Cities and Urbanization

The world is running out of sand

A tourist stands at an edge of the singing sand, the 150-metre-high by three-kilometre-long dune that generates a low-pitched, organ-like rumble in dry weather, in Altyn-Emel national park in Almaty region, Kazakhstan, May 12, 2016.  REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov       SEARCH "SINGING SANDS" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "THE WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES     TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

In 2010, nations mined about 11 billion tonnes of sand just for construction, leading to shortages now. Image: REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov

Aurora Torres
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