Wolfgang Korsus Dipl.-Ing. NT, Astrophysiker
Chapter 333/15
BUILT ON SAND (unfortunate, isn’t it?)
Now is not the time to close your ears and eyes, but to use them very intensely. Here is a sentence that packs a punch.
↯ Not oil, coal, or gas, no, sand is now the most widely used raw material on earth after water. I would therefore like to point out…
Our civilization is literally built on sand. Actually, I should say before the UN:
Are those responsible asleep, or are they currently squandering their „maximum earnings“ in casinos?
‼ These golden yellow, white, or black grains, familiar to everyone, are the raw material for concrete and glass. They are found in computer chips and toothpaste, in cleaning products and solar cells, in hairspray, in credit cards and cell phones, in bridges, roads, and parking lots, airports, and airplanes. ‼
Look, I’ve just learned that building a single-family home consumes 200 tons of sand, a larger building such as a hospital requires 3,000 tons, building one kilometer of highway requires 30,000 tons, and now the absolute highlight: ‼ a nuclear power plant destroys a whopping 1.2 million tons. ‼
And what’s more… in 2020, more than 19 billion tons of sand were used worldwide, which corresponds to two tons per capita of the world’s population.
.
So what? It almost takes my breath away because we have more than enough of it, just in the world’s great deserts, the Sahara, the Atacama, or the Gobi. Add to that the sand on the world’s beaches.
Someone has done the math, and it’s the University of Hawaii: they say that there are 7.5 trillion grains of sand lying around in our country alone!
Incidentally, geologists estimate that a billion new grains are created every second on Earth, which might be reassuring… but this is a miscalculation, because sand is not a sustainable resource, as it is the „result of a process lasting millions of years.“ And, briefly noted, not all sand is the same.
I would not advise any country on this planet to use desert sand for concrete production because its grains have been smoothed and rounded by the wind over the years to such an extent that they no longer stick together. So, enough fun and games. We are forced to take sand from rivers, gravel pits, beaches, and the sea, as has always been the case.
The latter (sea) has to be desalinated at great expense. (Understandable?)
Finally, I would like to point out the increasing global „construction boom in China,“ because in the last three years, more sand has been processed there than in the US alone.
The entire 20th century has turned into a fiasco (major failure) because it has made industrially usable sand a scarce and precious commodity. That has happened too. Easily extractable reserves from gravel pits and riverbeds are „almost“ exhausted. Now, the word „exhausted“ has just popped out of my text, but I would rather describe the „consequences,“ which are as bizarre as they are criminal and environmentally destructive. Incidentally, it must also be said that sand
„in“ the sea is „like sand „on“ the sea,“ at least that’s what we’re led to believe.
However, I am mainly aware of entrepreneurs whose huge vacuum cleaner ships now cruise in their thousands in mostly coastal seas, pumping the precious, angular grains of sand from the seabed into their metal bellies around the clock and spitting them out where the sand is needed.
The next part of my description shows how eternal human activity is, and how idiocy is also on the rise. The desert metropolis of Dubai, surrounded by sand and sea, is hopefully familiar to everyone, but Dubai has long since exhausted its sand resources on the seabed, so what do you do then? You import the precious raw material from the „other end“ of the world, from Australia, and have been doing so for years! [I did not make a mistake]!
The madness continues… and all my warnings are being confirmed… The well-traveled grains are not only needed here for new, ever taller „skyscrapers,“ but also for the luxury resorts that have been built on reclaimed land.
The Palm and The World, voco Dubai, Grand Hyatt, … and many others.
For the first two artificial islands mentioned, don’t faint, more than 550 million tons of sand were dumped into the sea. I’m speaking behind closed doors now… For Australia, this is an almost legendary billion-dollar business.
Dear readers, young and old, the filling did not only take place in Dubai, but also in the Kingdom of „Bahrain,“ where they became „big shitheads“! It is only an archipelago, consisting of 33 natural islands. The same debacle occurred there too. …artificial islands are being built from sand. Durrat al-Bahrain, the „Pearl of Bahrain,“ also (Durrat Al Bahrain) is named after the Amwaj Islands (the Amwaj Islands (Arabic: Dschuzur Amwādsch, DMG Amwāǧ) are an artificially constructed group of islands in the Persian Gulf in the northeast of Bahrain. They are located about 10 km northeast of Bahrain’s capital, Manama, and are the largest artificial archipelago in Bahrain. Construction began in 2004. The Pearl of Bahrain consists of 15 islands on which, unsurprisingly, luxury resorts, a marina, a golf course, and shopping malls have been built.
Other countries, other „stories“! The countless dream beaches of the tourism industry have „established“ themselves in the rest of the world, in California, Hawaii, and Florida, in Spain, on the North Sea and Baltic Sea, in Tel Aviv and Rio de Janeiro, in Cancún, Mexico, and on the German island of Sylt. Humanity is making a fabulous new mistake… Year after year, new mountains of sand are replaced at a cost of billions, only to be washed away again by the sea with the serenity of nature. I am inclined to describe this as a truly Sisyphean task.
