tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post4297076052827697950..comments2024-03-22T05:20:44.167-07:00Comments on The Disaffected Lib: It'll Drive You NutsThe Mound of Soundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-15881341686650765402016-09-27T08:33:49.129-07:002016-09-27T08:33:49.129-07:00Mound, this may be what you are looking for.
T...Mound, this may be what you are looking for. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/lethal-force-running-out-of-sand-helping-hoarders-hosanna-then-and-now-inside-butter-tarts-1.3770809/the-world-is-starting-to-run-out-of-sand-1.3770813" rel="nofollow">The world is starting to run out of sand</a>Tobynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-31093554663853837792016-09-26T13:20:17.726-07:002016-09-26T13:20:17.726-07:00Worse yet, the Brits are now copying the Americans...Worse yet, the Brits are now copying the Americans' practice of trying to restore recreational beaches by trucking in ever more sand even as the rising seas strip it away. It's a perpetual, "lose/lose" proposition.<br />The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-32728971682185436892016-09-26T13:17:45.959-07:002016-09-26T13:17:45.959-07:00Anyong, have you got a link to the stuff you poste...Anyong, have you got a link to the stuff you posted?<br /><br />I was aware of the sand issue and it infuriates me that our local regional district scrapped glass recycling, now preferring that it just be discarded to the landfill.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-91413360013378366602016-09-26T12:18:02.705-07:002016-09-26T12:18:02.705-07:00Anyong: The growing demand for sand has also creat...Anyong: The growing demand for sand has also created a deadly black market, sometimes controlled by "sand mafias." In India and Indonesia, sand mafias are believed to have killed hundreds of people in the last few years alone, including police officers and journalists. <br />Beiser's reporting on sand is supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and he is currently at work on a book about the deadly global war for sand for Penguin Random House. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-89694995439759087012016-09-26T12:16:43.955-07:002016-09-26T12:16:43.955-07:00Anyong: The Sunday Edition on CBC yesterday morni...Anyong: The Sunday Edition on CBC yesterday morning has revealed another environmental problem. This will keep raising its ugly head.<br /><br />We have become accustomed to the idea that we may, someday, run out of oil. The world's great forests are being stripped away. Underwater aquifers, a vital source of water for millions, are being depleted at an alarming rate. <br />But very few of us have ever imagined that we are also in danger of running out of sand. <br />Sand is easy to ignore. It is, after all, one of the most abundant resources on the planet. But when you look at what sand becomes — concrete, glass, and silicon — you begin to realize that we are living in a world made out of sand...a world that would look very different if we were ever to run out. <br />According to award-winning journalist Vince Beiser, that is exactly what is starting to happen. <br />Sand is the thing that our cities are made out of... Every concrete building that you see is basically just a huge pile of sand glued together with cement. All the roads that connect all those buildings — also made of sand. All the windows in those buildings are made from sand. The silicon that powers your computers, your cell phones, the chips in your electronics, that's also from sand. So basically, without sand, we have no modern civilization. - Vince Beiser<br />Because the sand found in deserts often isn't suitable for making concrete, miners strip sand from riverbeds and beaches. Usable sand is a finite resource.<br />Beiser says rapid urbanization all around the world is causing us to consume concrete at an unprecedented rate. That means sand miners are digging deeper and deeper, disrupting sensitive ecosystems, and in some rare cases, swallowing up entire islands<br /><br />This picture taken on May 31, 2016 shows workers gathering pebbles at a sand excavation site along the Mekong River in Vientiane. Grain by grain, truckload by truckload, Laos' section of the Mekong river is being dredged of sand to make cement — a commodity being devoured by a Chinese-led building boom in the capital. But the hollowing out of the riverbed is also damaging a vital waterway that feeds hundreds of thousands of fishermen and farmers in the poverty-stricken nation. (Photo credit should read LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA/AFP/Getty Images)<br />The growing demand for sand has also created a deadly black market, sometimes controlled by "sand mafias." In India and Indonesia, sand mafias are believed to have killed hundreds of people in the last few years alone, including police officers and journalists. <br />Beiser's reporting on sand is supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and he is currently at work on a book about the deadly global war for sand for Penguin Random House. <br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-78976627476723534612016-09-26T10:50:44.564-07:002016-09-26T10:50:44.564-07:00You and I have discussed this before, Mound, but I...You and I have discussed this before, Mound, but I must say that climate change, from all I have learned from you and other sources, does preoccupy me in many ways. Not the least of those ways is the consternation, even contempt i feel over the average person's apparent indifference toward, or ignorance of, the threat. Every time I see people sitting in their cars idly while waiting for someone in the store, every time I see people hopping into their cars to go to the corner store, every time i see people driving big and unneeded trucks and SUVs, I feel real discouragement, even despair. Our conveniences and our own complete comfort seem to take precedence, no matter the long-term costs incurred.Lornehttp://www.politicsanditsdiscontents.blogspot.canoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-40374736963748692112016-09-26T10:21:10.363-07:002016-09-26T10:21:10.363-07:00I've been thinking quite a bit about our leade...<br />I've been thinking quite a bit about our leaders' indifference, Toby. I have a draft post dealing with this in the works. <br /><br />There are some powerful conflicts in play that may be thwarting government action. The public isn't clamouring for the sort of measures that would be needed. I expect they would punish any government that moved to decarbonize our society and economy.<br /><br />Another factor is our petro-economy. Pretty hard to think of giving that up.<br /><br />Then there's the commercial sector which, with the exception of a few groups such as insurers, would oppose meaningful action.<br /><br />The "wink, wink - nudge, nudge" opposition isn't holding the government's feet to the fire nor is our corporate media cartel.<br /><br />So just where is the impetus for change? Why can't the government get beyond Harper's meagre emissions cuts target? It's a disgrace. We should all be deeply ashamed but we're not. The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32931256.post-81796056989809148252016-09-26T09:45:59.032-07:002016-09-26T09:45:59.032-07:00What gives me anxiety about climate change is that...What gives me anxiety about climate change is that our leaders don't have anxiety about climate change. Tobynoreply@blogger.com