This response hopefully provides something for consideration. First, the contention is with the land, and not man, that is, not those that inhabit it.
The earth is not* inanimate. It is not a neutral entity. When Adam ‘fell’, that [seriously] affected the earth. The ‘curse’ effected this. In Noah’s ‘flood’, it was the earth that reacted to [excessive] unrighteousness - and the waters came up from the depths.
So using Genesis 6 as a model, the ‘earth’ (which God created with righteousness.) reacted against man’s unrighteousness. And it’s exactly the same here in Ezekiel 22:29. The only way around this is for ‘man’ to repent of the unrighteousness - and this relieves the earth. That is, for ‘man’ to intervene. (intercede).
It always takes ‘man’ to intercede between God and unrighteousness. If ‘man’ doesn’t….. ‘stuff happens’. Man is the one who was given responsibility for this ‘earth’. And Man’s actions make the difference. Just what one ‘man’ did brought a curse on the earth, resulting in ‘thorns and thistles’.
This ‘thinking’ might, at first, be difficult to consider, let alone accept, so let me bring in some other incidents to ‘add’ consideration. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by an ‘earth’ based catastrophe. As were Jobs sons. In each incidence the ‘earth’ reacted to ‘man’s’ unrighteousness.
Jerusalem (the city) was in danger here. That same city that was demolished via the wickedness of the people. Unrighteousness affects ‘geography’ as much as it might ‘man’. And only ‘man’ can ‘fix/prevent/put off’ the consequences via repentance - as obviously the ‘land’ can’t do it ‘for itself’.
