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"?
 
I s your hobby/passion destroying the earth??  I don't believe it.
 
Sam in Delaware

www.streetsmartbooks.com
Home of SMALL BUSINESS PRIMER:
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