Book Club Review: With Sand Stories Author, Kiran Periera

In Sand Stories, Kiran Pereira examines why sand is the most consumed commodity on the planet after water, as well as the impacts of this seemingly insatiable demand for sand. The book offers many potential solutions and is richly illustrated.

BACKGROUND

Across Asia, widespread extraction of sand for construction is eroding coastlines. Scientists are launching efforts to assess the environmental toll; already, ill-regulated and often illegal sand deduction has been linked to falloffs in seagrasses in Indonesia and in charismatic species such as the Ganges River dolphin and terrapins in India and Malaysia.

In eastern China's Poyang Lake, dredging boats have sucked up more than tens of millions of tons of sand in the past decade, fluctuating the hydrology of the country's largest freshwater lake, a way station for migratory birds.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kiran Periera

Background: Kiran is the Founder & Chief Storyteller at SandStories.org. She obtained her Master's degree in Geography (Environment & Development) at King's College, London. Sand mining was the focus of Kiran's dissertation and she has worked on the subject ever since, launching her blog, www.sandstories.org, which works to create awareness about the urgent need to manage our consumption of sand as a resource. It aims to bridge the gap between science, policy and industry by identifying and promoting potential solutions to the looming sand crisis.

Kiran was born and raised in India where she witnessed the impacts of indiscriminate sand extraction and it relates to some of her earliest memories. She came to the UK 10 years ago to pursue a Master's degree in Geography (Environment & Development) at King's College, London.

REGISTRATION

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