John,

You do come up with creative insights.  Regarding your below comments, I’m
not sure I understand how leaving shells where they die results in CO2
emissions, but placing them in collections does not.

Marlo
merritt island, fl

________________________________________
From: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John
Timmerman
Sent: Monday, December 31, 2007 10:52 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] stop shell collecting

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.

John Timmerman

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