Unearthing the Construction Industry’s Awareness of and Reactions to the Global Sand Crisis

The United Nations has declared a global sand crisis. The construction industry, as a major user of sand, needs to significantly reduce the use of this finite natural resource. The purpose of this study is to measure the level of awareness of the sand crisis among construction industry professionals, to assess their reactions upon learning of the crisis, and to determine sources of information for those who are aware of the crisis. The Cognitive-Affective-Conative model was applied as the theoretical framework. The study is based on a survey and in-depth interviews with 75 construction industry professionals in the United States and Canada. Analyses included level of awareness by professional role and by reaction, as well as level of awareness by role and by type of information. Results showed that knowledge of the sand crisis was generally low. A content analysis of interview transcripts categorized five reactions to the crisis. These results suggest that generally across all roles, those with more familiarity with the sand crisis had reactions of proactive and feel bad while those with less familiarity expressed curiosity and surprise. Denial was expressed by a few. Recommendations include: First, greater efforts are required to inform construction industry professionals of the need to reduce the use of sand. Second, it is important to determine reactions upon learning of the crisis in order to generate interest and galvanize action. Third, determining the source of knowledge can help assess effective ways of broadly disseminating information to the construction industry.