Our planets seems awash with sand with the stretches of sandy beaches along the coastlines and the vast expanses of inland deserts. Sand, however, is not an unlimited resource when a particular type of sand is used to make construction materials and required for the nourishment of beaches eroded by storms and wave action. Point of fact, coastal sand is in such high demand that it is second only to water as the most used natural resource in the world. Women Mind the Water posted A worldwide shortage of sand to explore this topic.

What’s new this November? New podcasts, new ocean news, new handles on YouTube and Mastodon.

Our next podcast will be our 50th! We are grateful to all our past guests for their participation. It’s funny to look back to those earliest podcast. I was so nervous. That has changed. I have mostly overcome my nerves. I look forward to talking our amazing guests. I feel extraordinarily lucky to have the chance to speak to people across the globe, involved in so many extraordinary practices.

The influenza strain known as Eurasian H5N1 has been causing outbreaks across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It appears to have arrived in North America late in 2021. This strain of avian flu has been identified globally in more than 100 different species of wild birds. The identification of the influenza in the United States is alarming for a number of reasons. This bird flu can spread quickly along migratory bird routes and has the potential to contaminate birds raised on commercial poultry farms. The virus also has been found to infect wild mammals such as foxes, skunks and raccoons. In July 2022, stranded seals along Maine’s coast have tested positive for the virus.