Who owns the sky?

Outside/In

NHPR

Society & Culture, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Nature, Science

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2023

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If you own land in the United States, do you also own the airspace above it? In other words, who owns the sky? The answer begins with a medieval Roman principle of property rights, which made it all the way to American courts: “Whoever owns the soil, it is theirs up to Heaven and down to Hell." We asked our friends Nick Capodice and Hannah McCarthy, cohosts of Civics 101, to join us to explore the uniquely American philosophy of property, to the moon and back. Featuring Colin Jerolmack, Michael Heller, George Anthony Long, and Deondre Smiles, with special guests Nick Capodice and Hannah McCarthy. SUPPORT Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member. Subscribe to our newsletter (it’s free!) for extras from the cutting room floor and behind-the-scenes dispatches from our reporters. Talk to us! Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or discuss the show in our private listener group on Facebook. Submit a question to our Outside/Inbox – we answer queries about the natural world, climate change, sustainability, and human evolution. You can send a voice memo to outsidein@nhpr.org or leave a message on our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (844-466-8837). LINKS This article by Laura Donohue poses the same question we ask – “who owns the skies?” – in the context of property rights, state rights, and drones. Deondre Smiles’ essay on how manifest destiny is showing up as we explore beyond this planet, “The Settler Logics of (Outer) Space” The Civics 101 episodes mentioned were “Is Santa a Criminal?” and “What’s Up With the US Space Force?” Also relevant: their two-part series on “The Government and Housing.” A great podcast episode on diamonds and De Beers via Articles of Interest + 99% Invisible More on United States v. Causby (1946) By the way, the 2015 U.S. law about commercialization of space only refers to abiotic resources like minerals. If someone discovers alien life (even microbial), this law doesn’t cover it. Japan, Luxembourg, and the UAE have passed similar laws. To learn about the fascinating question of who owns the space beyond your airplane seat, check out Mine!: How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives by Michael Heller and coauthor James Salzman Read more about the uniquely American interpretation of “ad coelum” in the introduction to Colin Jerolmack’s book, Up to Heaven and Down to Hell: Fracking, Freedom, and Community in an American Town. CREDITS Host: Nate Hegyi Reported, produced, and mixed by Justine Paradis Edited by Taylor Quimby and Rebecca Lavoie with help from Nick Capodice and Hannah McCarthy Executive producer: Rebecca Lavoie Music by Lobo Loco, ProleteR, Triple Bacon, Larry Poppinz, Gabriel Lewis, Ben Elson, Bonkers Beat Club, bomull, Anthony Earls, David Szesztay, and Chris Zabriskie. Outside/In and Civics 101 are productions of New Hampshire Public Radio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Nate Hedgee, joined today by Nick Kepadice and Hannah McCarthy.
0:03.0	Hello.
0:03.8	Hello, Nate.
0:04.7	Hi.
0:05.6	So our episode begins with a tale, which we might call the chicken and the airplane.
0:14.1	Well, this sounds a little bit like a fable.
0:15.9	Is the chicken going to get a thorn stuck in its paw?
0:18.8	I don't think chickens have paws.
0:21.3	It's talent.
0:22.5	Like, I like to paw better.
0:27.0	It's 1942, well into the Second World War.
0:29.8	It's been five years since Amelia Earhart disappeared into the Pacific Ocean.
0:33.7	OK, so airplanes are still a relatively new invention, but they're not brand new.
0:38.8	You're not going to necessarily think it's like a dragon in the sky.
0:42.0	Exactly.
0:43.2	So this guy, Thomas Lee Cosby, is this chicken farmer in South Carolina.
0:47.8	He lives less than half a mile from a municipal airport, which wasn't a big deal
0:52.3	until the US military leased the airport in 1942.
0:56.6	And so this is wartime.
1:00.6	So we've got heavy bombers, transports, fighter planes, they're taking off, they're landing,
1:06.8	oftentimes right over Cosby's farm.
1:09.8	And they're flying like low, like barely missing the tops of the trees.
	...

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