As a sand and gravel guy yes I can see how we are running out of sand. The real problem is we developed over all the good deposits and now are having trouble finding areas that can be permitted for new pits.
That is just an issue of economics resulting from poor urban/development planning. Not a situation of running out of sand worldwide like the stupid documentary is suggesting.
Expensive sand is only expensive until you have to truck it further and it suddenly becomes even more expensive. But that cost is primarily the trucking, not the sand itself. There is still peee-lenty of sand, just not where you want it to be.
In colorado, we have lots of clay or sandy clays. Sand and gravel exist along the riverways or historic waterways that may now be dry. But only in certain places. Unfortunately those are also the places people want to live. The realization came on fairly early that once a site is built, well you cant use the resource under it cause fo the fuggin building on it. Evaluating for deposits in the area of new development is mandatory now in most places to avoid the situation of locking out some economically viable resource. Regardless, still gotta truck it to where you need it.
And the idea of "sure there is sand, but the
quality sand is all gone" is also bullshit. It still exists, just elsewhere. Crushing/making sand can be cheaper than long distance trucking if you need particluar qualities. Just cause we "make" sand, doesnt in any way mean it is running out. Engineering construction materials tends to lead to the need for very specific qualities. It can be easier just to make a sand product through screening/blending or crushing down from other source to get what is needed. Or... it can be simply due to a material supply has to carry a certification that only comes from a "man-made" product line. DOTs are have bad habits on that, requiring something to be unnecessarily consistent and approved, well that can only come from a production pit as no one will cert a natural deposit cause mother nature isnt consistent enough to satisfy some need.
The doc made a huge deal about whole beaches disappearing cause native dudes with donkeys were stealing it like that is some evidence of a depleted resource. No you dumb fukker! They are building something, need sand and OH LOOK, a beach right there! Transpo is on donkeys so they arent gonna look for a source 30 miles away. So the beach got stripped. I betcha a billion bucks, there are plenty of nice sandy beaches just down the coast outside of donkey range. It is so incredibly common through antiquity to select the location for a major structure simply due to the nearby resources. We do it completely backward in modern times to decide to build on a location just cause, then have to truck every board and stone crazy distances and bitch about carbonfootprints and jackassery.
Ok. Friday rant off. Back to work.