I don’t stop, I keep going, pure anger rises up in me, but the unwavering marathon of emotions continues inside me:
The next destroyers of the earth are not letting up. This time, I turn my constant resentment towards Morocco, Jamaica, the Cape Verde Islands, and Namibia, because there, at almost the same time, large beach areas are disappearing due to illegal SAND MINING!
When I think about sand theft (grain theft), the consequences are immediately apparent… in Latin (statim)… Here, strangely enough, entire islands are disappearing because the „booming city-state of Singapore“ needs land. One hundred and thirty square kilometers of new land were created by 2015, but another hundred square kilometers are to be added by 2030. That’s right, it’s slowly becoming insane. The sand on which the city is building its future, it’s fair to say, comes largely from illegal imports from „Indonesia.“ Indonesia doesn’t think ahead or reflect… mainly money, probably dollars. Accordingly, the sand business is booming as resources become scarcer. The „ecological“ consequences are no longer significant. The extraction of sea sand causes enormous damage to marine ecosystems because, in addition to its filtering function, sand is primarily a breeding ground for microorganisms that other marine life feeds on.
When we talk about „complex food chains,“ we see a certain complexity, and this is literally being swept away. Likewise, the natural protective functions of coastal sandbanks and beaches against flooding and storm surges are also being destroyed.
I look further and notice more than alarming developments with regard to climate change and rising sea levels. Yes, those who are currently living life to the fullest are certainly already starting to look for alternatives to sand.
A few things have caught my attention lately… Why? I read that new construction techniques are being developed that do not require concrete at all. (It consists of only 40 percent sand)… Or instead of sand, slag, fly ash, and processed construction waste are used to make concrete. But sand is still too cheap, even though it is slowly becoming a rare and precious commodity. „Like sand on the seashore“ is a metaphor, I say, because it is used to describe abundance today, but in the future it may stand for scarcity, destruction, and doom. „If we continue to build our civilization on sand.“
Almost everywhere I see a „BEAUTIFUL“ ??? NEW ART WORLD
‼ Plastic for eternity ‼
‼ Plastic production is increasing dramatically worldwide. I often think: these must be giant beings and they won’t stop!
No ‼ They are people like you and me……….
Plastics end up in landfills, in the oceans—and in the food chain of humans and animals. A few colleagues told me that they can now even detect the devilish filth in the air!
They are chemists, „they“ are changing the world with substances that do not exist in nature. ……-without reason but with full wallets
Faster and faster, more and more drastic, even insane.
Back in the 1990s, the production of artificial materials surpassed that of the traditional material „steel.“ Since then, plastic production has quadrupled once again. The explosion of new materials has unforeseeable consequences for humans, animals, and plants… because plastics are much more difficult to remove from the world than to put into it.
The documentary „Plastic Planet“ shows how plastics are distributed to the most remote areas of the earth, to the deserts of Morocco or the depths of the Pacific Ocean.
All the plastic ever produced by humans is enough to wrap the globe in plastic film more than seven times. It doesn’t matter whether I use countless plastic bags or the rubbish in the oceans. Plastics are a recurring topic of discussion in food chains, but in everyday life, nothing works without them:
From toothbrushes to tubes of toothpaste, from diapers to wheelchairs, from bicycle helmets to double-glazed windows, chemical laboratories are involved in everything. I am often told that this has advantages. The materials are lightweight, they insulate better, they protect against decay, and they can even prolong life as replacement parts in the body. Experts call this eco-efficient. They calculate:
For. In addition, plastic reduces the weight of vehicles during transport, thus saving fuel. Even the huge rotors of wind turbines are designed and made according to a chemist’s formula, and it should be remembered that no solar cell can do without plastic. One of the most important questions: Where do they go when they are no longer needed? They don’t belong in the trash can…too big!
The industry always has an answer and sees it this way: yes, the useful life may come to an end, but even then, plastic products still have a lot to offer. Why am I bringing up incineration now? Simple, experts say: their calorific value is similar to that of fuel or heating oil, so they could certainly replace oil as a raw material in some cases. Rüdiger Baunemann from the Plastics Europe association says: „German recycling technology is a global leader and an export hit.“ That probably means: make plastic a profitable business! Let’s hope so.
An important work process is sorting and recycling, and the programs for this have been developed in Germany. However, implementing this work process is very tricky. It should be noted that even in ecologically advanced Europe, there is no uniform system for dealing with plastic waste. Germany and other countries boast a recycling rate of 99 percent, but there are countries such as those in Eastern Europe and Italy that are less concerned with processing plastic waste, for example.
I say to these countries: ‼DISGUSTING‼
Waste is, frankly, a very emotional topic („My Opinion“), in which recycling into materials makes sense, such as PET bottles or PVC windows. „Recycling“ is not always the same as „recycling.“
Only extremely clean, used parts can be shredded, cleaned, sorted by type, and replaced with new goods, i.e., mechanically processed. Even slightly mixed and contaminated plastics are less suitable, which is why they are mainly incinerated, and the energy generated in the process is, of course, used. The industry smilingly promotes a recycling mix of raw materials and energy.
