Living in a sandcastle might be considered fleeting. Then again, this guy managed to do it for decades….

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-latin-america-42761099/the-brazilian-man-who-lives-in-a-sandcastle

 

The more serious issue, and one to stay, is related to the fact that global reserves for sand are being exhausted. Demand has led to extraction that is reaching dangerous levels.

https://theconversation.com/the-world-is-facing-a-global-sand-crisis-83557

Sounds improbable, huh? Isn’t there sand all around us, every coastline in the world? It turns out that the demand for constructing buildings and roads, glass and electronics, for land reclamation, shale gas extraction and beach re-nourishment programs has made sand the most extracted resource in the world, exceeding fossil fuels.

And the staggering numbers (details in the link above) are perhaps not even accurate because much of the record keeping is hidden. Profiteering across national borders, since local supplies are now exhausted in many countries, has become common and are hurting entire countries.

 

Sand mining disproportionally affects developing countries and fragile environments. Nothing fleeting about the damage done to coastal communities that have fewer barricades against tropical storm damage; nothing fleeting about the consequence of extraction in Africa and Asia: left-over hollows develop into standing water pools that are breeding sites for malaria carrying mosquitoes and other diseases. Sand extraction in river deltas often leads to influx of saltwater that threatens local drinking water supply.

Let’s counterbalance the bad news with a splendid poem by a Dutch poet, a poem that somehow resonated strongly with me for its optimism and focus on the positive results of shared efforts.

Photographs are from the US and Holland.