Dear Patti, Marlo (and even Art! );
 
    This will NOT turn into my usual tirade, diatribe or even monotribe
(well, ok it might: i'm a creature of habit!!).  However, busy or not, i
just can't stay out of the fray any longer.  Using a bit of common sense
here, we can see that
 
1) Our species, while it is indeed a part of the natural world, is the
first and ONLY  one of the perhaps 10 million species (but going doing
fast!) which share this planet , which has the ability to signifigantly
degrade and even destroy large portions of the biosphere. I highly
recommend the current edition of  NAtional Geographic to drive home this
point: we are most CERTAINLY NOT bent, as a species, upon "stopping the
cycles of extinction which were in motion long before we got here", but
are instead accelerating the process to the point where even
conservative biologists estimate we will be directly responsible for the
elimination of  at least one fifth (or about 2 million!!) of all other
species within a hundred years or less, if something is not done soon in
response to the demands  and educational efforts of people SUCH AS
OURSELVES (ie, those who know a bit more about what is going on than the
average sleep-walking inhabitant of the human race, and who actually
CARE about other forms of life). ( and need i remind you that our planet
may well be home to ALL the life-forms there are: we do NOT live in a
Star-Trek universe (good show, but not too reality-based!!))
 
2) Specimen shell collecting (not the rape associated with tourist
shells, which is thousands of times more destructive!) is Most Assuredly
not a signifigant contributor to this mad rush to exterminate species
which our "civilization" is  aiding and abetting.  Certainly, our type
of collecting is quite selective, but the scale is so small (exept very
occasionally, where irresponsible and/or unethical collecting methods
are used) in comparison to the wholesale habitat degredation and
demolition going on all around us, that it is statistically
insignifigant.  To carp about the few specimens taken to supply
"serious" shell collectors, is like complainig about a thumb-tack hole
in a wall when your house is being eaten by termites!!!,    and
 
3)  WE are the kind of people who are in the best position to have
sucess in helping slow down the still-accelerating rate of
diversity-demolition our species is insanely engaged in:  well-informed,
well-connected, well-educated, more intelligent than most, and in
frequent contact with some of the most beautiful aspects of the more
uncivilized part of the "natural world".  Now, i'm not accusing anyone
of apathy or inaction, but when i pleaded for asistance in building a
Marine Conservation Issues page, of the 400 people on this list, only
one (count em - 1) responded!  Perhaps i'm not the most popular person
around, but if this is any reflection at all of the level of interest
and involvement in environmental Action amongst us, then ...well, i
guess i have no right to judge, but it was more than a bit
dissappointing.  (WHOA- major downer!!  But what can one expect at 0300
in the morning???)  (Hint- there's STILL time to jump in and help
out....)
 
OK, so there it is.  I would like to hear about just WHAT we,
individually, as well as shell clubs and organizations, are doing in the
environmental activism, restoration, protection, and education
departments.  Then, once we know what is going on now, perhaps we can
figure out AS A GROUP, how to enlarge upon and improve out efforts to
stand up for what we claim to believe in, and in our own small way - a
bit at  a time -  start making a difference!
 
 
-Yours Hopefully,
 
Ross M. ([log in to unmask])