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This precisely means that the planet is not something that belongs to this present generation completely. Rather it is borrowed by the present generation on lease from the future generations. This lease is not official. But it is actually an ethical obligation to realize and act upon. We, humans, love our children and younger generations much more than we love ourselves. So we badly want to protect them. But we evidently forget that the first and the most important thing to do is to leave them an earth which is worthy of residing. This is why the author wants us to realize that the earth does not hereditarily belong to us. We are rather tenants using it on the lease.