I couldn't resist this one. Shell collecting as a way of sequestering
carbon and thus reducing global warming! Scientific illiteracy is a
major problem nowadays.
A standard container weighs between 10 and 20 tons. To crane it onto a
ship and move it from the Philippines to the USA consumes a considerable
amount of marine diesel. To then truck it to the distribution center
requires many further gallons of regular diesel. To then deliver the
packet of shells to your home takes some regular gasoline. Let's not
mention manufacturing and transporting the packing materials (the bubble
wrap, the box etc.) or the resources used by the original fishermen.
That shell you buy for your collection is dragging behind it a ton of
carbon dioxide that would have remained tied up in hydrocarbons lurking
deep underground if you hadn't placed your order in the first place.
Cheez. What do they teach people nowadays?

Paul Callomon

>>> John Timmerman <[log in to unmask]> 12/31/2007 10:51 AM >>>
Maybe a bit of a tangent, but here goes.

Mollusk shells are calcium carbonate.

Carbon dioxide is one of  the green-house gases.

Carbon in mollusk shells is unavailable to the environment.

Shell collectors by the very act of amassing and preserving shells in
collections remove and prevent carbon from returning to the environment.
Thus they are helping mitigate the proliferation of one of the
byproducts of burning fossil fuels.

Conclusion. Should not those who would outlaw the collecting of shells
dead or alive be then be seen as  detractors to the health of the planet
as well?

I fully agree with Tom and others that shell collecting inspires (me)
the very way that art does. It is a pursuit that makes our journey
through this life so much more enjoyable.

I do propose the above line of thought to those who detract what I do
for inspiration.

John Timmerman
Wilmington, North Carolina



-------------- Original message from "Samuel S. Tuttle"
<[log in to unmask]>: --------------

This thread could undoubtedly be used by the Town Council to get votes
for local legislation to stop all shelling.  You can't walk the beach
any more and pick up a specimen that is recently-dead.  In some places
you can't pick it up if it's been dead for "ten million years".

I think believing that the individual collector makes a "dent" in the
mollusk population is humorous; but deadly.  Pharmaceuticals that came
from mollusks?  Curiosity that began with a kid picking up a shell?
Love of nature promulgated by holding a shell in one's hand?

Some of today's teachers border on teaching "worship the earth" without
considering the validity of the claims presented in their materials.

Surely this group shouldn't support the demise of the pursuit of the
thing we love, should we?  Stop collecting?  Ban or discourage shell
clubs?  Teach our children to "look, but don't touch"?

Is your hobby/passion destroying the earth??  I don't believe it.

Sam in Delaware

www.streetsmartbooks.com
Home of SMALL BUSINESS PRIMER:
How to Buy, Sell & Evaluate a Business
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