What commodity do we buy and sell globally more than oil or gas? Yup, sand. I didn’t have any idea, but it’s the main ingredient in construction (concrete) and in anything and everything glass – think screens!

And guess what? Unlike oil and gas it’s not a regulated industry so the mining of sand, or dredging of lakes, rivers and seaside goes on with little control. Of course you would think that given the amount of sand in the world this shouldn’t be a problem so you would think, but apparently the sand you would find in a dessert is not the kind of sand you can use in these manufacturing processes. That sand has been polished by the wind so it doesn’t bind together. The sand found in wet settings is the kind of sand needed to, for example make glass.

And think about how many things have glass now, how many screens for example the average person has?

So there you go – now you know.