In 2023, around 1.3 million tons of plastic material were sent abroad. (Gone forever, but where to?) The reason for this is a lack of capacity, inadequate technology, or insufficient financial resources to treat the waste locally. (Shameful.)
In the past, a significant proportion of exported plastic waste was shipped to China. However, since introducing strict import restrictions, China (attention) has canceled EU exports to the country! The EU is therefore increasingly focusing on circular and climate-friendly solutions for dealing with plastic waste. (Did „someone“ complain?)
As you can imagine, the relatively low rate of plastic recycling in the EU up to that point has resulted in significant losses for the economy and the environment.
According to the latest reports, almost a quarter of plastic waste in Europe still ends up in landfill.
Here is some more information on the topic of „plastics“:
It is easy to understand that most plastics are made from „mineral oil.“ The industry is crying out loudly and calculating that this is efficient, that plastics require „little“—namely, four to six percent of global oil and gas consumption—and that this can be saved in other ways: heating oil for home insulation, fuel through lighter cars, electricity through modern technologies in the home.
Even a chemistry expert like Rolf Buschmann) from the „BUND“ (German Environmental and Nature Conservation Association) says…
environmental organization: „I do not dispute the value of plastics in certain areas.“ But he also says: „The industry has little interest in tackling complex new developments as long as the oil price is quite low.“ (Understood?) The case would require a rethink, also socially.
Let’s take a step towards… what makes sense should also be technologically possible, and if many things are possible, they must also be „financed“ and „wanted.“ However, I rarely see these „verbs“ being put into practice!
It must be mandatory to question the consumption of resources worldwide on a daily basis, not just to replace one raw material with another. The clear priority is to „standardize short-lived plastics so that they can be better collected and recycled.“
In my humble opinion, the packaging costs for many products are simply too high, as they are only concerned with logistics, stackability, and transport, but not with the goods themselves. Industry representatives, as I have learned from several conversations with them, see things a little differently. They refer much more to the packaging of food, which is more important „globally.“
– „Globally, only about half of all food reaches its recipient unspoiled, partly because it is often not packaged properly
– What is more important, protected food or more recycling? Then, but please at the expense of less efficient packaging, is my central answer.
Plastic versus recycling, an area of tension where there are various different points of view. The political discussion in Europe is clearly focused on recycling, that much is certain.
„The function of packaging is clearly underestimated,“ I would like to remind you.
My brain is being stimulated… by what? By the following questions:
Where can I find a compostable fertilizer bag, a material that dissolves on its own, where is the disposable yogurt cup? The research industry is NOT talking about such a development! … Teacher, I know what! … because even with biologically produced substances, the environment is polluted with new, long-lasting materials. …
YES, IN PRACTICE, RECYCLING DOES NOT YET WORK
… because there is NO special recycling process for it!
I see a story in biological materials, but unfortunately, it has not been thought through to the end.
The throwaway mentality is being promoted {or so it seems}.
My mind recoils and says that this makes no sense for many plastics, such as insulation materials and car body construction.
Here are some facts: in Europe, 1.6 million people work for the plastics industry, which sells 80 million tons worth 400 billion euros per year. That is about one-fifth of the global production of 400 million tons last year. While manufacturing in Europe remained stable, the enormous expansion in production has recently taken place mainly in Asia, especially China, and in the Middle East. As a result, Europe ranks behind China (28 percent) and just ahead of the US, Canada, and Mexico (19 percent) in terms of plastics production. Two-thirds of European demand is concentrated in five countries: Germany, Italy, France, the UK, and Spain. The packaging industry is the most important consumer sector in Europe, accounting for almost 44 percent, followed by construction (22 percent) and automotive manufacturing (8.8 percent). Germany sees itself as the European leader in „recycling.“ On average, almost 75 percent of consumer-related plastic waste in Europe is recycled or used to generate energy, although there are „significant“ differences between individual countries.
In Germany, a pioneer that started „collecting“ separated waste relatively early on, politicians, waste management companies, and environmentalists hope to achieve better recycling through the use of recycling bins. These yellow bins are part of the „Recycling Act,“ which is set to replace the „Packaging Ordinance.“ Not only packaging, but also other plastic items such as watering cans and toys are to end up in it in future – and, hard to believe, even old frying pans. This means that consumers will have to rethink their habits a little so that similarly high rates of separation and collection of household waste can be achieved in future as has been the case with glass, paper, and metals to date.
Since the early 1990s, manufacturers and distributors of packaging in Germany have been required to organize and finance its disposal. (I find that hard to imagine). In the future, this „responsibility“ is to be extended to other plastic and metal products so that incentives for waste prevention can also be attached to the industry’s tie.
To make everything I have written easier to understand, I will provide some information about plastics in my next post.
Until then, I hope you enjoy reading this post.