A bit of 'my land', in the Clare Valley of South Australia
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According to the law of Australia my wife and I own 46ha of land. What does
this mean - to own land?
Surely I have a responsibility to look after 'my' land; to leave it in no worse a condition than when I took responsibility for it? It seems that we do not own land in the same sense as we owns computers, cars, chairs and tables. The 'land owner' should more properly think of himself as the steward of 'his' land. He is holding it in trust for the future benefit of the biosphere. My understanding is that primitive peoples generally believed that they belonged to the land, rather than the other way around. Better, don't you think? |
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A bit of 'my land', in the Clare Valley of South Australia |
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Very similar arguments apply to the entire planet.
We should not think of the Earth as 'our planet'; rather we should accept
the Earth as a responsibility; something to pass on to the next generation
in at least as good condition as it was when we were born.
Animals and land ownershipMany animals have a territory that they defend from individuals or groups of the same species (and from other species too – wedge-tailed eagles have looked threateningly at my drone once or twice, or perhaps they were wondering if it was edible?). For example, there is from time to time a group of (Australian) magpies that live near my place. They apparently consider some area within perhaps a hundred metre radius to be 'their territory'. Is this 'land ownership' in magpie 'law', enforceable by the magpie family? If other magpies feel the same way about 'their territory' then does this 'law' have some sort of universal validity in magpie culture? |
'Our' gardens
Our relationship with our gardens can tell us something about ourselves.
First, there seems to be a 'natural' affinity between people, especially
perhaps older people, and gardens; I suspect that this is instinctive and
has held an evolutionary advantage since our ancestors changed from
hunter-gathering to farming many thousands of years ago.
My observation tells me that aboriginal Australians don't have this
affinity; their ancestors didn't go through a farming period.
(My experience has been with aborigines of the dry parts of Australia, in
some other, better watered, areas some primitive and very limited
form of farming might have been done.)
The need to 'own' our gardensThe couple of years after I met my wife we each had a house. We normally stayed in her house during the week (although I was often away in the bush, usually two weeks at a time) and went to my house on weekends. I found it difficult raising enthusiasm gardening in my wife's garden, because it didn't feel like 'my garden'. It didn't matter if I told myself that this was irrational and silly, the enthusiasm that I had when working in my own garden was not there when I worked in my wife's garden.
I have come to feel some sort of ownership for 'my' lines of trees and shrubs on roadsides; I would be upset if someone removed any of them without first consulting me, I feel personally hurt when a vandal damages one of 'my' trees or shrubs. Yet, if someone kills native trees growing wild along a roadside I feel annoyed, but not nearly to the same degree as if they were 'mine'. Why the feeling of ownership?
Elsewhere I see exquisitely manicured gardens, while on public land a short distance down the street, or perhaps even across the road, there is neglected land. The owners of the carefully tended gardens would not tolerate a stick out of place in their own garden, but are not bothered by tens of square metres of weeds within fifty metres of their front door. Why the need for ownership before caring for land and vegetation? If we could all develop a feeling of ownership of the whole Earth, then perhaps we would care more for it? Perhaps, if we didn't have near absolute ownership over 'our own' land, then we would care more for the land that we all belong to? Perhaps my own feeling of ownership for 'my' plants on public roads is connected to a feeling of personal responsibility for the biosphere that I have developed over the past several decades? Is the lack of such a feeling in the apathetic majority a large part of the source of their apathy? Then should we be trying to instil a feeling of ownership for the Earth in our children? (I think it's too late for most of our politicians.) I worry about the trend toward higher density of living in cities... |
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One of the most beautiful little valleys within the region of 'the Clare Valley' of South Australia This view can only be seen from 'private' land |
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Should 'land-owners' have the right to stop people from walking on
'their' land?
Should people who love walking avoid private land unless they have the
express permission of the 'land-owner'?
There is no crime where there is no victim. What justice would there be in the 'owner' of the land in the photo above stopping people from walking on that land and seeing that view? Do I have any right to stop people walking on my land and seeing the view below?
Of course there are always some people who will abuse a privilege and leave a gate open or do some other harm; but is punishing all for the crimes of the few ever justified? If the world belongs to anyone it belongs to all. |
