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#35: Is The World Really Running Out Of Sand?

English Learning for Curious Minds

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How Much Sand Is Produced in China?

Every year, about two cubic metres of concrete is created for every man, woman, and child on the planet. In just three years between 2011 and 2014, China used more concrete than the US did in the entire 20th century. The Sahara Desert is huge, almost 10 million kilometres squared - a third of Earth's land area is desert. So can't we just go and get the sand from there? Unfortunately no, we can't. Sand from the desert is very fine, as it is constantly blown around by the wind, hitting other grains of sand. For construction, for cement, what you need is the rough kind of sand with angular sides.

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