It’s all the rage these days for just about everyone, every company, every contractor, every consultant, every government agency doing the usual, everyday destruction to the land to claim their actions are actually benefitting Mother Nature. And that if they don’t do that “management” or “restoration” or “treatment” or “stewardship” something, Mother Nature will be the worse for it.
Our actions as a collective human species, continue to destroy our own ecological life support systems on Earth, but the narrative has changed. Agents of destruction used to say, “Fuck it all, I want some more money.” But in the 21st century, the sell is slick. The cattle industry, for example, which spreads hooved death to soils, waterways and the atmosphere now says, “regenerative ranching” heals the land.
Cattle ranchers claim they “steward” and “restore” the land with herds of domesticated, for-profit cows — despite this practice generating huge amounts of manure, urine and methane which pollutes the land, waterways, the ocean, and the atmosphere.
All the scientific evidence documents otherwise. Except of course for the mountains of purely anecdotal evidence from the likes of South African cattle rancher Allan Savory, who may be the father of today’s so-called “regenerative ranching” with his variation of it he dubs, “Holistic Management” in his Savory Institute – fancy!
But the power of the cattle (beef and dairy cow) propaganda, advertising and P.R. campaigns is so pervasive and mind-numbing, that the majority of meat-eaters and dairy-lovers are taken in by it. To the point that their belief overpowers what’s in front of their own eyes proving otherwise.
I’ve literally seen this bizarre effect with journalists I’ve brought into Point Reyes National Seashore. Staring at cow pastures trampled to bare dirt — proving free-range, grass-fed isn’t green with grass, and stood agape as they denied the reality of what they were seeing.
READ MORE ABOUT so-called “regenerative ranching.“
Likewise, many government agencies (county, state, and federal) claim that their projects — like industrial “active management” of forests, or so-called forest “thinning” — is necessary to “restore” their health. Or to “save” forests from the made-up bogus boogieman called, “catastrophic” wildfire.
For the record, there is no such phenomenon as a “catastrophic wildfire,” not scientifically speaking, anyway. A large, high-intensity wildfire may destroy human development (and communities), or even kill large stands of trees. But these forests eventually recover from even these fires — as they have occurred for millions of years before Homo sapiens was around to extinguish them, or “manage” (aka, kill) understory vegetation to prevent them.
READ MORE about so-called “catastrophic wildfire.”
Sadly, even some Native Americans are in on the “nature needs us or else” bandwagon. Insisting that land long neglected or abused needs the right human care, which is fine as a general statement, but jaw-dropping when the “treatment” is using chainsaws, masticating machines and herbicides to “heal” the forest. Tribes now routinely partner with the White Man oppressor, now industrialized, to join forces to do more damage — for money.
READ about “redwashing,” the latest tragic exploitation of First Nations peoples who sometimes choose to survive by partnering with the real villain; dealing with same old White Devil who is today armed with more numerous and destructive weapons (like industrial, fossil fuel-powered machines and chemical poisons).
All this “stewardship” and “management” and “restoration” work is of course nonsensical, and often antithetical to the claims of “healing” or “helping” Mother Nature. More often than not, it’s just more of the same deforestation, logging, cattle ranching, hunting, and resource extraction for money — rebranded. With “help” like this, it’s a wonder Mother Nature is surviving… but she’s not; she’s being further diminished by all these ecologically destructive practices posing as curatives.
With all this human “help” and “stewardship,” you should wonder how Mother Nature ever “managed” to survive without us humans for millions of years… As I like to say, “Nature definitely doesn’t need humans, but humans definitely need nature.”
We “stewarded” this important conversation last week. It’s important to see, especially the 2nd half of the show when we bite into the controversy by criticizing anyone and everyone we must not let nature alone. (And usually for profit.)
The July 16, 2026 “Sky-Jack” Podcast #85 bites into all this, in a conversation with our Special Guest, environmental writer George Wuerthner.
WATCH IT from TreeSpirit’s Podcast page: TreeSpiritProject.com/podcasts