:2)
Okay, I could understand if we were losing topsoil or something we really need. But sand?
So, I guess we'll have to wear shoes now at the beach. What a catastrophe!
no... we are not running out of sand (Score:2)
Before someone responds to contradict an obviously correct point... stop. Step away from the computer... do something less likely to reveal you are an idiot.
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Of course "sand" is a pretty generic term for a lot of stuff that is quite different when you look at it in detail. It is certainly possible for a specific type of sand to be in short supply while sand in general is not.
Made me think of HHGTG (Score:2)
Where they weighed you on arrival at the planet, and on departure.. except now they'll make you pass your swimming costume over a sieve before leaving the beach.
Beach (Score:3)
As someone who lives on a lake I see neighbors buying dumptruck-loads of sand every few years and laugh at them. Peach reservation is all about coutour and slope. My little piece of lakeshore includes a parabola shaped cove around 50' wide at the mouth and 50' deep with a gently sloping floor. I've been there 18 years and haven't had to buy any sand yet, the wave action washes the sand around my shore cleaning it naturally, but the shape of the shore keeps it in the cove, in fact my neighbor to the north bought 30Tons of sand and put it on his shore (that happens to be shaped like a peninsula. My beach gained 3' over the next few years as his sand washed into my cove. Anyone who wants a beach shouldn't be screwing up the shoreline that created and preserved the beach in the first place.
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Clearly you should offer to sell him your excess sand that mysteriously builds up every year, at 3/4 the price...
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The problem is that all the good cove property is taken and the real estate industry needs to foist eroding headlands off onto someone.
California (Score:2)
I heard all kinds of stories about sand replenishment on beaches when I lived back east. The most interesting story involved dredging a few miles off-shore and dumping it on the beach. This had the unintended consequence of churning up the occasional sunken treasure. Visiting the beach shortly after such a replenishment operation, maybe you'll find a doubloon, but more likely an old nail or an interesting piece of sea-glass.
California doesn't seem to have this problem. I'll hazard a guess that it has so
This really is a serious problem (Score:5, Funny)
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Sand has a lot of uses but it's non-renewable. There's no way (yet) to manufacture it.
Can't you manufacture sand by repeatedly hitting a rock with a hard object?
Or did I just miss out on the patent of a lifetime by publishing my idea in an open forum?
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A beach can disappear very quickly (Score:2)
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No on the other island. It's dredged [hawaiimagazine.com] from just off shore. At one time it was shipped in from California, but that ended a while a go.
1st world problem (Score:2)
We are running out of a number of things which are more immediately critical. Let's chill out a bit here.
Just Make More... (Score:2)
Sand is just ground up quartz. i.e. The second most common mineral in the earth's crust.
Endangered natural resource (Score:2)
And all the animals and trees said: back of the line, buddy!
As a freight forwarder (Score:4, Interesting)
I handled a shipment of sand from the US to Saudi Arabia. Seriously.
Apparently it was for a golf course, and some specially beautiful white sand.
Dubia? (Score:3)
How many Dubai beaches are artificially constructed?
And so should be expected to require a LOT of sand, and not be expected to last very long...
No sand. (Score:3)
Why don't these people just put a gun to their head and end their misery instead of inflicting it on the rest of us?
Cause they don't got the sand to do it.
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Why don't these people just put a gun to their head and end their misery instead of inflicting it on the rest of us?
Cause they don't got the sand to do it.
It's not just sand, they may live in a world without zinc [youtube.com], too.
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Not enough 3D printers?
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What are you talking about? These people are raking in millions by scaring everybody. Fear and terror are major parts of the economy now. They have replaced manufacturing and farming.
Re:Stop It! (Score:5, Funny)
If we run out of sand, where will you put your head?
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When I first read the headline, I thought they were blaming it on all the sand that's been removed in order to make silicon products. I wasn't too disappointed - just reverted to form by blaming people for rising ocean levels and increased storms.
Seriously, for crying out loud, silicon is the most abundant thing in the earth's crust. How can we run out of that? It's not like helium, which goes from atmosphere to stratosphere to ionosphere & poof... It stays on earth itself. It's like complaining t
Re:Coastal people live in their own universe (Score:5, Insightful)
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Natural Resources are things found in nature that are used and can be used up. Clean water, breathable air, plant life, animal life, arable land, those are natural resources. They are consumed through use and can be overused to the point of disappearing. A beach on the other hand, that is not a natural resource. It's a terrain feature, just like a mountain. You can no more "use up" a beach than you can use up the view of Mt. McKinley.
Unfortunately (as viewed by beach residents), beach erosion _IS_ natural.
Re:Coastal people live in their own universe (Score:5, Informative)
Well, clearly from TFA beaches are being used to the point of disappearing, and from the actions of humans, not just nature. That's how it's working. As can a mountain. [wikipedia.org]
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Studied some oceanography. The problem is not that beaches are transient. The problem is our idea of property. The problem is ports, seawalls, jetties. We want beach front property we can have a house on, a hotel on, a strip mall by. You can repair a beach. Just quit building within a few miles of it. It's a moving object. It will show back up once you give it the proper habitat. If you build houses and seawalls up the entire coast you will not have beaches. That means the beach disappears. The natural mech
Slashdot: best when people go off their meds (Score:3)
>> brainless consumer pieces of shit like you who take take take and eat eat eat like hungry little piggies with no thought
I love it when people go off their meds around here.
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Any one where parks are a natural resource.
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Well in Oregon all beaches are publicly owned, and as such there's no 'shoreline' development. Your move California.
Re:Coastal people live in their own universe (Score:4, Insightful)
>Well in Oregon all beaches are publicly owned, and as such there's no 'shoreline' development. Your move California.
Have you been to Seaside Oregon lately? It's pretty built up.
All the land between low tide and high tide is public land. But right behind that is open season.
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Unlike California those property owners can't deny access to the beach in front of their property by the general public.
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You cannot deny access in Califorrnia [latimes.com] either. Some people try to, but legally you can't.
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All the land between low tide and high tide is public land. But right behind that is open season.
Patience [nationalgeographic.com] is a virtue.
Re:Coastal people live in their own universe (Score:4, Informative)
Have you been to Seaside Oregon lately? It's pretty built up.
The law grandfathers existing shoreline development (whatever existed as of 1967).
Also, "right behind" high-tide is a misnomer. Anything new can only be built on land higher than 16' (altitude) above sea level at low-tide [wikipedia.org], which is much farther back than the mere high-tide mark (which averages around 8'), so unless you're building on a cliff-edge, or a mountainside or suchlike, you're not really going to get a beach view out of your new property...
The state also reserves the right to regulate such land further as needed.
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That or we use the climate change deniers as infill ... because assholes like you already have your heads buried in the sand.
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We are also running out of idiotic tree huggers
Just plant trees. They will attract the tree-huggers.