The Value of Sand

You may notice when a storm destroys a beach, the beach is "back" by the next summer.  The sand may just be dredged from the ocean, but still it's a big operation: everything has to come from somewhere.

Now, the BBC reports on some notable effects of sourcing construction sand:

The sand used for construction comes mainly from riverbeds and oceans. Desert sand, it turns out, is too smooth for the mix. Huge projects quickly exhausted Dubai's marine sand supply, so, despite being a city built on sand, it now imports the material from Australia. The irony: sand has become such a precious commodity it is literally being sold to the Arabs.

The Financial Times recently reported on the plan to create higher ground in the Netherlands with sand dunes: "Can Netherlands’ ground-shifting plan prevent flooding?"