Artist replaces sand with microplastic found on beaches in contemporary hourglass
Designer Brodie Neill has created a contemporary hourglass filled with microplastic instead of sand to highlight the issue of ocean plastic pollution. The Capsule hourglass, which is filled with microplastic collected by Neill from beaches in Tasmania where he grew up, is an open-edition piece.
Private companies can no longer mine beaches in India
Private beach sand miners can no longer mine the coasts of India, as per a Gazette notification by the Union Ministry of Mines which has just been made public.
Sand from glacial melt could be Greenland’s economic salvation?
As climate change melts Greenland’s glaciers and deposits more river sediment on its shores, an international group of researchers has identified one unforeseen economic opportunity for the Arctic nation: exporting excess sand and gravel abroad, where raw materials for infrastructure are in high demand.
The hidden environmental toll of mining the World’s sand
Sand mining is the world’s largest mining endeavor, responsible for 85 percent of all mineral extraction. It is also the least regulated, and quite possibly the most corrupt and environmentally destructive.
French journalists labelled spies over Indian mining investigation
Two French journalists have been labelled spies and are the subject of a criminal investigation after they tried to report on sand mining in south India – an assignment they took up because Indian journalists had been threatened for reporting on the issue.
China’s search for sand is destroying Mozambique’s pristine beaches
The community of Nagonha in northern Mozambique sits on a tall dune with lush greenery on the one side, and a turquoise Indian ocean on the other. It should have been the kind of unspoiled landscape that Mozambique’s growing tourism industry is beginning to take advantage of. Instead, a Chinese mining company has irrevocably tarnished the scenery, and people’s lives.
As sand mining grows, Asia’s deltas are sinking, water experts warn
Sand mining from rivers is depriving many low-lying Asian deltas of the sediment they need to maintain themselves, raising the risk of worsening land loss to sea level rise, researchers say.
Ugandan children abandon school for sand mining
More and more Ugandan children drop out of school, lured into sand mining on the banks of River Nile in Busaana Sub-county, and joining what seems a lucrative venture to earn a living.
Riddle of the sands: the truth behind stolen beaches and dredged islands
The insatiable demand of the global building boom has unleashed an illegal market in sand. Gangs are now stealing pristine beaches to order and paradise islands are being dredged and sold to the construction industry.