‘The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth.’ –Chief Seattle
Land is not something that could belong to anybody. That was the key message of Chief Seattle’s famous speech to George Washington in 1852; nobody can own ‘the freshness of the air’, ‘sparkle of water’ or ‘blueness of sky’. As human beings we are merely particles in the grand scheme of nature and we should thus regard all nature’s elements – down to each needle of a pine tree – as something sacred. Something we are to share equally amongst ourselves.