The wheelbarrow is almost full. At the bottom is a layer of loose earth, on top of that a basket with earth and around it pouches, also filled with earth. This land does not come from a construction site or vegetable garden, but has been sent in by “about two to three hundred people” from all over the Netherlands and beyond. “This bag comes from Denmark”, points out Henry Mentink (69).
The owner of the wheelbarrow did not simply collect the earth. He will take it to Paris in 45 stages in his barefoot shoes. A tripod is poked into the earth. “I can clip my phone there for the route.” When he arrives there, with his wheelbarrow, he wants to register ‘The Earth’ (in capital letters), as a World Heritage Site at UNESCO.
He calls it a pilgrimage for the earth† “We’ve taken a lot from The Earth, it’s time we gave something back,” he says, handing over a $100 bill. It’s fake, filled with flower seeds. “That way we can pay The Earth back one day for what we took.”
Mentink is the founder of the shared car service MyWheels, the initiator of the Veerhuis in Varik and a member of the Grond van Existence team, which aims to give De Earth a voice. As part of that, it buys up land to take it off the market and give it back to nature.
He doesn’t just walk to Paris. Friends, acquaintances and supporters walk along, and about forty people are involved in the organization. “Here, just walk with the wheelbarrow,” he says to a friend who is walking along on day 5, the stage from Tilburg to Alphen.
He wants to make it clear that The Earth, like the sky and the sun, belongs to no one and everyone. “National borders are a cordoned off area that you have to defend, that’s what creates a fight. We better put that energy into protecting the world together.” He hopes that this project will give the wheelbarrow as a utility object a symbolic value. “Whoever sees a wheelbarrow knows that The Earth is close by.” And that it belongs to everyone, and to no one.