Back to the Land: Why Restoring Earth's Capacity Will Take All of Us with Brett KenCairn
The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens
Nate Hagens
4.8 • 549 Ratings
🗓️ 3 June 2026
⏱️ 94 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Dust Bowl of the 1930s is one of the worst ecological disasters in American history. Across the great plains, roughly 2.5 million people left the region over the decade, amid severe crop failures, livestock losses and widespread hunger. Caused by drought and extreme land degradation, this regional collapse is also an example of what is now happening in ecosystems across the globe. The glimmer of hope in this story lies in the equally remarkable recovery of the Dust Bowl region, which has continued on as one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world. What if we could name and replicate the techniques used to rehabilitate this once inhospitable landscape and use them to restore and regenerate local ecosystems across the planet?
In this episode, Nate is joined by regenerative change practitioner Brett KenCairn for a conversation that reframes the dominant narrative about climate change, emphasizing that it was never just a carbon problem but also one centered on living systems degradation. Brett explains that the desolation of foundational, life-supporting ecosystems has resulted in our planet now operating at roughly half its biological productive capacity. Remarkably, this reframing also clears the way for a path forward: because most degradation is due to how humans have used the land, it means – if we act soon – altering our use of the land can also help regenerate lost capacity. Brett describes how his team and other regenerative experts are attempting to do just that by restoring biodiversity, water cycles, photosynthetic capacity, and (most importantly) opening the door to broad community participation through training, compensation, and meaningful work.
What sorts of regenerative techniques might help bolster our local ecosystems' capacities to buffer, absorb, and cycle energy in order to support life during the extremes ahead? How could we alter our economic and social incentives to better support those doing the critical work to stabilize local ecology? And lastly, could the principles of living systems regeneration also act as an opportunity to reconnect with our place among the web of life, paving the way toward a humanity rooted in stewardship and reciprocity?
(Conversation recorded on May 13th, 2026)
About Brett KenCairn:
Brett KenCairn is the Founding Director of Center for Regenerative Solutions and Senior Policy Advisor for Climate and Resilience in the City of Boulder's Climate Initiatives Team. He coordinates the city's nature-based solutions work. Brett has worked across the western US in community-based initiatives in rural, Native American, and other marginalized communities. He is the co-founder of multiple organizations including the Rogue River Institute for Ecology and Economy, Veterans Green Jobs, and Community Energy Systems.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The environment that we're living in is becoming more unstable, more extreme, whether that's |
| 0:05.9 | floods, heat waves, droughts, fire, new infectious diseases. |
| 0:11.3 | That's why living systems regeneration is the fastest path for stabilizing systems. |
| 0:17.2 | More photosynthetic capture, more soil carbon, more habitat, because all those trophic layers |
| 0:22.8 | are going to add opportunities for life. |
| 0:25.6 | And that life is going to be a lot more productive in terms of biomass, in terms of shade. |
| 0:30.0 | It might not be stabilizing the entire globe at once, but we can stabilize at the geographies |
| 0:35.0 | that we live in. |
| 0:35.9 | That's where my hope resides. |
| 0:40.6 | You're listening to the Great Simplification. I'm Nate Hagen's. On this show, we describe how |
| 0:46.4 | energy, the economy, the environment, and human behavior all fit together and what it might mean |
| 0:52.6 | for our future. By sharing insights from global thinkers, we hope to inform and inspire more humans to play |
| 0:59.8 | emergent roles in the coming great simplification. |
| 1:06.8 | Today I'm joined by Systems Change practitioner Brett Kencairn for an overview of the no regrets |
| 1:13.5 | regenerative strategies need to build ecological and community resilience through a practice |
| 1:19.4 | called Living Systems Regeneration. Brett Cancairn is the founding director of the Center for |
| 1:26.3 | Regenerative Solutions and Senior Policy Advisor for Climate and Resilience for the city of Boulder, Colorado's climate initiatives team, where he coordinates the city's nature-based solutions work. |
| 1:39.3 | Brett has extensive experience in regenerative ecosystems and economic design and implementation. He has also |
| 1:47.6 | worked across the western United States in community-based initiatives. Additionally, he is the co-founder |
| 1:53.7 | of multiple organizations, including the Rogue River Institute for Ecology and Economy, Veterans Green |
| 2:00.1 | Jobs, and Community Energy Systems. |
| 2:03.1 | In this conversation, we explore why over-emphasizing carbon accounting has obscured the second |
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