»Property entails an obligation. Its use should
at the same time serve the common good.«
– German Basic Law
article 1, section 2
In prehistoric times there was no land
ownership. The earth did not belong to humans but humans belonged to the earth,
as an Indian saying teaches. Then one day people invented private ownership.
The word »private« comes from the Latin »privare«, which means »to rob«, so
private property is stolen property. Even if the previous owner legally
acquired or inherited their property, there was robbery at the beginning of the
chain. However, this knowledge should not lead us to consider dispossessing
owners prematurely. The property relationships are as they are and property
entails an obligation!
We propose subjecting ownership of property to
a strict environmental requirement. All property owners, whether they be owners
of detached houses, rented blocks of flats, company sites, farmland or entire
forests… will be obliged to ensure that their property is in a natural,
eco-friendly state that observes all the rules of environmental research.
For a house owner this might mean cultivating
their garden organically and greening their roof. These would be measures that
are easy to realise and enhance quality of life for all the residents.
A concern that has felled large areas of rain
forest would have to go to far greater lengths.
The rain forests are the green lungs of our earth and the deforested
areas have to be re-enabled to fulfil their original task again as far as
possible. Should it not be possible for the concern to meet the high requirements,
it has the right and the duty to give the land back to the community. The
community will undertake the renaturalisation measures with the support of the
Equalisation and Environment Fund. In this way, a method is found to maintain
the use of land and property consistent with nature and, at the same time, make
good the great damage to the environment as far as is humanly possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment