The popular TV-chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has for a few years now headed a scheme for shared land use known as landshare.net across the British isles. It's basically a scheme that allows those with unused land and those seeking land for micro-farming to find each other and build mutually benefiting relationships.
The UK was the first nation to dissolve the common land to private ownership. Through a practice known as enclosing, we practically invented privatisation. Before the Tudor period, England was mostly commons where land was seen as a god-given resource much the same as air or water.
Land ownership and the public realm is a favourite broken record of mine. I'll get back to it later, but in the meantime, please join the thousands of like-minded commoners at landshare.net.
Ah yes but communal land has no restrictions on usage, which can lead to exploitation, and if no-one owns it they will be uninclined to improve it. Bit like someone paying for double glazing in a rented house. The oceans are a good example of this: no-one owns them so everyone over-fishes. How aboot an allocation of land per person instead? UK is about 1 acre per person, France 10 acres. Give everyone their proper share!
ReplyDeleteIt's not about having no one owning it, it's about everyone owning it. Sweden has a law that states that all land is for everyone, so there is a collective responsibility to take care of the natural world. They call it "Allemansrätt". It's when people think "someone else (i.e. the owner) will clear up after me" that rubbish gets dumped etc. It's like how you might piss on someone else's wall, but not yours.
ReplyDeletePlus, the oceans are divided up into fishing rights which are in tern monopolised by the EU in African waters for example.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Google "Atlantic Dawn Trawler" for example...
ReplyDeleteSadly, it's called 'Progress'. Wind farms being uppermost in my mind. On IWight "Not In My Back Yard", but aren't we all guilty of something? My soap-box is 'disposable nappies' what a joke that is!!
ReplyDelete