The Sand Mafias

About this episode

People are being killed over sand. Not diamonds, not lithium, not rare earths - sand, the second-most consumed resource on earth after water, and the one nobody thinks about twice. Mette Bendixen, a geoscientist at McGill, studies where it comes from and who pays the price for it. Dubai imports its sand from Australia. Greenland's melting ice sheet is quietly producing a new export. And somewhere in Rwanda, a woman crushes stones by hand for two weeks to earn twenty dollars. The foundation of the modern world turns out to be a resource with no lobby, no regulation, and a growing body count. -- Timestamps: (00:00) - Intro! (01:20) - Jacob Meets Expert (02:26) - Why Sand Matters (04:08) - Which Sand Works (05:45) - Where Demand Explodes (09:05) - Scarcity And Prices (12:02) - Dubai Imports Sand (13:32) - Greenland Sand Boom (19:04) - Africa And Mekong Mining (23:36) - Alternatives And Recycling (27:18) - Singapore Land Reclamation (34:13) - Why Study Sand (36:08) - Policy And Labor Dilemmas (43:06) - Wrap Up And Takeaways (46:50) - Outro And Credits -- Referenced in the Show: Mette Bendixon - https://www.mettebendixen.com/ Time Is Running Out For Sand (Nature) -