Does Excavating and Using Minerals and Plants Constitute Stealing?

Minerals and plants in the world belong to the category of insentient things, and their owners are all sentient beings, including animals. Therefore all sentient beings may dig them up and use them, but must not affect or obstruct others' use. As long as one does not exhaust the minerals and plants, does not cut off other sentient beings' enjoyment of them, and does not exceed the proper amount of use, one does not commit theft. Things that grow naturally in the mountains—when some sentient beings dig them up, this is permissible; but if the roots are also dug out, so that the plant can no longer regenerate and becomes extinct, this constitutes stealing, infringing upon the rights and interests of all sentient beings.

For some minerals and plants, the state stipulates that only the state may extract, develop, and use them. What belongs to the state belongs to all citizens; if an individual takes and uses them, this is stealing from the state and from all citizens. Some mountain forests and the like are contracted out to organizations and individuals, and thus belong to those organizations and individuals. If the organization or individual does not allow others to dig up and use things in the mountains at will, then violating this constitutes stealing the property of the organization or individual; if they permit private digging and use, then it is not theft.

In residential areas, if residents are required to conserve water and a maximum monthly water allowance is set for each household that must not be exceeded, then when a resident's water usage exceeds the limit set by the local area or the state, this constitutes theft—moreover, theft of the state's public resources. Even though residents pay fees for the excess portion and do not use it for free without paying, they have still privately appropriated more than their share of water. Because clean water resources are a limited and scarce resource for the nation and for the whole world, a resource protected by the state and the world and owned in common by the state and the whole world, the portion used privately in excess belongs to stealing public resources.