Shrinking Beaches

So you like the beach? Here's a call to action.

Associated Press reports that sand along some of the caribbeans beaches is disappearing at alarming rates as theives feed a local construction boom. The sand is favored in creating smooth surfaces for plastering and finishing and is being hauled off by the truckload late at night.

Some towns and areas are now exposed to tidal surges and rough seas. Among the hardest hit is Grenada, where officials are building a US $1.2 million dollar seawall to protect the 131 suare-mile island.

One of the regions largest sand thefts targeted Jamaica, where nearly 100 truckloads were swiped from private property in the northwest, exposing protected mangroves and a limestone forest to wind and waves. Police have refused to comment.

Joseph Gilbert, minister of works and environment in Grenada, says "If we continue to mine the beaches the way we've been doing, we will have no sand to boast about. Just sea and sun."