Last month in China, water levels in Asia's longest river, the Yangtze, reached an all-time low, and hydroelectric power plants along its course had to slow down or shut down altogether, causing power outages to millions of people. Over the past five years, fluctuations in surface water levels outside their...
THE PROBLEM WITH OUR DWINDLING SAND RESERVES
Sand is the foundation of human construction and a fundamental ingredient in concrete, asphalt, glass, and other building materials. But sand, like other natural resources, is limited and its ungoverned extraction is driving erosion, flooding, the salination of aquifers, and the collapse of coastal defenses. The United Nations Environment Programme...