The Land

Land is variously regarded as being inherently valuable, as being a common heritage for present and future generations, and as being an economic resource to be used as a factor of production.

One attitude toward land is that it is inherently valuable or sacred. This attitude seems to prevail among persons who feel reverence for life in all of its forms. The source of reverence for life may be the process of homeostasis in which pleasure is associated with life-sustaining conditions.

A second attitude toward land is that it is to be treated as a common heritage that sustains the life of present and future generations. The Bible expresses this attitude in terms of a covenant God revealed to Moses. In this context God is the giver of life, doer of deeds, and supernatural cause of natural abundance. According to scripture the people of Israel will enter into and possess a good land, and their descendants will have long life in the land from generation to generation, but only if the people keep the terms of the covenant revealed to Moses. A person, however, does not need to follow a particular religion to recognize the land as a common resource. If a present generation destroys the productivity of land future generations will either perish outright or suffer deprivation. Thus a societal concern for the future welfare of children and grandchildren should manifest as a public concern for sustainable uses of land. The individual seeking to destroy productivity of land would be at odds with the practices of a long term sustainable society.

A third attitude toward land is that it is a general factor of production. In classical economics the factors of production are land, labor, and capital. Land in this view is of greatest value for human purposes when labor, tools, and equipment (capital) are used to increase its productive capacity. Land can be used as commons, owned by a government to serve public purposes, or owned as private property under a system of law.