The Sand Mafias

People are being killed over sand. Not diamonds, not lithium, not rare earths - sand, the second-most consumed resource on earth after water, and the one nobody thinks about twice. Mette Bendixen, a geoscientist at McGill, studies where it comes from and who pays the price for it. Dubai imports its sand from Australia. Greenland's melting ice sheet is quietly producing a new export. And somewhere in Rwanda, a woman crushes stones by hand for two weeks to earn twenty dollars. The foundation of the modern world turns out to be a resource with no lobby, no regulation, and a growing body count.

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Timestamps:

(00:00) - Intro!

(01:20) - Jacob Meets Expert

(02:26) - Why Sand Matters

(04:08) - Which Sand Works

(05:45) - Where Demand Explodes

(09:05) - Scarcity And Prices

(12:02) - Dubai Imports Sand

(13:32) - Greenland Sand Boom

(19:04) - Africa And Mekong Mining