Getting Sand

FIFTY YEARS AGO, the world's population was about three billion, and seven hundred and fifty million people lived in cities. now, the world's population is seven point four billion, and four hundred billion live in cities. The number is growing, rapidly. That requires a lot of concrete, that wonderful compound of sand, gravel, and emulsifier invented by the ancient Romans, which remains the fundamental building block of our global civilization. Forty eight billion tons of sand are excavated each year, from beaches, the ocean bottom, along river banks, pretty much anywhere we can get it. The demand for sand is so great that the price has increased dramatically of late, and all across Asia, particularly in rapidly developing countries like India and china, black markets, for sand, are emerging, believe it or not. Criminal gangs gain control of the market by the usual methods: extortion, intimidation, and bribery of public officials. Rival gangs engage in sand wars, hundreds of people are killed every year, because the profits are worth the carnage. the formation of sand takes millions of years, as mountains erode, washed into rivers, and carried into the ocean, where beaches are formed, and beach volley ball utilizes the precious substance in a healthier way. At the current rate of use, sand will become extinct within a few decades, the Earth will be hollowed out, and we will be forced to become content with however large our cities have become by then, devise an alternative basic construction material, or learn to make our own sand artificially, undoubtedly at much greater cost. If that seems impossible, consider that in the ancient world salt was more valuable than gold. It all depends on the immutable law of supply and demand. Or, as Bertolt Brecht said in his poem "Concerning Poor B.B.", "there shall remain of our cities but the wind that blew through them." The next time you have the great pleasure of wet sand oozing between your toes, be grateful; it is a pleasure our descendants might only be able to read about in history books......PLEASE SHARE THIS WEBSITE WITH A FRIEND. ITS PURPOSE IS TO PROMOTE CREATIVE WRITING AND THOUGHT.