This is awesome! I've heard liberals talk about China's sand usage as part of their China-bad smearing without offering any solutions. Artificial sand from mine tailings (a waste product) has basically no downsides, since those tailings would be produced regardless.
this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2024
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i had no clue sand was even a resource we could overuse, is it more of an exhausting local resources problem and we could pull from the like the sahara forever if we worked out the logistics/maybe need special types of sand or are we literally in danger of actually beginning to pull too much sand from literally everywhere?
Sand for construction is a limited resource. Not every sand works to make concrete.
Generally, it has to be river sand, because sea sand has salt and must be washed, and open air sand is pulished by wind, making it worse for building.
Hmm, I was going to steal a bucket of beach sand for casting
River sand is rougher, sea sand or desert sand is either too rough or almost polished round.
It still works, it generally tends to crack more easily or damage steel bars due to salt.
I will most likely wash it a bunch? THat's what the internet told me to do
Yeah, that works. Then again, China is kind of demonstrating that crushing rocks into sand also works.
So whatever pollutes less, I guess.
My factory development level is unfortunately quite low
ah thank you for the info! seems like something i should have learned in school, although I learned very little about protecting the environment in school tbh so it's not that surprising
In India there are "sand mafia" who illegally dig up sand from river beds. It is profitable because it's used in construction so much.
that's actually crazy, has the Indian government tried to crack down on this or is it just an open secret?
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/India/bjp-to-launch-movement-against-sand-mafia/ar-BB1qRsLo
There has been some crackdown but the government does not intend to solve this problem. First of all, the fascists do not give a single fuck about the environment. But more importantly, criminals like this are often in cahoots with the local government officials.
Tbh, now they have to manufacture the artificial sand...
Which they're doing, using a waste stream. I imagine the machinery is largely diesel at the momebt, but could be converted to electric in due time
Oho