Got No Grit...

...Used to be a purgoritive declaration spoken by callused folks, worn hard by life in a host of physical extremes, as well as the psychological effects of "keep on keeping on," no matter what. These were the kind of people who either died, or kept their feet, and didn't whine much about either prospect.

One might have cause to question whether modern life requires more or less of this once oft spoke characteristic in the people who live in it now, but one thing is quite clear. The more literal grit that makes modern life possible, in the form of sand, has really come to be in increasingly short supply.

I have posted before (here, here, and here)  of the geopolitics of sand, with various nations trying to use it to create convenient new "facts on the ground," even when it gets created by pushing oceans back, but now we face this new lack of grit because it has become just one more scarce resource. When you read the linked New York Times article linked below you will see just how important that resource has become. For which I have to ask my usual question: Is a cost based economic operating system up to the task of addressing this issue? And is it, as a consumption oriented monster, in no small way responsible for it?

The World’s Disappearing Sand

23 diggs The New York Times World

Believe it or not, we use more of this natural resource than any other except water and air. Sand is the thing modern cities are made of. Sand is the essential ingredient that makes modern life possible. And we are starting to run out.