Who owns planet Earth?

I must have cut class the day this was covered, so I ask in all seriousness, Who owns the Earth? I both googled and asked the cyber entity formerly known as Jeeves this question. Only a few lame (as in no one knows for sure but act as if they do) theories presented themselves. Most conjecturists would have you think that every human must have a fair and equal right to the Earth itself in a way that can be understood and monitored by the average individual. But I’m talking about rights, not right. Ownership.

The 12 or 13 World Management Team (WMT) families presumably think they own the planet – they’re mistreating it as if they do. But if it is ‘common sense’ that Earth belongs equally to all of her inhabitants, as John Locke stated in his 1689 text, “The Second Treatise of Government”, then any one of us could legally sell the planet.

William Tenn makes a case for this eventuality in his short story, “Bernie the Faust” in which characters from outer space want the Earth for a vacation resort. “They're strong enough and advanced enough to come right down and take over. But they don't want to do it cold. You know, a big country wants to invade a small country, it doesn't start until there's at least a riot on the border. It gives them a legal leg. Even a big country needs a legal leg. These characters from outer space, maybe all they had to have was a piece of paper from just one genuine, accredited human being, signing the Earth over to them. Any piece of paper? Signed by any Joe Jerk? You have to own a planet before you can sell it. That's law.”

I doubt the legal system relishes the idea of tackling Earth’s ownership because of the WMT ramifications it would just as soon not have to encounter. The UN, in its grandiose ethnocentric way, has addressed ownership of outer space real estate based on the premise that humans are the only sentient life form in the Universe. The UN has left the question about Earth’s ownership unaddressed.

"Outer space is a province of all mankind," says Sylvia Ospina, a member of the board of directors at the International Institute of Space Law. "There is not, and should not be, any privatization of outer space. It is a common thing that should belong to all."

To try to ensure that space remains a "common thing," space lawyers have drafted five international treaties under UN direction. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 provides the basis of all space law with its clear decree that no nation can claim ownership to any part of it, and all nations must agree to its peaceful use. The treaty was signed by all major space powers and remains the guiding light of space initiatives.

In 1979, in attempting to resolve the issue of moon ownership with the international Moon Treaty, a clear prohibition on private ownership of extraterrestrial real estate was established. Extraterrestrial resources were determined to be "the common heritage of mankind." But the Moon Treaty has received far less support than the Outer Space Treaty - only five countries (none of them a major space power) have signed it: France, Guatemala, India, Peru, and Romania.

The United States, along with the other major powers has not signed the Moon Treaty and without the treaty there is no law excluding space ownership - a loophole some have sought to exploit.

In 1993 three Yemeni brothers filed suit against the United States for trespassing. The brothers claimed to have inherited the planet Mars 3,000 years ago from their ancestors. The US sent attorneys to Yemen to fight the charges. The case was ultimately dismissed ,but it raised issues over who could grant rights to property in space.

A US-based company called The Lunar Embassy claims it possesses a legal basis and copyright for the sale of lunar and other extraterrestrial property. Through its website, interested buyers can purchase one acre of lunar property for $49.99.

With President Bush's announcement earlier this year that he intends to increase privatization in the space industry and send astronauts to Mars, space law is again becoming a topic of concern.

One of the stickiest issues in all of space law remains the definition of space itself. "There is no real delineation or definition of outer space," explains Ospina. Some argue that outer space begins where airspace ends. But others point out that to escape the earth's gravity requires a voyage of 13 million miles - and suggest that outer space begins only there.

That lack of definition will be the crack through which ownership of space real estate will get interesting in the years ahead.

But back to Earth’s ownership. Assuming that Earth is a sentient being, which many native cultures believe, and Earth’s cymatic (the science of sound affecting matter) pictograms (crop circles) may one day convince modern cultures of, no one should be able to own/enslave her. Then again, if Sitchin is correct and the first ‘discoverers’ of Earth were from outer space (Nibiruans, aka Pleiadians, aka Corteum, aka what ever persona they care to assume – they are, after all, more intelligent that humans), they would, and legally could, claim ownership of Earth. It will be interesting to see what happens when the planet Nibiru returns – 2035 if memory serves me (it’s been a while since I’ve read Sitchin).