The World Is Slowly Running Out Of Sand

I never thought of sand as a non-renewable resource, but there's only a limited supply: and to make things worse, it keeps getting washed into the sea. At Cape May, New Jersey, the US Army Corps of Engineers have just finished rebuilding a beach: here's why.

Thanks to the folks from the Corps for showing me around!

(you can find contact details and social links there too)

EDITOR: Michelle Martin, @mrsmmartin

And thanks to Elmo Keep for linking to the article that inspired this video!

REFERENCES:
Leatherman, S., Zhang, K. and Douglas, B. (2000).
Sea level rise shown to drive coastal erosion.
Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, 81(6), p.55.

Peduzzi, P. (2014). Sand, rarer than one thinks.
Environmental Development / United Nations

Zhang, G., Song, J., Yang, J. and Liu, X. (2006).
Performance of mortar and concrete made with a fine aggregate
of desert sand. Building and Environment, 41(11), pp.1478-1481.

[TomScottGo]

Pull down the description for links, references, and details on this one - and thanks again to all the folks who went out of their way to make this happen!

[ithinkimhipster]

it seems that the only thing that we aren't running out of is problems

[sth]

Sand used to be a renewable resource, but then Mojang patched the sand duplication bug.

[Chowder_T]

Sand mafia? Damn, reality really is stranger than fiction.

[anakinskywalker]

Good, I'm glad!! I hate sand, its coarse and it's rough and it gets everywhere!!

[lewisconroy]

I swear 90% of our missing sand is in casual beach goer's cars.

[rocktober]

In Cape May, where this video was filmed, right next door is a bird observatory, in fact where those lakes are inland harbor thousands ofbirds during migration season. That sand is CRUCIAL to migrating bird species such as pipers and plovers and some sections of that specific beach are closed to nesting in some parts of the year. Also that bunker in the background is a wwii submarine outpost

[CeoLogJM]

so what you're saying is that the next trillion dollar worthy Nobel price is a way to use desert and sea sand for construction?

[DomenBremecXCVI]

1. Stop building sandboxes for children
2. No child will ever think about becoming an architect
3. No building needed
4. More sand!

[UselessDuckCompany]

the production quality on this one was amazing

[Stelum]

We're gonna build a beach, and make the fish pay for it. We have the best sand.

[Doot]

"I hate sand it's course, rough and it gets everywhere"

[RyanTheCreator]

It seems with every new video, the quality and production value goes up!

[Arieljaay]

Oh. That explains quite a bit. I vacationed there two years ago and every day I took a walking path next to the beach and noticed that construction vehicles were just moving sand around. I've always wondered "why the hell would they do that?".

[Superdavo]

So we're running out of:

• Sand
• Rare-Earth metals (and the common ones)
• Hydrocarbons/fossil-fuels (not such a bad thing)
• New land to build on
• Fertile land (only gonna get worse with time)

Among others... Does anyone else feel like we're heading towards a global version of Easter Island?

[paigekirk]

I live about an hour north up the coast from here, and have been watching this happen for years. The dredging process is incredible, but it’s even more incredible just how much the beach changes in only a few years.

[jamo]

Anakin be like


This is a happy moment. The happiest moment of my life.



Only people that watch revenge of the Sith will know what it means

[Halosty]

Depending on what version of the world you run... I hear you can duplicate sand with pistons. :)

[RedStickInc]

Somewhere in the distance, you can here Anakin say "Yippie"

[acousmatic]

"I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere." -- Anakin Skywalker