Usufruct
Usufruct is a olde legal term meaning that something can be used but not consumed or harmed. Renting a field is an example of a usufruct transaction. I can plant and harvest and sell the crop but am not permitted to take away the topsoil. If you lend me a tool, it is expected that it will be returned in good working order. It is lent in usufruct.
We humans have been given the earth in usufruct. Not everyone thinks so, but many do and we have groups and laws and many structures as attempts to husband the world, treat it well and pass it on in good condition. I suppose that the idea of usufruct is passed on generation to generation. By some, not so much by others. What is your thought on this?
This usufruct concept is quite weird, kind of playing on my mind. I suppose there are a bazillion examples but they are about responsibility and care and self checking. What do you think of the government acting from the principles of usufruct? Yeah, sometimes one has to wonder. If you were the government, what would you enact in order to honour usufruct?
The Fedex dude gives me my package and does not want it back. No usufruct involved. But if I send a package via Fedex and it comes back, I am expecting it to be in the original condition. I gave the package for delivery in usufruct, whether delivered to you or returned to me. Interesting that most of us have never heard this word before and, actually, not many of us care.
Sustainability is one of the results of applying an attitude of  living usufruct principles. If I treat things and people with care and with the attitude that those are not mine to consume or destroy, but to nurture, then maybe I can be prouder of my legacy. The opposite of usufruct could be selfishness. Ouch. How much will usufruct guide my choices from now on?