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Monday Youffraita
Tuesday: bigjacbigjacbigjac
Wednesday Pam from Calif
Thursday art ah zen
Friday FloridaSNMOM
Saturday FloridaSNDad
Sunday loggersbrat
Greetings, my friends, and welcome to another Saturday! We made it through another week, right? Now, I have a question for you. When I say the word Mafia, what do you think of? I tend to think of liquor, drugs, gambling, and even olive oil. Until this week, I had never considered that there might be a sand mafia.
Sand is one of the most useful materials on our planet. We use it in electronics, glass, pottery, and even concrete. Each of these, is often a billion or multi-billion dollar business, but as the epigraph to one of my all time favorite novels says “Behind every fortune, there’s a crime.” — Balzac
Sand Mining is the world’s largest extraction industry, and since its -sand- law enforcement officials often turn a blind eye, despite the devastating effects the illegal sand trade can have on the environment, especially in places like Nairobi, and Monaco, where the desserts are being stripped, and organized crime is using its vast transportation networks to get away with trading both locally, and internationally.
Every year, we use over 50-billion metric tons of sand. It’s time we turn an eye to the effects of illegal sand mining, before its too late.
Information for this diary came from an article in Scientific-American, an wonderful publication that covers a wealth of topics.