I Love Miami Beach

​I love going to Miami mainly because of enjoying the beaches there.  I admire the sandy beaches.  Yes! Sand.  But I never thought that sand is actually of the most essential disregarded materials in the world and what a vital role it plays in our lives.  

In fact, after water and air, sand is the natural resource that we all consume more than any other  (even more than oil and gas).  Think about it, every concrete building and pave the road on Earth, every computer screen and silicon chip in our smartphone is made from sand.  Yes, sand. 

From Egypt's pyramids to the advanced NASA telescope, from the world's tallest tower in Dubai to the sidewalk on Pittsburgh, from  Cathedral stained-glass window to our latest iPhone, sand shields us, empowers, engages us and even inspires us.  It is the one element that makes possible our towns, our science, our lives, and frankly our shared future.  

Here is the bad news.  We are running out of it!

I highly recommend a fascinating book by Vince Beiser, "The World in a Grain."  It is truly a compelling actual story of the hugely influential and diminishing natural resource that grows more vital every day in our lives.  Sand is growing more essentials for the people who mine it, sell it, build with it, and even murder others for it.  

I found the book extremely fascinating.  It was a stimulating examination of the severe human and environmental costs incurred by our dependence on the sand, which is getting zero public attention.  

Keep in mind that not all sand is created equal.  In fact, some of the easiest sand to get to is the least valuable and useful,  like the one in the deserts of the Middle East or Nevada or New Mexico.    The story of sand - this simple yet precious commodity takes us on a journey across the globe, from the US to remote corners of China, India, and Dubai to explain why sand is so crucial to modern life. Along the way, the book tells us about world-changing innovators, island-building entrepreneurs, desert fighters, and even criminal sand pirates.  It is an entertaining but more critical an eye-opening narrative, one that is both unexpected an involving, rippling with fascinating detail and loaded with surprising stories.  

The book doesn't just tell us about the world's absolute dependence on sand and resource material used in virtually every structure and consumer product but also describes how the planet's diminishing sand levels and related human practices are incurring significant environmental consequences.  

The World in a Grain is one of the best accounts today, unpacking the literal foundation of our civilization.  Wit a balance of statistics, science, history, on-the-scene reporting, and some healthy environmental skepticism.  

I still love going to Miami Beach, hopefully with a better understanding of the most important solid substance on Earth- Sand.