As part of its Concrete Week campaign, The Guardian published an article on March this year titled Concrete: the most destructive material on Earth. The article refers to the U.S., Japan, China, and Brazil as study cases relating the production of concrete with environmental, political, and economic issues we currently face all over the world. The article recognizes human activity as the driving force behind the global impact on landscapes, nature, and the environment.
“Chatham House predicts urbanisation, population growth and economic development will push global cement production from 4 to 5bn tonnes a year. If developing countries expand their infrastructure to current average global levels, the construction sector will emit 470 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050, according to the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate.” – The Guardian
For the full article follow this link. I fully recommend reading it since it is full of links to other intereting information: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/feb/25/concrete-the-most-destructive-material-on-earth
It is a lengthy article, so if you prefer, The Guardian has also made it available as a podcast as part of its “audio long reads” series: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/audio/2019/mar/15/concrete-the-most-destructive-material-on-earth-podcast
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