The common owner/master making the "best use of the #land" to #dispose of as seen fit by the owner is an archaic perversion of how we should now understand our relationship to land ownership and the #planet as a whole.

I've never met a human who has subdued, dominated, conquered, or disposed of one square centimeter of the #earth. That small parcel pre-existed #humanity and will continue to do so long after our kind has come and gone. That small parcel will continue to be #productive long after we've come and gone.

The better frame, is that of #lessor and #lessee because we do not own the earth, we #inhabit it. We cannot "dispose of" the land. As made abundantly clear by global climate change, we can only "dispose of" the climate that supports human inhabitation. Therefore, if some type of ownership exists, it is the totality of collective ownership belonging to each and every one of us.

#Legal #doctrine obviously exists to govern the lessor/lessee relationship. One such legal doctrine is that "Thou shalt not commit waste." But wasting the climate that supports human inhabitation is precisely what we've done. The collective fossil fuel burning "we" are engaging in, is in absolute violation of the doctrine of waste.

As lessees in contract with our collective ownership of the planet, we have therefore wasted the prospective rights of our progeny by utterly failing to uphold our duty.

Environmental lawyers have sought to create a priori "rights" held by the land. These efforts have always failed under the doctrine of "standing." I believe, by reframing the problem as "lessees contracted with a collective owner" model, a public policy argument exists that can withstand being dismissed for lack of standing.

I believe this is an original conception you're reading here first. Please correct me if I'm wrong -- and point me to the doctrine that supports your argument.

Also, please @ people/entities on #Mastodon who you think could help generate feedback and/or insight.

Thank you.

@earthfirst #Science #Enviroment #Law #EnvironmentalLawyer

So, introduction.

I am the Policy and Advocacy Manager at Environment Victoria, the peak not-for-profit environmental advocacy organisation in #Victoria. I am also an #EnvironmentalLawyer having practiced in #pollution #EnvironmentalJustice #climate and #biodiversity law.

At Environment Victoria I lead a team of nerds who use their campaign and advocacy skills to:
- fight for the #MurrayDarlingBasin and other #rivers
- bring in #CleanEnergy and accelerate the #EnergyTransition to slow down #climatechange and
- protect our critters and #nativeforests

An important part of my role is to help our #CommunityOrganising team empower communities to engage in environmental decision making, and parliamentary and democratic processes, to shift the balance of power to people.

I'm also on a mission to spread the word that #policy isn't dry and dull. #EnvironmentalPolicy and #ClimatePolicy impacts us all whether we realise it or not. It's an incredibly dynamic and creative space that we all should feel comfortable to engage with and influence.